Basic self-winder questions

[DDG]

OK. I'm walking down the street wearing my favorite Rolex, and I've seen the movements in these self winders and I understand basically how they work. The counter weight or ocillator rotates back & forth as the watch moves on my wrist. Is it winding when it moves in just one direction like a ratchet? or is it winding when it rotates in either direction? When it's completely wound up, does it dis-engage at that point? And lastly, when I have to manually wind it up, how do I tell when it's completely wound? It seems I could rotate the crown all day with out knowing when it's maxed out.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by DDG

OK. I'm walking down the street wearing my favorite Rolex, and I've seen the movements in these self winders and I understand basically how they work. The counter weight or ocillator rotates back & forth as the watch moves on my wrist. Is it winding when it moves in just one direction like a ratchet? or is it winding when it rotates in either direction? When it's completely wound up, does it dis-engage at that point? And lastly, when I have to manually wind it up, how do I tell when it's completely wound? It seems I could rotate the crown all day with out knowing when it's maxed out.

Rolex watches wind both ways as the winding weighted rotor pendulum swings.And sometimes when you manually wind when its fully wound there will very slightly less resistance. But you cannot over-wind your watch a safety mechanism prevents that.Now if watch comes to a complete stop then 40 full manual crown turns clockwise then it should be fully wound.

[JMIND]

Originally Posted by padi56

Rolex watches wind both ways as the winding weighted rotor pendulum swings.And sometimes when you manually wind when its fully wound there will very slightly less resistance. But you cannot over-wind your watch a safety mechanism prevents that.Now if watch comes to a complete stop then 40 full manual crown turns clockwise then it should be fully wound.

Thanks for the information, Padi56!