Motorcyling with mechanical watches

What do ya' all think of wearing mechanical watches while riding motorcycles. Leave out the adventure/off-road types and doing somersaults with motorcycles. I'm talking about the regular day-to-day and touring motorcycling stuff. Will these affect the movements and longevity?

I do wear a Casio g-shock or an Apple watch while riding, but I miss wearing my mechanical watches not for the fear of them losing accuracy, but longevity.

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Im no expert but depending on how much you bike vibrates it will effect the watch negativly. Mainly because mechanical watches dont like vibrations. Very nice bike btw :)

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I ride a Harley and because of the vibration, I don't wear a mechanical watch. I wear my G- Shock. With that being said, I have been on the bike with my Omega SMP 300 on accident, for a short ride (I forgot to take it off).

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I never wear a watch while riding. It would be bad for mechanical watches and i couldn´t even fit it under my leatherjacket and my gloves. 

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Been curious about this myself, thanks for asking. Wi'll be watching this thread. 

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i heard the vibration would damage the movement. so my advice is wear a quartz or digital watch, just for safety of the watch 

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I can see this being an issue with vintage mechanical watches but most modern mechanical watches incorporate shock resistance into their designs that help prevent damage. I personally wouldn't be too concerned with "damaging" vibrations moving through your wrist to your watch but would be more concerned about comfort.

I found this article on Hondinkee which seems to prove it's very doable (some watchmakers enjoy riding like you): 

Best Motorcycle Watch (hodinkee.com)

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An 899 with AP skeleton – what a combination!

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I've been hesitant to wear a mechanical watch even on a bicycle 😅 Going with one of my solar quartz instead.

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I’ve worn a watch on an electric scooter. The roads here are awful too. Nothing bad has happened…yet!

Excellent photo btw!

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Even Apple has warnings about not attaching iPhones to motorcycles. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212803 

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I don't think twice about it, but I'm not doing high mileage, I don't ride a paint-shaker, and isn't your hand and wrist acting as a suspension anyway?

The number of watches that I don't feel like trying to cram under a glove gauntlet and/or riding jacket is a much greater concern. This is yet another reason I don't like big watches.

I must admit that I very much like the idea of a watch taking any crash impact before I do, even though I know that the likelihood due to position is very minimal.

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I’ll happily ride with whatever I’m wearing that day, and not think twice about it. Used my 16570 last year for an extensive trip and never bothered me.

I would be more worried about other aspects than damaging the movement. One riding buddy told me he never swears his watch because he doesn’t want the bracelet there in case of a crash to lessen the chance of breaking the wrist. Very seasoned rider, but not sure if it’s an measurable effect or not.

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Yes, I've been erring on the side of caution. I used to wear a Tissot Gentelman with 100m water resist on long tours and in the rain. In the rains, I really didn't think much as it was anyways tucked inside the gauntlet of my rainproof gloves. I used to check the accuracy of the watch after every ride and I hardly noticed any difference. However, these days, I'm sticking to the Apple watch (pain the wrong place as I've to carry the charger everywhere), or the Casio. I think I'll stick with the Casio and Tissot for the most part. The Hamilton that you see in the pic is only for 'pic' purposes - never use my beloved Hamilton for motorcycling, but it's so thin that I don't have an issue with the jacket cuff and the glove.

Great inputs, guys! Keep 'em coming. Like to hear from someone who wears mechanical watches all the time when motorcycling, what that watch was/is and how it fared/fares. :) 

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Much worse stuff was done while wearing mechanical and automatic watches, I’m going to be jet skiing a bit this year (hopefully) and I’m going to wear my Seiko Willard

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Hi out there! I take my moto guzzi to get to work every day. It’s a nice 2x30min ride… the bike shakes a little as is it a V2 but it’s ok. I always wear one of my watches, mechanical for the vast majority. Never had any issue. I even have one to put over the jacket if ponctuality is of the essence for whatever reason. 
But mind you, I once had a swatch that was killed by the vibrations of some classical cycling a little downhill…

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This is an excellent question.  I had a chat with a veteran watchmaker a few years ago that told me a story of a truck driver who wore an Omega Speedmaster for a daily over several years, back when trucks were fairly brutal to drive.  He serviced the watch until it became unserviceable. Eventually, over time, the vibrations took their toll.  His advice was not to expose a mechanical movement to vibration.  They can and will take a beating but will suffer.  I haven’t forgotten his advice and usually wear a quartz.  Also, I’d rather not wear too fine a watch as I perform roadside maintenance, load and unload stuff, get gas, etc.  I love my mechanical watches, and once I learned that vibrations are bad for them, I can’t ignore it.  Ymmv.

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Malikknows

This is an excellent question.  I had a chat with a veteran watchmaker a few years ago that told me a story of a truck driver who wore an Omega Speedmaster for a daily over several years, back when trucks were fairly brutal to drive.  He serviced the watch until it became unserviceable. Eventually, over time, the vibrations took their toll.  His advice was not to expose a mechanical movement to vibration.  They can and will take a beating but will suffer.  I haven’t forgotten his advice and usually wear a quartz.  Also, I’d rather not wear too fine a watch as I perform roadside maintenance, load and unload stuff, get gas, etc.  I love my mechanical watches, and once I learned that vibrations are bad for them, I can’t ignore it.  Ymmv.

Thanks for your point of view. This does make sense. I’d not wear my expensive mechanical watches, if at all I chose to wear them on my motorcycle rides. I’ll alternate between the gshock and tissot gentleman.