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In theory your watch should start as soon as you wind it. The lever escapement is designed to be self starting, it achieves this because when at rest and completely wound down one the escape wheel teeth should line on the impulse face of the entry pallet stone.
However in practice this doesn't always happen, if the watch has not been looked at for some time then the chances are the oil on the pallet stones and escape wheel teeth are less "fresh" and more gummed than when first applied and as a result the power that would normally be enough to start the watch is no longer enough. Add this to the natural weakening of the mainspring over time and the gumming up of oil throughout the train (not just the pallets and escape teeth) and in the balance settings the chances of a watch that hasn't been looked at for some time are quite slim. Sometimes it can just be, it takes more power for the initial first impulse to move the pallet fork which then in turn has to move the balance. However it should at some point between no wind and full wind start its self
In your case I wouldn't worry an awful lot this doesn't necessarily mean "go get it serviced immediately" but I would recommend you do have it serviced in the near future given you are unsure of the history.
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