Winding an automatic - ?
Discussion
If I have not worn my Rolex for a while I tend to give twelve 'winds' and a quick shake to get it going. My question relates to the correct way to wind them. I do it a bit like rolling a cigarette in one hand (role up) ie forefinger and thumb .... forward and back motion - thumb forward, finger underneath back and then thumb back and finger forward - pictures would probably be better!!
Is this correct? Any pointers. I do not really want a watch winder.
Pip
Is this correct? Any pointers. I do not really want a watch winder.
Pip
It could be argued that there's slightly more wear on the crown seals and components with the backwards motion, whereas lifting your fingers off and reapplying to create a broken forwards only motion is less wearing.
Don't think there's any real hard and fast rule – whatever works for you.
Don't think there's any real hard and fast rule – whatever works for you.
It's interesting you mention it's a Rolex. Until a few years ago, the only automatic watches I'd ever had were Rolexes. I bought a JLC automatic a few years ago and whilst theoretically the movement of the particular watch is significantly 'better' than my Rolex (previous gen green bezel LV sub), one area the Rolex is significantly better on is the requirement to wind
I tend to find that a quick shake of the watch and I can literally set the time and put it on my wrist in the case of the Rolex. I can't recall ever feeling the need to manually wind it. But with the JLC, unless I give it a fair bit of manual wind first, shaking the watch and then the movement of my wrist is insufficient to keep it wound. Whether that's a problem with my JLC I'm not sure but as I say, I find the Rolex never needs actual winding
I tend to find that a quick shake of the watch and I can literally set the time and put it on my wrist in the case of the Rolex. I can't recall ever feeling the need to manually wind it. But with the JLC, unless I give it a fair bit of manual wind first, shaking the watch and then the movement of my wrist is insufficient to keep it wound. Whether that's a problem with my JLC I'm not sure but as I say, I find the Rolex never needs actual winding
jonby][... said:
with the JLC, unless I give it a fair bit of manual wind first, shaking the watch and then the movement of my wrist is insufficient to keep it wound. Whether that's a problem with my JLC I'm not sure but as I say, I find the Rolex never needs actual winding
That's almost certainly a problem with your JLC. Try winding it fully by hand (a good 40 or so turns of the crown to be sure) and setting it to one side. Depending on the exact movement you should get at least 40, probably closer to 48, hours out of it before it stops. If not then it's time to start thinking about servicing because it's not using its full power reserve.To the OP, they're designed to wind with a backward / forward movement for convenience but it's less wearing on the keyless works to wind in one direction, releasing the crown between winds as suggested earlier.
It's also less wearing n your fingers, which you probably won't notice but does become an issue when you're winding 20 or 30 watches on test
Thank you for that Variomatic. Would you recommend winding a Rolex for forty winds or am I better of doing say twelve bearing in mind I will wear it as soon as it is going. I should add that once a watch goes on it stays on day and night regardless until the next change.
Until reading your post I have always worried about over winding. Do they reach a 'stop' point at all or can you just keep going until breakage point??
Pip
Until reading your post I have always worried about over winding. Do they reach a 'stop' point at all or can you just keep going until breakage point??
Pip
If you're going to wear it then half a dozen or so winds should be plenty to get it started and reliable. 40 will guarantee full wind on just about anything, so it's a useful figure when you're testing power reserve.
There's no need to worry about overwinding either, fr two reasons. The first is that automatics almost universally have a "slipping" mainspring attachement to the barrel. That's because the auto work will keep trying to wind it regardless of how far wound it already is. So instead of hooking the mainspring firmly to the barrel, they have a spring bridle which holds by friction but starts to slip automatically when it's fully wound. That's why you can appear to hand wind an auto forever.
The other reason is that overwinding is a bit of a myth, which I'm afraid to say, has been perpetuated by some watchmakers over the years. All manual wind watches for at least the last 150 years or so, and all crown-wind (rather than key wind) watches, have been designed to be wound fully until the winder won't turn anymore.
To cause damage you'd virtually have to grab the crown with pliers and keep trying to turn against solid resistance until something snapped. Even then you'd probably just break the crown off the stem.
When a watch stops, the first thing most people do is wind it. Say you're used to winding it x number of turns each day to avoid taking it up tight. If it stops for any reason during that day, those same x turns will probably leave it fully wound, at which point you take it to your watchmaker as "overwound".
An honest repairer will reassure you that it's not your fault and explain the above. But, say it's been recently overhauled and you take it back in that condition. It's all too easy to deny a guarantee job "because you've overwound it, sir, and that's not covered". Because it's such a well known phrase, people tend to accept that, and the myth keeps going.
Please excuse the slightly long semi-rant there, but it's one of my pet hates when I hear supposed repairers use it, and I get really fed up at times having to reassure other people's customers after they've been fobbed off!
There's no need to worry about overwinding either, fr two reasons. The first is that automatics almost universally have a "slipping" mainspring attachement to the barrel. That's because the auto work will keep trying to wind it regardless of how far wound it already is. So instead of hooking the mainspring firmly to the barrel, they have a spring bridle which holds by friction but starts to slip automatically when it's fully wound. That's why you can appear to hand wind an auto forever.
The other reason is that overwinding is a bit of a myth, which I'm afraid to say, has been perpetuated by some watchmakers over the years. All manual wind watches for at least the last 150 years or so, and all crown-wind (rather than key wind) watches, have been designed to be wound fully until the winder won't turn anymore.
To cause damage you'd virtually have to grab the crown with pliers and keep trying to turn against solid resistance until something snapped. Even then you'd probably just break the crown off the stem.
When a watch stops, the first thing most people do is wind it. Say you're used to winding it x number of turns each day to avoid taking it up tight. If it stops for any reason during that day, those same x turns will probably leave it fully wound, at which point you take it to your watchmaker as "overwound".
An honest repairer will reassure you that it's not your fault and explain the above. But, say it's been recently overhauled and you take it back in that condition. It's all too easy to deny a guarantee job "because you've overwound it, sir, and that's not covered". Because it's such a well known phrase, people tend to accept that, and the myth keeps going.
Please excuse the slightly long semi-rant there, but it's one of my pet hates when I hear supposed repairers use it, and I get really fed up at times having to reassure other people's customers after they've been fobbed off!
Variomatic said:
jonby][... said:
with the JLC, unless I give it a fair bit of manual wind first, shaking the watch and then the movement of my wrist is insufficient to keep it wound. Whether that's a problem with my JLC I'm not sure but as I say, I find the Rolex never needs actual winding
That's almost certainly a problem with your JLC. Try winding it fully by hand (a good 40 or so turns of the crown to be sure) and setting it to one side. Depending on the exact movement you should get at least 40, probably closer to 48, hours out of it before it stops. If not then it's time to start thinking about servicing because it's not using its full power reserve.My issue was that unless I wind it fairly thoroughly first (from 'flat'), wrist movement alone tends not to keep it going whereas with the Rolex, a quick shake from flat is all it needs before wrist movement keeps it going. Is that because the Rolex has a more efficient/different type automatic movement, or a fault I wonder ?
I have 4 main watches with one that I wear during the week as my primary DD so the others are almost always flat when I put them on for an evening out/weekend
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