Best practice for weekend watch (winding / power reserve)

[Cjtnef91]

Hi All,

For those that have pieces you use only for the weekend, what's the best practice for winding / power reserve?

Usually, the piece has a power reserve of 48-hours. Is the best practice to leave it on a watch winder? If so, what's the best setting (e.g. bi-direction, how long do you have it wind for?)

For those who don't use a watch winder, do you typically:

- Per instruction, wind it about ~25 rotations on stem; till it's fully wounded and then wear it on the weekend?
- Wind it just enough till the second hand moves, and just wear it in the weekend, and let the self winding complete it's course

I'm leaning towards not buying an automatic watch winder. My biggest fear is that if i'm fully winding it (~25 rotation on stem) every weekend, would it affect the longevity of the movement? Is it best practice to wind it till it moves, and leave the rest to self wind, or not even wind it at all?

Let me know your thoughts!!

[watchwatcher]

You're not going to affect the longevity of the movement by fully winding it, although a full manual wind is more like 40 turns.

Your call how many winds you want to give it.

[RHIII]

I don’t have a set ‘ritual’ I follow when wearing any of my watches - daily or weekend. Also, I’ve never used a watch winder. I set and wind them when I want to wear them - and if it has stopped before the next ‘wear’, lift and repeat.

I might wind 15-20 winds and that’s about it.


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[HogwldFLTR]

I wind mine until they are beyond just running. Strap them on and go.

[Armyguy03]

If dead, I wind until movement, then wind for a full 60 second rotation of the second hand.

[214270Explorer]

Originally Posted by watchwatcher

You're not going to affect the longevity of the movement by fully winding it, although a full manual wind is more like 40 turns.

Your call how many winds you want to give it.

^--- this.

All watches are initially hand-winders. Some have added rotors to create winding while your arm is moving. This is merely nothing more than than the watch being wound automatically rather than hand-winding it every day.

[avega357]

I wind when I were a 5 digit weekend watch on the spot

No winder, keep it simple


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[Seibei]

Wind it till it runs and then wear it.

[Seibei]

Originally Posted by Armyguy03

If dead, I wind until movement, then wind for a full 60 second rotation of the second hand.

So you wind it for a full 60 seconds? How fast, or slowly are you winding during those seconds?

[beshannon]

Originally Posted by Cjtnef91

For those who don't use a watch winder, do you typically:

I wind it, I set it, I wear it.

Simple.

[brandrea]

No winder here, just my thumb and forefinger

I wind mine the full 40 turns each time.

[JR16]

Originally Posted by 214270Explorer

^--- this.



All watches are initially hand-winders. Some have added rotors to create winding while your arm is moving. This is merely nothing more than than the watch being wound automatically rather than hand-winding it every day.

All Rolex may be, but not all watches . Some are “activated” w the flick of the wrist only and can’t be manually wound - for example, some seiko movements. I’ll let any fellow seiko-haulics chime in if I’m wrong...


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[Seibei]

Originally Posted by JR16

All Rolex may be, but not all watches . Some are “activated” w the flick of the wrist only and can’t be manually wound - for example, some seiko movements. I’ll let any fellow seiko-haulics chime in if I’m wrong...

You are 100% right.

[Bigblu10]

Since I already own a nice Wolf Viceroy double winder, I would keep my watch on it throughout the week if only wearing on weekends. Guess I am a lone "wolf" here!

[Bigblu10]

Originally Posted by Seibei

Wind it till it runs and then wear it.

I have seen your previous posts and can tell you don't like to wind up watches. If the movement starts ticking at say 10 winds, the mainspring really doesn't have enough tension in it for the escapement to be at optimum accuracy. And being a desk diver at work won't help the watch get fully wound because the small movements of typing on a laptop and sliding a mouse just won't spin the winding rotor adequately. It will not break the watch to wind her up a good 40 full turns. And the watch movement then will run at it's optimum accuracy and efficiency.

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by Seibei

Wind it till it runs and then wear it.

I would not recommend this method. As the mainspring unwinds, there is less torque to the drivetrain which affects accuracy. Watches basically run better at full wind.

