[nboyer]

Totally agree. Cheers. -Norm

Originally Posted by 037

My personal opinion: If you're going to throw a watch in the safe for 18 years as a future gift, throw it in the safe and don't wind it. There's no point in wearing it out if you aren't going to wear it. 18 years later you can have the movement cleaned and oiled without having to replace major parts (excluding seals), assuming no unforeseen corrosion issues.

I would venture to guess that 18 years of winding once per month would show more wear on the movement than 3 years of consecutive use purely due to oils migrating or drying up. Your tube and crown would have far more wear as well since you'd have ~216 winding events compared to only a handful a year on a daily watch.

Personally, I'd wear the watch and enjoy it. I'd rather receive a worn watch from my father than one in mint/NOS condition. A worn watch has history, soul and inherent sentimental value. An unworn watch would be intimidating to wear far too tempting to sell for current market value or put back in the safe for another 30 years. But, that's just my take.