Manually wind an automatic watch?
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If your wearing your automatic watch it’s going to be fully wound already. You can’t overwind it but it’s not going to change anything
Depends on the movement, the ETA 2824 and SW200 have a known weakness in the winding mechanism. You can wind them, but doing it constantly will wear the mechanism faster than necessary.
Most modern movements can't be overwound, but again, winding too often will likely just add extra wear and tear on the parts that isn't necessary.
Not worth it, even if you take it off overnight it'll still get fully wound quite quickly once you've put it back on. Not worth the extra wear and tear on the crown TBH.
Since you mention it: Accuracy is an interesting topic. Not so much in n the sense of how you wind it, but how much the mainspring will be into its power reserve will have an impact.
For example, it is rumored that 80hr power reserve movements were introduced not because customers demanded them, but because it was easier to pass COSC certifications with the mainspring close to being fully wound. (The certification is a 24hr test.)
As far as handwinding is concerned, @KristianG is right. I don't wind my SW200-1 movements more than 10 turns. If it doesn't move by then it gets the Seiko shake.
Depends on the movement, the ETA 2824 and SW200 have a known weakness in the winding mechanism. You can wind them, but doing it constantly will wear the mechanism faster than necessary.
Most modern movements can't be overwound, but again, winding too often will likely just add extra wear and tear on the parts that isn't necessary.
Does the same apply to SW300 or 330 to your knowledge? Any reason why just the 200?
Since you mention it: Accuracy is an interesting topic. Not so much in n the sense of how you wind it, but how much the mainspring will be into its power reserve will have an impact.
For example, it is rumored that 80hr power reserve movements were introduced not because customers demanded them, but because it was easier to pass COSC certifications with the mainspring close to being fully wound. (The certification is a 24hr test.)
As far as handwinding is concerned, @KristianG is right. I don't wind my SW200-1 movements more than 10 turns. If it doesn't move by then it gets the Seiko shake.
The COSC certification did in fact get me wondering about this since the tests are allegedly always performed on a fully wound movement.
Does the same apply to SW300 or 330 to your knowledge? Any reason why just the 200?
I think the 2892/SW300 does not have the issue, but I'm not 100%.
I wind my 2824 and SW200 watches, but only to start them, not to keep them wound.
Depends on the movement, the ETA 2824 and SW200 have a known weakness in the winding mechanism. You can wind them, but doing it constantly will wear the mechanism faster than necessary.
Most modern movements can't be overwound, but again, winding too often will likely just add extra wear and tear on the parts that isn't necessary.
How is it that modern movements cannot be overwound? Does the crown simply not turn anymore or does it disengage and spin freely (I apologize if these seem like naive assumptions, but I have yet to acquire my first mechanical watch).
How is it that modern movements cannot be overwound? Does the crown simply not turn anymore or does it disengage and spin freely (I apologize if these seem like naive assumptions, but I have yet to acquire my first mechanical watch).
There is a bridle riding against the wall of the mainspring housing holding the end of the mainspring, it's almost like a friction clutch, and it will slide if too much torque is applied to the mainspring.
This is an interesting question. I’ve thought it myself but always assumed doing it would be no issue. Now I’m a bit better informed. Perhaps I’ll be doing the “Seiko shake” on all of them just in case.
This is an interesting question. I’ve thought it myself but always assumed doing it would be no issue. Now I’m a bit better informed. Perhaps I’ll be doing the “Seiko shake” on all of them just in case.
Now I’m curious what the Seiko Shake is haha
How is it that modern movements cannot be overwound? Does the crown simply not turn anymore or does it disengage and spin freely (I apologize if these seem like naive assumptions, but I have yet to acquire my first mechanical watch).
There is a clutch that disengages the winding mechanism to prevent damage.
Now I’m curious what the Seiko Shake is haha
Old seiko movements like the 7s26 couldn't be hand wound so the only way to get it started was to shake it, this became known as the seiko shuffle
Only Chuck Norris can handwind an automatic watch till the end!☝🏻
It’s absolutely recommended. Winding via the automatic is always supplementary and not really designed to be the main mode of winding your watch. If you’re after the best power reserve and timing metrics, you should wind your watch 100x or so in the morning (remember the actuation of your fingers is about 1/2 or 1/3 wind).
You can’t overwind automatics as they have a slipping mainspring, as they reach full wind it jumps between notches in the barrel wall. If you listen carefully you can hear it!
My understanding is that you can’t overwind a modern automatic watch. It basically has something analogous to a clutch that disengages when the mainspring is fully wound.
Just give it one or two turns to get it going and then put it on your wrist. As @KristianG said, I know that certain ETA and Sellita movements have issues, specifically with the reversing wheels if I remember correctly. They occasionally come out of the factory under-lubricated and teeth will strip if wound by hand excessively. Having worked on a handful of ETA movements, if the 2824 has an issue, that extends to almost all 28xx movements, because the part is the same across most of the movements. Some may be different, but all modern ones should have the same reversing wheels. What do I mean by "modern?" I'm working on a Bucherer from the '70s that is almost 1:1 with the 2836 model. Everything apart from the day and date mechanism is the same.
Therefore, as a general precaution, only wind it by hand to get it started and let gravity do the rest.
Hope this helps!
When I first started collecting, I would keep all my mechanical watches on winders. Then I was talking to a watch repairman one time, and he advised only winding them when you were going to wear them. He said it was like keeping your car idling all the time. You're unnecessarily putting "miles" on the movement for no reason.
Now I’m curious what the Seiko Shake is haha
How you would wind older Seiko movements that were automatic with no manual wind or hacking.
I don’t usually do but I have been lately. I only have 2 watch winders but rotating 6 watches. I’ve been rotating 4 thru the winders and 2 I’ve been manual winding every morning.
The two I’ve been winding manual are a Orient and a Seiko 5. I was browsing the Seiko website and there was recommendation to have your watch fully or nearly wound for best accuracy. Anyway, if this ruins them, they are cheap watches.
And stop with comments like the winder prematurely wearing the gears and analogies about having your car in idle when parked. Rubbish. I’ve had my watches on winders for 20 plus years with no problems.
Winding an automatic is fine. The modern ones have a safeguard against "over-winding".
Depends on power reserve. Most watches I sell have about a 48 hour power reserve. Most of the time if you are wearing it all day the barrels will not max out to it’s stated power reserve, and a hand wind will insure this. I recommend to all of my clients to wind it before wear or before they go to bed. This will insure that there will not be power loss without the rotar being engaged. This will help with daily accuracy because the movement won’t be powering down and losing time.
The mechanism that keeps it from being overwound is called a slipping bridle. @hbein2022 got it right.
Thanks everyone! The slipping mechanism is in fact even mentioned here which I knew but had forgotten.
Isn't the main reason of getting an automatic is not having to do manual winding? I personally think it's kinda redundant to do something we actually don't need to do in the first place. Even if the watch stops moving, shaking it for several seconds will do the magic, so we don't actually need to wind it at all 🍻