Automatic movement damaged?
Discussion
Despite wearing my Longines Hydroconquest everyday since I got in 2022, it has recently started stopping multiple times a day. Those of you familiar with my Reader's Cars thread (a well overdue update is in the works) will know issues can be a bit niche and I wonder if this is the case with the watch.
Being a wheelchair user and wearing an Automatic watch on my weak arm means if I don't move the watch around it stops. I came to a solution a few years ago where I give the watch a shake making sure I can hear the weight move, similar to a jog. I had considered taking it to the gym, I regularly see a chap in his late 60s wearing a gold Rolex (it could be fake, mind) as he moves between free weights and the Smith machine. But I don't want to bash it about, so it stays at home.
Anyway this approach worked for a long while until recently when it stopped 3 times in as many weeks, twice in a public place while I was chatting to other people, which was slightly embarrassing. I did get stung by a very strong static shock, which eventually made it stop a few hours later, but not before my left arm gently tingled the night away. I recently got a cheap watch winder off Amazon to more efficiently keep it wound, but after a long spin this morning, it was to no avail, it has stopped twice today.
Is this a sign of a damage to the movement? I'm concerned that the main spring may be damaged, but equally I'm concerned that I need to move more. Every time it's stopped it's always a few minutes after the hour and the second hand always stops sweeping in the the same place on top, it's very odd. I did spend last night thinking about part exing it for a manual wind Grand Seiko or Omega Speedmaster, but I just don't have that money currently.
I'd really appreciate your advice, thoughts, criticism, etc. I'm taking it to a Longines outlet on Monday to look at it (theres a nice B road not a million miles away, so thats a silver lining
) but having an idea on whats going on would be helpful.
Michael
Being a wheelchair user and wearing an Automatic watch on my weak arm means if I don't move the watch around it stops. I came to a solution a few years ago where I give the watch a shake making sure I can hear the weight move, similar to a jog. I had considered taking it to the gym, I regularly see a chap in his late 60s wearing a gold Rolex (it could be fake, mind) as he moves between free weights and the Smith machine. But I don't want to bash it about, so it stays at home.
Anyway this approach worked for a long while until recently when it stopped 3 times in as many weeks, twice in a public place while I was chatting to other people, which was slightly embarrassing. I did get stung by a very strong static shock, which eventually made it stop a few hours later, but not before my left arm gently tingled the night away. I recently got a cheap watch winder off Amazon to more efficiently keep it wound, but after a long spin this morning, it was to no avail, it has stopped twice today.
Is this a sign of a damage to the movement? I'm concerned that the main spring may be damaged, but equally I'm concerned that I need to move more. Every time it's stopped it's always a few minutes after the hour and the second hand always stops sweeping in the the same place on top, it's very odd. I did spend last night thinking about part exing it for a manual wind Grand Seiko or Omega Speedmaster, but I just don't have that money currently.
I'd really appreciate your advice, thoughts, criticism, etc. I'm taking it to a Longines outlet on Monday to look at it (theres a nice B road not a million miles away, so thats a silver lining
) but having an idea on whats going on would be helpful.Michael
Hi,
Even though the hydro is automatic, you will still be able to manually wind it up. I might be wrong, but I haven’t encountered an auto movement yet, which doesn’t let you do this.
On my Carrera for example, turning the crown clockwise without pulling it out to position 1 or 2 (time and date adjustment) will wind the mainspring. On my Yema diver, unscrewing the crown and then winding clockwise winds the mainspring.
It’s unikely to have a damaged mainspring. Most modern auto movements prevent over winding. Even the basic Seiko NH35 has this feature.
There’s a chance there could be a tiny bit of dirt in the movement - although unlikely it can happen.
But try manually winding before spending any money with Longines
Even though the hydro is automatic, you will still be able to manually wind it up. I might be wrong, but I haven’t encountered an auto movement yet, which doesn’t let you do this.
On my Carrera for example, turning the crown clockwise without pulling it out to position 1 or 2 (time and date adjustment) will wind the mainspring. On my Yema diver, unscrewing the crown and then winding clockwise winds the mainspring.
It’s unikely to have a damaged mainspring. Most modern auto movements prevent over winding. Even the basic Seiko NH35 has this feature.
