The watch thread.

Oneball

Oneball

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Marco07 said:
I’m not really a watch person but I’ve a few nice ones. For working on my cats and DIY etc. I normally just keep on my daily Omega speedmaster. It been brilliant and whatever that glass and dial are made from I’ve no idea but they’re not scratched.

Question: all my watches are auto-wind jobs, so when I wear one I reset the time and give them a good shake to wake them up. Does it do them any harm sitting in a box without running?
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I was told by the guy who repaired my watch to wear it once a week as they don’t like sitting, it’s not an auto just normal winder.
 
G

Gooner

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447
Marco07 said:
I’m not really a watch person but I’ve a few nice ones. For working on my cats and DIY etc. I normally just keep on my daily Omega speedmaster. It been brilliant and whatever that glass and dial are made from I’ve no idea but they’re not scratched.

Question: all my watches are auto-wind jobs, so when I wear one I reset the time and give them a good shake to wake them up. Does it do them any harm sitting in a box without running?
Click to expand...

No harm done. In the old days if they sat for a long time the oils could harden, but apparently modern oils don’t do that.
 
Hawk13

Hawk13

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I was told to keep them moving as well and so I have invested in watch winders for the more expensive / unusual watches (a £100 investment to keep a another investment in tip top shape makes sense to me) but I also have both manual wind and autos in my watch box and I have not noticed any adverse impact. I do rotate my watches though and tend to wear a different one every day.
 
Mr S

Mr S

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Hawk13 said:
I was told to keep them moving as well and so I have invested in watch winders for the more expensive / unusual watches (a £100 investment to keep a another investment in tip top shape makes sense to me) but I also have both manual wind and autos in my watch box and I have not noticed any adverse impact. I do rotate my watches though and tend to wear a different one every day.
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Which winder did you go for?
 
spkennyuk

spkennyuk

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Hawk13

Hawk13

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Mr S said:
Which winder did you go for?
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I have a number of these which I like becasue they can be stacked and one power unit can run 3 other 'satellites' https://www.christopherward.com/acc...&-uk-adapter-starter-kit/PICCOLO-PLUS-UK.html

Initially I was unimpressed as it wasn't keeping a couple of my watches fully wound ... and then I discovered that some watches need to be wound in both directions (which I had never known). A change to the winder settings and all is good.
 
G

Gooner

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FWIW a couple of watchmakers I know tell me that keeping a watch running continuously doesn’t benefit the oiling, but does slowly wear out the moving parts more quickly.

Obviously if you wear one watch all the time, it is going to wear a little and probably need servicing after 5 years or so. If you have a collection, it’s maybe a bit of a shame to have them all wear in the same way.

Mostly the specialist oils and greases in a watch are held where they need to be. It’s not like a car engine where the oil drains into the sump and needs to be recirculated by running the engine.

It’s all personal choice, a winder won’t damage a watch as such and they can be very convenient if you have a watch with complications that take a while to set.
 
Vampyrebat

Vampyrebat

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Gooner said:
FWIW a couple of watchmakers I know tell me that keeping a watch running continuously doesn’t benefit the oiling, but does slowly wear out the moving parts more quickly.

Obviously if you wear one watch all the time, it is going to wear a little and probably need servicing after 5 years or so. If you have a collection, it’s maybe a bit of a shame to have them all wear in the same way.

Mostly the specialist oils and greases in a watch are held where they need to be. It’s not like a car engine where the oil drains into the sump and needs to be recirculated by running the engine.

It’s all personal choice, a winder won’t damage a watch as such and they can be very convenient if you have a watch with complications that take a while to set.
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I was told the same thing by the antique jeweller who gave me an appraisal on both my Longines watches. He advised me to wind them up once every 4-5 months if they are not in use.
 
Hawk13

Hawk13

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Vampyrebat said:
I was told the same thing by the antique jeweller who gave me an appraisal on both my Longines watches. He advised me to wind them up once every 4-5 months if they are not in use.
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Oddly I was given the exact opposite advice when I had a Tudor watch serviced that I inherited from my grandfather. The watch was from a period when Tudor were a sister company to Rolex and used Rolex movements and I was told in no uncertain terms that they were designed to be worn and kept moving.....and that leaving them unwound could cause damage to the internals.
 
Vampyrebat

Vampyrebat

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Hawk13 said:
Oddly I was given the exact opposite advice when I had a Tudor watch serviced that I inherited from my grandfather. The watch was from a period when Tudor were a sister company to Rolex and used Rolex movements and I was told in no uncertain terms that they were designed to be worn and kept moving.....and that leaving them unwound could cause damage to the internals.
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I'll ask my father-in-law what he thinks. He is the Oracle when it comes to all vintage watches and clocks!! (God, I hope I don't inherit them all)!!
 
Mr S

Mr S

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Hawk13 said:
I have a number of these which I like becasue they can be stacked and one power unit can run 3 other 'satellites' https://www.christopherward.com/accessories/piccolo-watch-winder-&-uk-adapter-starter-kit/PICCOLO-PLUS-UK.html

Initially I was unimpressed as it wasn't keeping a couple of my watches fully wound ... and then I discovered that some watches need to be wound in both directions (which I had never known). A change to the winder settings and all is good.
Click to expand...
Is the info in regards to TPD in the supplied booklets, or is there an easy to use database online that you can use?
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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Often googleable. Not sure it's in any of my manuals.

Interesting about the wear discussion. Might just turn my winder off as I never go out and wear them now :)

C
 
Hawk13

Hawk13

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Mr S said:
Is the info in regards to TPD in the supplied booklets, or is there an easy to use database online that you can use?
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Nothing on TPD (either number or direction) in any of my booklets .... not that I have papers for all of my watches .... as the assumption would be that you wear the watch and this would meet minimum TPD . But as C says above, you can google the movement. IIRC someone did post a link - probably in this thread somewhere.
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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Hawk13 said:
Nothing on TPD (either number or direction) in any of my booklets .... not that I have papers for all of my watches .... as the assumption would be that you wear the watch and this would meet minimum TPD . But as C says above, you can google the movement. IIRC someone did post a link - probably in this thread somewhere.
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Yeah, I tried a link I found. It very much failed.

C
 
ChrisQP09

ChrisQP09

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