When I say watch, you think of a high-grade product for sure, a luxury product with a high price. Watches are usually found in high-grade occasions, especially mechanical watches. Everyone is after mechanical watches. So do you know how to maintain and use them?
What mechanical watch means?
The working principle of mechanical watches is actually very clear in Wikipedia, you can refer to it here
“A mechanical watch is a watch that uses a clockwork mechanism to measure the passage of time,
as opposed to quartz watches which function using the vibration modes of a piezoelectric quartz tuning fork, or radio watches, which are quartz watches synchronized to an atomic clock via radio waves.
A mechanical watch is driven by a mainspring which must be wound either periodically by hand or via a self-winding mechanism. Its force is transmitted through a series of gears to power the balance wheel, a weighted wheel which oscillates back and forth at a constant rate.
A device called an escapement releases the watch’s wheels to move forward a small amount with each swing of the balance wheel, moving the watch’s hands forward at a constant rate.
The escapement is what makes the ‘ticking’ sound which is heard in an operating mechanical watch.”
What powers a mechanical watch?
Mechanical watches are usually divided into two types: hand-wound and automatic (AUTOMATIC).
Both types of mechanical watches are powered by the clockwork in the movement, which drives the gears that push the hands, but the power source differs.
What is a self-winding mechanical watch?
A hand-wound mechanical watch is manually wound, and the thickness of the movement is thinner than that of an automatic watch, making the watch lighter in weight.
What is an automatic mechanical watch?
Automatic mechanical watch, that is a self-winding watch, on the other hand, uses the power generated by the left and right oscillation of the rotor at the bottom of the movement to drive the clockwork to generate potential energy, but the thickness of the watch is relatively thicker than that of an ordinary hand-wound watch.
How to Use a Mechanical ( Automatic and Hand-winding) Watch? How to Set Up a Mechanical Watch?
After getting a mechanical watch, the first thing you will do is to wind the watch, so how to wind the mechanical watch correctly? Let’s tell you about it today.
01
How often to wind up the mechanical watch?
Manual mechanical watches are recommended to be fully wound only once a day。
A fully wound watch can usually run for about 30 hours or more, up to eight days or more.
Automatic mechanical watches do not need to be wound every day under normal circumstances.
A fully wound automatic mechanical watch can run continuously for about 36 hours, and can operate for about 15 hours if it is guaranteed to be worn normally every day. If it is not worn for more than the above time, the watch should be fully wound before it is worn again.
02
How do I wind it up?？
Usually 20-30 rotations are sufficient。
When resistance is felt during the winding process, it means that the watch has stored enough power. Over-winding can cause a lot of damage to the movement.
03
Precautions of Winding Automatic mechanical watch
If your move is sufficient, Try not use hand winding.。
Because hand-winding requires the handle to drive many automatic wheels together, automatic parts are very prone to wear and tear, adding unnecessary maintenance costs for watch enthusiasts.
Also, you should never mooch your wrist to replenish the energy, it will easily cause the automatic tourbillon to loosen and fall off. In case of insufficient power, just wind it manually directly.
04
Other notes about winding
Keep your movements slow and even when winding.。
The most serious consequence of too much speed is that the function of the gear teeth is destroyed. Slow and even wind movements can prevent or reduce wear and damage between gears.
You need to remove the watch from your wrist when winding, it is easier to feel the tightness of the internal winding, and it can also avoid uneven force during the winding process, which may cause unnecessary damage to the internal movement
It is important to learn how to wind your watch correctly so that your watch will stay with you for a longer period of time.
Pros and Cons of Mechanical Watches
The advantage of mechanical watches is: through regular maintenance and oil washing, they can be used for a long time.
But the disadvantage is: the error is bigger than in quartz watches because the quality of production is high or low and the movement inside the watch is susceptible to the influence of gravity and produces errors. Usually, the error of mechanical watches is calculated by the number of seconds difference per day, while the error of quartz watches is calculated by the number of seconds difference per month.
Notice when using
1、Wear normally Avoid vibration
Only when you have the amount of activity the watch can continuously run, to keep the watch wound and running normally (it may be slow when the wearer is less active, which is normal. Please rotate the crown 20-30 times when using the watch for the first time to make the initial winding). Although the watch is shockproof, it is easy to break the tip of the pendulum or the journal of the wheel system when the external impact is strong, and the fast and slow hands may vibrate to affect the time.
2、Prevents magnetization
Although the watch is made of non-magnetic materials that are not easily magnetized, it is affected by magnetic fields, such as the magnetic clasp on a TV, radio speaker, backpack, or purse.
3、Waterproof
Try not to take the watch to swim or wash clothes, and once it gets wet or wetted by rain, you should not pull out the crown to adjust the watch at this time, but dry it immediately. As the head of the watch crown is relatively protruding, try to avoid knocking it, and pay attention to the gaps between the case and the crown when production, If it is too small, It’s hard to rotate adjust the time, If it is too big, it’s not nice.
4、Watch cleaning
In general, you can clean the oil or dust within 3~5 years, when to clean the watches, It depends on the following factors:
① the sealing problem of the watch
② the degree of wear of the watch (wear degree)
③ quartz watches can be longer
④ men’s watches or pocket watches can be more frequently compared to the thin type or women’s watches
5、 places to put the watches which are not used for a long time
Do not put them in the suitcase with mothballs and sanitary balls, which will deteriorate the oil and make the watch machine inaccurate.
Wind or wear the watch at monthly intervals to ensure flexible internal activities.
How to Maintain my Mechanical Watches?
