Silly Question but a Question Nonetheless
Good day to you all. So I have a question that has been itching in the back of my mind for some years. So my daily has a 60hr power reserve so I wind it every other day. So if I wound it on Sunday I won't wind it again till Tuesday. But I was wondering if it was bad for the movement to wind it every day? Or should I leave it for every other day as I have already been going about it? For contexts, my daily is a Hamilton Chronograph H.
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Julio A Cervantes
I’m just a student of history (war and medicine) who’s always loved the march of time.
Los Angeles
Member since
Last active: 11 hrs ago
6.00” / 15.24 cm
It doesn’t matter. You can let it wind itself down or keep it topped up. I suggest you let it go for a day, give it a few winds at night and so on. No harm in letting it stop. However, it’s never great to wind a watch too far (if it’s a manual wind only) because it is possible to break the mainspring. Automatics have a built-in ‘release’ to prevent this, but I wouldn’t push that around much either.
Long and short of it is: take it easy with your watch and enjoy it!
It doesn’t matter. You can let it wind itself down or keep it topped up. I suggest you let it go for a day, give it a few winds at night and so on. No harm in letting it stop. However, it’s never great to wind a watch too far (if it’s a manual wind only) because it is possible to break the mainspring. Automatics have a built-in ‘release’ to prevent this, but I wouldn’t push that around much either.
Long and short of it is: take it easy with your watch and enjoy it!
Thank you! I do let it be on my days off, but hearing the wind always gives me a shot of dopamine. I’m very lucky that this watch comes with a clutch to force the crown to stop winding once it’s topped off!
I doubt it matters. An automatic winds with every movement you make so it’s pretty much winding up all day. Plus the more full your watch is wound generally means better accuracy from my understanding.
Thank you! I do let it be on my days off, but hearing the wind always gives me a shot of dopamine. I’m very lucky that this watch comes with a clutch to force the crown to stop winding once it’s topped off!
Yeah, that winding interaction is very satisfying. It also tells you something about the health of the movement; particularly the motion works.
If you have good “fingerspritzen” (a great German term for, roughly, ‘touch’) you’ll get to know your watches really well.
Doesn’t matter. In general, watches will be more accurate when they are at or close to fully wound. Health of the movement will be the same whether you wind it daily or not.
Yeah, that winding interaction is very satisfying. It also tells you something about the health of the movement; particularly the motion works.
If you have good “fingerspritzen” (a great German term for, roughly, ‘touch’) you’ll get to know your watches really well.
I’m going to add that word to my vocabulary! I think I have a good handle on my watch! But I’m still new to mechanical movements! Thank you for your advice!
Doesn’t matter. In general, watches will be more accurate when they are at or close to fully wound. Health of the movement will be the same whether you wind it daily or not.
Thank you for that answer I was wondering about it’s health!
Thank you for that answer I was wondering about it’s health!
Sure thing. Cheers!
I wind daily, it's just routine. My first watches were all manual winds so it's just something I've always done.
Yeah, that winding interaction is very satisfying. It also tells you something about the health of the movement; particularly the motion works.
If you have good “fingerspritzen” (a great German term for, roughly, ‘touch’) you’ll get to know your watches really well.
OMG I love that word! Fingerspritzen!!!!
I’m pretty sure I have above average Fingerspritzen. 💪
My family will be quickly annoyed by the immediate adoption of the word Fingerspritzen in my vocabulary.
I tend to wind my watch when I need to get then going from 0 power. However I must admit that sometimes I play around and wind my watch even when it got juice in it. Especially my 4R36 pieces
It shouldn’t matter. But letting it sleep for too long could cause problems so I wind my watches once a month at least.
These are mechanical objects...so winding a mechanical object when it's not necessary is taking some life off the parts that are interlocking that engage when you wind your watch.
Also, if you aren't planning to wear your watch within the specified power reserve time...it totally makes sense to let the watch run down and get a rest.
This is why I only use watch winders for my automatic perpetual calendar watches. They are a pain to reset so best to let them run and stay in time.
Accuracy-wise, it’s always best to have a mainspring on full wind, because movements lose timing consistency as the mainspring force drops (no movement has perfect isochronism).
Wear wise for the winding works should be identical. Assuming you’re not letting the watch stop entirely, then winding 60 turns every 2 days and winding 30 turns every 1 day is exactly the same number of turns.
Fatigue for the mainspring is probably negligiblg different either way. The difference is that you’re cycling the spring deeply but less often (20%-100%), vs cycling it shallowly but more often (60%-100%, but twice as often). There are equations to estimate fatigue but it would have to depend on the spring design and material details.