Manual winding
Discussion
Hi, how often should an auto watch require manual winding to stay at full reserve power? The reason I ask is that after manually winding up my auto watch, it keeps great time and never requires attention as long as I wear it day in day out (just take it off when I go to bed). However, I find that if if I don't wear for a day it will stop working. Given that the power reserve should be around 40 hours, does just wearing it keep it at full power reserve or should it be manually wound from time to time to keep it at full power reserve. (Breitling Avenger GMT) Thanks.
Once up & running, an automatic worn daily during moderate activity (i.e. just walking about occasionally) shouldn’t need hand-winding thereafter, unless you plan to not wear it for a day or so but wish it to still be running when you pick it up later (this applies to a typical ETA/Sellita/Seiko power reserve of 38-42 hours, if your watch has a longer reserve you should be fine without winding).
However, I’d caveat that by stating it comes down to personal levels of activity – an office worker or couch potato wearing an automatic for 10 hours a day does not generate the same power reserve as a more active person wearing theirs for 15 hours. This may be even more so in Lockdown/WFH. An automatic still needs some movement to work, after all.
Some movements are less efficient at auto-winding, and I have in the past found ETA movements, for example, to have run fine for days but later been found ‘dead’ one morning as the power reserve diminished to the point it failed to make it until morning. (I am however, a lazy office worker who changed watches upon returning home for the day).
If you think about it, removing a watch at 6pm Monday and not picking it up again until 8am Wednesday is a 38 hour period, right at the limit of a typical 40 hour reserve, especially one that’s not 100% to start with.
To help my watches out, I am in the habit of winding each with the crown about 10-15 turns before wearing for the first time in a while – gives them a head-start and means the watch only has to slightly build & retain a power reserve, rather than starting from scratch, and avoids a sedentary lifestyle affecting the reserve. It’s a bit better for the watch’s accuracy also, but that’s another matter.
After that first wind, I won’t hand wind it at all in the days after – no need. Some automatic watches, like the ubiquitous ETA 2824-2, don’t like to be hand-wound on a daily basis – it can cause premature wear in that particular movement. And it shouldn’t be necessary.
You can test for underlying power reserve problems by hand-winding the crown 60 or so times, then setting the watch aside unworn, noting the time & date, and then checking back in 40 hours or whatever to see if it’s still running for the stated power reserve period, and the actual time it stops running.
If you are reasonably active & wear the watch daily for 12 hours plus, and it’s still not holding the full reserve, then it could be an issue with the auto-winding.
However, I’d caveat that by stating it comes down to personal levels of activity – an office worker or couch potato wearing an automatic for 10 hours a day does not generate the same power reserve as a more active person wearing theirs for 15 hours. This may be even more so in Lockdown/WFH. An automatic still needs some movement to work, after all.
Some movements are less efficient at auto-winding, and I have in the past found ETA movements, for example, to have run fine for days but later been found ‘dead’ one morning as the power reserve diminished to the point it failed to make it until morning. (I am however, a lazy office worker who changed watches upon returning home for the day).
If you think about it, removing a watch at 6pm Monday and not picking it up again until 8am Wednesday is a 38 hour period, right at the limit of a typical 40 hour reserve, especially one that’s not 100% to start with.
To help my watches out, I am in the habit of winding each with the crown about 10-15 turns before wearing for the first time in a while – gives them a head-start and means the watch only has to slightly build & retain a power reserve, rather than starting from scratch, and avoids a sedentary lifestyle affecting the reserve. It’s a bit better for the watch’s accuracy also, but that’s another matter.
After that first wind, I won’t hand wind it at all in the days after – no need. Some automatic watches, like the ubiquitous ETA 2824-2, don’t like to be hand-wound on a daily basis – it can cause premature wear in that particular movement. And it shouldn’t be necessary.
You can test for underlying power reserve problems by hand-winding the crown 60 or so times, then setting the watch aside unworn, noting the time & date, and then checking back in 40 hours or whatever to see if it’s still running for the stated power reserve period, and the actual time it stops running.
If you are reasonably active & wear the watch daily for 12 hours plus, and it’s still not holding the full reserve, then it could be an issue with the auto-winding.
Thanks for the replies, I will be doing some experiments over the next few days. I don't normally wear it much during the week due to the nature of my work but this last week or so I have been wearing it in the day but just slobbing with not much activity. The trials will now begin ! Cheers.
When I permanently wore my Breitling Seawolf Avenger (not GMT),
Flying a desk at work but generally active in the evening with general household chores, cooking/cleaning and watch removed from 9PM to 7AM and it ran without requiring a wind up for about 4 years, It would run from 9PM throughout a full night, day & night and still be OK the next morning if I fancied a different watch for the day,
As others say ... dependent on activity levels but for a 42hr reserve watch it is better than most,
Maybe my evening activity was boosting it to full before removal
Flying a desk at work but generally active in the evening with general household chores, cooking/cleaning and watch removed from 9PM to 7AM and it ran without requiring a wind up for about 4 years, It would run from 9PM throughout a full night, day & night and still be OK the next morning if I fancied a different watch for the day,
As others say ... dependent on activity levels but for a 42hr reserve watch it is better than most,
Maybe my evening activity was boosting it to full before removal
As above if you're not especially active during the day AND take watch off at night, you will probably find your watch doesn't run accurately for very long afterwards.
Some tests from fully charged / wound to see how long it runs accurately for once taken off will give you a good indication whether it needs a service.
Some tests from fully charged / wound to see how long it runs accurately for once taken off will give you a good indication whether it needs a service.
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