OWNING AN AUTOMATIC WATCH COMES WITH NEW CONCERNS
If you are a watch enthusiast with a collection of quartz watches and you plan to upgrade your timepiece game to automatic watches, that would be a big thrill for you.
But since you’re used to quartz watches which you never wind until the battery dies out, you expect that owning an automatic watch also means you never have to wind it.
Are you correct? Well, yes or no. You’re partially correct.
If you use your automatic watch every day, you’ll be sure that it’s going to continue with its movement. But what if you got bitten by the automatic watch bug and you’re really passionate about it. And then, you purchased 2 or 3 more automatic watches. Then possibly, the following things will happen:
1) You will alternately wear a different automatic watch every day. The timepieces that you will be not wearing will only have a maximum of 48 hours each until their power reserve runs out. It means that you need to wind the other watches at some point in time.
2) You will be developing a favoritism for a specific automatic watch. It feels just better on your wrist, more comfortable and more attractive for you than your other timepieces. Sometimes it will be weeks or even months, that you get to remember to wear your other automatic watches.
In these two scenarios, your automatic watches will definitely stop working and you need to wind them. If this goes on for a long time, it will be harmful to the operation of the timepieces.
THROW AWAY THAT OLD MYTH
Just because you hear the word Automatic doesn’t mean you don’t have to wind your watch forever. For first time buyers, this is one appeal of automatic watches that made them buy them in the first place. But wait as time goes by when there are several days when they don’t use it. The watches will die, specifically, their mechanical movement.
UNDERSTAND THE AUTOMATIC WATCH MOVEMENT
There is a winding rotor inside your watch. It makes the watch function from the accumulated energy from the natural movement of your wrist throughout the day as you go through your activities. Your watch is self winding as you move and if it is still strapped to your wrist.
But in the eventuality that you don’t use your watch for more than 48 hours and it stops operating, you have to wind it yourself.
CORRECT WAY TO WIND YOUR WATCH
You should be careful in winding your automatic watch because making a single grave mistake in winding it causes a permanent damage to the timepiece. There are rules to follow for winding it, for date adjustment and also for time adjustment. Mixing up the procedures might make you turn the crown more times than necessary, and before you know it something has been broken.
Here are the ways:
1) FOR WINDING. Firstly, the crown should be fully pushed in because you should be sure in what position it is. To wind it, pull the crown 1 step. The is the Position 0.Then in that position, proceed to rotate it manually clockwise 30 to 40 times until you see the seconds hand start moving.
2) FOR DATE ADJUSTMENT. From Position 0, pull the crown 1 more step to Position 1. This is for date adjustment. Rotate the crown counterclockwise until you reach the correct date.
3) FOR TIME ADJUSTMENT. From Position 1, pull the the crown one additional step to Position 2. This is for adjusting the time. You can rotate it both clockwise or counterclockwise until you reach the correct time configuration.
USE A WATCH WINDER FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE
A watch winder could be a tabletop box or even an unnecessarily expensive vault which keeps your beloved automatic watches ever so gently wound even if they are not used. There are watch winders which only accommodate 1 watch while there are those that have space for 2 or more automatic watches.
Their concept is that they mimic your arm movement and they keep the mainspring winded and as a result, the watch running smoothly.
The watch winder offers a convenience for you of saving precious time of winding watches that you don’t regularly use. Think night time when you slept. Think when you have a favorite watch that you wear everyday, neglecting your other watches. The watch winder comes in handy and useful for you. They usually cost from $50 to $500.