How heavily does clapping damage your watch?

Unless you clap so hard that your hands get bruised I doubt it has any effect at all.

even if the ballence sping fully stopped because of the shaking it would still automatically start up again so i think in a worst case scenario it would just be a few seconds behind on time. but with a vintage watch i'd be more carefull just to be sure

I do wonder about this. My main worry is about the lume on the hands of vintage pieces 😬

Well it goes without saying with a vintage watch. I was wondering about modern timepieces 

I imagine how heartbreaking it would be to see all that lume shake around underneath the crystal 😢

Have been to many a concert, ballgames and so forth. Never once did i ever even think about such a thing. And never once have I had an issue. 
 

Might be of some concern with a vintage watch but if a modern watch cannot handle you applauding, even for an extended period and forcefully so, chunk that sucker in the trash. 

Glad to hear it's not really a concern. Thanks! I'm a bit more at ease now :P

Let me share an experience with you... couples of years ago I once noticed a mosquito got into the house while i was wearing this... 

At the time this watch has not been serviced since i bought new back in 2008 as i hardly wear it. 

And yes you guessed it, i tried eliminating the insect by slapping against the wall. Straight away i looked over to the watch and yes, it stopped ticking. I unscrewed the crown and tried wind it up a little see if it changes anything, yet nothing happened and the winding felt.... a little weird with a bit of roughness, i stopped fooling about and.... sat my butt down here

I considered myself fairly lucky to have only put down less than 400 quid to have it serviced and fixed (somehow)... 

So, to your question, i d say best not clapping too hard even with modern mechanical watches, even if they are as reliable as rolex movements... 

Or wait, could it be the other way round that movements by rolex arent that reliable.... 😅🤷🏻‍♂️

One preventable repair job is too many. In the absence of certainty, wear your pocket watch to the event.

I wear shock resistant Russian/Soviet watches, so I never worry about it.

On the other hand, my father repeatedly had to take his watch in for repairs when I was a child.  He would put it on his right hand (as a way to remind himself of something), then he would end up spanking one of us, and the watch would stop working due to the shock.

So depending on the watch, you might want to be careful.

Spooky. Now I'm unsure again 😭

my assumption would be that the force of the wall was a big contributing factor. Although it is concerning to hear as we all assume Rolex movements to be very durable. I can only offer on the other side of the coin, my 4r36 Seiko turtle has taken more serious knocks over the years (including being dropped onto a tiled floor, I think I am lucky with that one.) and it is running well (could use a regulation though). While caution is advised we must also remember that before the advent of quartz watches people did all manner of activities with mechanical watches without a second thought. I wouldn't be too concerned about clapping

Since you have mentioned 4r... There are watches that i wear during outdoor activities such like practising at driving range, repeatedly suffering strong impact over the ball and turf. Watches with 4r, eta 2824..... I have had no problem whatsoever. So i dont really know🤷🏻‍♂️

All i know is that i separate my watches from beaters to the more expensive alternatives, and i luuuuuv my beater watches. They are the charming rugged bunch. 💪🏼

from my understanding driving golf balls would transmit way more shock to a watch than clapping. In fact, I believe driving golf balls is a commonly suggested no-no for mechanical watches. But, I am glad to hear your 4r's and ETA are ticking fine. Those are robust movements. If a watch can take the driving range, clapping is essentially nothing

Allow me to be more specific, those are seikos and german tool watches mainly. 

Yikes — hadn’t even thought of that.  Don’t want to turn your watch into a snow globe!

Careful not to anger Dad!😉

I'd expect in watches before the invention of things like Incabloc or diashock it'd be something to be mindfull about. Quartz unless it is quite a shodily made piece (think a 10 buck ali express 3 hander) wouldn't worry to much about it either

Really interesting post ermant! 

Vaucher movements are reportedly tested to 5000g's. 

A car crash at about 120km/h is nearing 80g's.

These things are tough but again it depends on the movement.

Why not buy at G-Shock for these events? No one wants a clapped out watch. 

The funny thing is, I have a G-Shock =D And I was worried about it too. Not so much anymore, this watch has taken quite a beating since I published this post, and the financial situation in my country has degraded so no watch purchases for me in the forseeable future. So I have kind of given up worrying