There’s a chance there could be a tiny bit of dirt in the movement - although unlikely it can happen.
But try manually winding before spending any money with Longines
It could be that your watch just isn't getting moved around enough to wind it sufficienty. Definitely worth giving it 30 or so manual winds when you put it o each day. Watch winders usually have different modes (ie wind in different directions) to take account of different watch rotor set-ups, so you could try running clockwise rather than anti-clockwise, for example. A static shock is very unlikely to cause any damage to an auto-wind mechanism.
I think it can be manually wound, but it doesn't feel particularly convincing. Prior to getting it, I had a Vostok Europe Limousine watch I got from a shopping channel (
) I grew to dislike it, but the manual wind had a nice resistance to it and you could 'hear' it wind too. The Longines is a far better watch in every way but I thought it couldn't wind manually, the instruction make no reference to it either. I find out that I could not long after getting it, but never used it as it felt a bit too subtle, plus with the design of the watch the crown can be very awkward.
Nevertheless, it appears to be working, it has stopped since, so I think I just need to move it and me more. It's just frustrating that after having no issue for 3 years it's kicking up a fuss now.
Michael
) I grew to dislike it, but the manual wind had a nice resistance to it and you could 'hear' it wind too. The Longines is a far better watch in every way but I thought it couldn't wind manually, the instruction make no reference to it either. I find out that I could not long after getting it, but never used it as it felt a bit too subtle, plus with the design of the watch the crown can be very awkward. Nevertheless, it appears to be working, it has stopped since, so I think I just need to move it and me more. It's just frustrating that after having no issue for 3 years it's kicking up a fuss now.
Michael
Thought I'd come back to this as manual winding appears to have stopped solving the problem. I'd started spending a few minutes at the start and end of each day just winding the watch up, being the boring man I am I found quite cathartic. It seemed to give me about a days worth of use and I could live with that. Occasionally I'd sit and wind it while watching Hubnut or The Late Brake Show or something, but that became a waste of time as it would still stop, at the same intricate time of a few minutes past the hour with the second hand stopping above it. This week its stopping far more often and today it has stopped at every hour since 2pm today, while I've been out running errand and doing those long manual winds.
I'm at a bit of a loss here really, is it me? I'm not sure as for so long I've never had an issue with it stopping, and I never wound it or shook it to get the rotor moving about. But that changed last year and now this. Even my previous auto watch had no issues. What do you guys think? It's still under warranty so I am tempted to take it to a jeweller that deals with Longines and wait for them to say theres a problem or I don't move my arm enough.
What do you think? Is it me?
Michael
I'm at a bit of a loss here really, is it me? I'm not sure as for so long I've never had an issue with it stopping, and I never wound it or shook it to get the rotor moving about. But that changed last year and now this. Even my previous auto watch had no issues. What do you guys think? It's still under warranty so I am tempted to take it to a jeweller that deals with Longines and wait for them to say theres a problem or I don't move my arm enough.
What do you think? Is it me?
Michael
I took the watch to a Jewellers in Thursday, not the one near the cool B road, this one was closer. They too think there is an issue, especially when I told them that manual winding was pretty inaffective. Interestingly the watch started ticking again as I picked it up and moved it as I was heading out elsewhere first. Once I'd got back a few hours later, it was happily sweeping away still. It stayed that way even as I dropped it off and neither of the staff could make sense of it.
They did tell me that there is a chance that Longines/Swatch could turn around and say there's no idsue, which is a slight concern, but I'll cross that bridge if the time comes. I'm hoping to get it back by my graduation in mid September but I'm not holding my breath. For now, I'm stuck with my steady-but-not-exciting Citizen Eco-Drive E650.
Michael
They did tell me that there is a chance that Longines/Swatch could turn around and say there's no idsue, which is a slight concern, but I'll cross that bridge if the time comes. I'm hoping to get it back by my graduation in mid September but I'm not holding my breath. For now, I'm stuck with my steady-but-not-exciting Citizen Eco-Drive E650.
Michael
Nigel_O said:
Surely the fact that it often stops at the same time is evidence that something is wrong and it s not just a case of needing more winding.
Straight back to the dealer
Their eyebrows definitely raised when I told them about it, I had taken a poor picture of it and they'd never seen anything like it before.Straight back to the dealer
Michael
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