First of all, unless the mechanical watch is marked with water resistance, you must avoid water in the case, because water will cause mechanical corrosion, and the destructive force is very strong. Else, pls far away from the seawater.
Even if it is stated waterproof watch, it can only have a waterproof guarantee for one year, because the waterproof ring(I-ring) of the watch will be tired after a whole year of wear and tear, plus sweat, dust, and other unavoidable external factors, so it must be replaced with a new waterproof ring after one year, otherwise, it will not have the function of waterproof.
In addition to water resistance, it is also important to prevent collisions. Under the scope of financial ability, it is worth having two or three watches to replace in daily life:
Buy a mechanical watch for static activities and a quartz watch for work, so that the use of time and place will help extend the service life of the watch.
The mechanical watch is driven by mechanical gears and clockwork and rotation, and rotation inevitably produces friction.
Therefore, it is necessary to add oil and lubrication over time to reduce the rate of wear of parts. Otherwise, if you wait until the problem is sent to repair, the problem is often very serious.
Therefore, it is best to send the mechanical watch to the watch repair store every year to check to see if there is improper use or water into the watches.
In particular, the local climate is hot and humid, and sweat, rain, and dirty air accumulated over the years, causing chronic erosion of machinery, the frequency and degree of damage are much higher, so regular inspection is very important; then every three years need to make a thorough cleaning, maintenance.
Usually the water resistance of 30 meters(3ATM) or 50 meters(5ATM) indicated on the watch refers to the data measured in the laboratory, It is tested by using pure water, so the water resistance of the watch is usually limited to wearing a shower, washing hands, do not wear it when swimming, diving, bathing, which will cause serious damage to the watch
Why my Automatic mechanical watch slow walking
The watch is magnetized: As mentioned before, any watch if affected by a magnetic field, will cause deviations in timekeeping. If the automatic mechanical watch is slow, the watch may be affected by the magnetic field;
maybe it is because you had put the watch close to the magnetic field, such as audio, computer, TV, and other items with magnetism, so you can go to a watch repair store and demagnetize the watch.
Insufficient kinetic energy: fully automatic mechanical watches do not have to rely on manual winding to maintain power; they are powered by wear for more than 8 hours a day.
so ensure a certain amount of arms activity will be able to automatically wind up and store to a sufficient amount of power. If you find that the automatic mechanical watch is slowing down, it must result from insufficient power. This requires a quick swing of the arm to make the kinetic energy of the watch sufficient.
Too few times of maintenance: After a long time of wear of the Automatic mechanical watches, both the surface and the internal structure will more or less be covered with some sweat and grease, or dust and impurities in the air.
If the watch is not regularly maintained and cleaned, when the sludge accumulates to a certain degree, it will affect the time of the watch and cause the problem of slowing down the time.
If it is not convenient to clean the watch by yourself, you should send it to a repair store for cleaning, oiling, and maintenance.
FAQ of Mechanical Watches
Are mechanical watches better?
For general wear, quartz watches are better. For collecting hobby, mechanical watches are better. For watch accuracy, mechanical watches are not as accurate as quartz watches
What makes a mechanical watch special? Why do people prefer mechanical watches?
The specialty of a mechanical watch is its mechanical design and inside movement structure.
Some are because they love to collect watches, the texture, the sense of high level, where it is very dignified, and boys are born to mechanical things have an inexplicable good feeling, so many people like to wear mechanical watches, And it is the same like most girls like pink, I think there is nothing different in essence
Does the mechanical watch need a battery?
No Need, It is driven by a spool that pushes the gears
Do mechanical watches run forever?
If you do regular maintenance, the minimum lifetime of a mechanical watch is about 10-15 years, and some well-known Swiss watch brands manufacture mechanical watches life can reach decades
Is mechanical better than quartz?
From the point of view of time accuracy, mechanical watches are more accurate than quartz watches, and most mechanical watches are priced and configured to be more accurate than quartz watches
Do you have to wind a mechanical watch every day?
Yes, if you wear it every day,
For hand-winding watches, You need to wind up 20-30 rotations are sufficient。
Do mechanical watches hold their value?
Not all mechanical watches retain their value, only some well-known brands of mechanical watches hold their value because the brand holds its value
What happens if you don’t wind a mechanical watch?
Mechanical watches are oiled, if they do not go for a long time, it will lead to the gears and escapement system inside will not be properly lubricated and affecting the accuracy of the time.
If you do not need to use your mechanical watch for a while, please remember to wind it up at least once a month. This will prevent the performance of the internal parts from degrading due to prolonged standstill, and will also prevent the oil from solidifying inside the watch.
How do I know if my watch is mechanical?
The easiest way to quickly distinguish a watch is to look at the movement of the second hand. In most cases, the second hand of a pointer-type quartz watch is jump-moving, one second at a time. The mechanical watch is sweeping smoothly across the dial.
Another way is to check the back of the dial text, It will write with quartz movement or Mechanical movement.
Are luxury watches mechanical?
Luxury watches are not mechanical watches, watches become luxury because of the brand
How often should you wear a mechanical watch?
One month at a time is the safest to keep your mechanical watch working
What can you not do with a mechanical watch?
1 – Don’t overwind
2 – Don’t operate your watch underwater
3 – Keep it wind-up once a month
4 – Don’t set certain functions at the wrong time(21 pm-5 am)
5 – Don’t over-rely on Watch Winder
6 – Take care of it, keep it clean
7 – Don’t drop it, be gentle with it
8 – Maintain It periodically