[Dirt]

I personally try to keep it simple.
I put a handful of winds into the watch, and if it hasn't started of it's own accord I'll give it a light jiggle to set it on it's way.
I then hack the movement when the second hand gets to the 12 o'clock position and wind it through to the required AM/PM position and set the time to a known reference.
Then I set the date and screw the Winding crown down, put the watch on and off I go without any further adoo.

As long as the watch is in normal working order it will wind itself up to full power over the course of the day with my normal wearing habits.
How do I know this?
It's always been my loose estimate based on experience that wearing the watch for about an 8 hour period will bring it to a fully wound condition from a dead stop.
To check the theory not so long ago I simply put the watch on from a dead stop in the morning and noted the time. Then I removed it after 2 hours and the watch had started of it's own accord during the 2 hour period.
I then took it off and set it aside to see how long it would run for.
It ran for about 12 hours.

Any method will work though, and it's a matter of personal preference.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by watchwatcher

You're not going to affect the longevity of the movement by fully winding it, although a full manual wind is more like 40 turns.

Your call how many winds you want to give it.

Quite right.
If one is not absolutely obsessed with the accuracy of the watch throughout the period it would take for it to wind itself up then the shortcut method will suffice.

[Watcheroo]

I haven’t found the need to use a watch winder for any of my watches. If I had a perpetual calendar, I’d probably get one. Otherwise, I wind my automatic watches around 40-50 turns. If non-auto, I give it a full wind and am good to go. I enjoy the process of getting my watches ready to wear

[beachybuns]

I have recently become a two Rolex owner and don't own a watch winder. I try to keep my weekend watch running by winding daily but I forget and find it not running come Thursday or Friday. I do about 30 turns of the crown before setting and putting it on for the weekend.
Though, I've been thinking about buying a watch winder since my husband had several watches in rotation.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by watchwatcher

You're not going to affect the longevity of the movement by fully winding it, although a full manual wind is more like 40 turns.

Your call how many winds you want to give it.

If you fully wind it won’t the auto winding mechanism continue to wind it under full torque and the mainspring then slip in it’s housing?
Why would this not increase wear given the full wind, the extra torque on the gear train and the slippage on the mainspring housing?
Why then will manually winding it to full power and wearing it not affect the longevity of the movement?

You have fully wound the movement.
Plus.
You are continuing to keep it fully wound.

Instead of giving it a few start up winds and letting the auto winding do the rest?

Are you a watchmaker?

To answer the OP’s question.
I am wearing my Apple Watch for a few days while on building sites and in my factory.
My daily 14060 is on the bench since Monday and as it was probably fully wound when I took off I will give it about 10-15 turns of the crown/day (if I remember) to keep it running till Friday.
But if it stops I’ll just reset it.

[Jackumi]

I have three watches and have a set routine. During the working week at the office I wear my DJ on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, my GMT Wednesday and my Sub on Friday. Weekends I wear my GMT or Sub either one on Saturday or Sunday that takes my fancy. I put all my watches on my winder when not on my wrist. I reset the time to the second on all my watches to my iPhone clock on the 1st day of the month, 5 months of the year I correct the date. Twice a year I adjust GMT to daylight saving time changes. I set my watch winder to run for 3hrs then rest for 6hrs and I have no problems they keep running nicely, I rarely manually wind them. The four watch winder for mine and my wife's DJ is on our bedroom chest of draws so that each time I go to the room I can admire them!

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Jackumi

I have three watches and have a set routine. During the working week at the office I wear my DJ on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, my GMT Wednesday and my Sub on Friday. Weekends I wear my GMT or Sub either one on Saturday or Sunday that takes my fancy. I put all my watches on my winder when not on my wrist. I reset the time to the second on all my watches to my iPhone clock on the 1st day of the month, 5 months of the year I correct the date. Twice a year I adjust GMT to daylight saving time changes. I set my watch winder to run for 3hrs then rest for 6hrs and I have no problems they keep running nicely, I rarely manually wind them. The four watch winder for mine and my wife's DJ is on our bedroom chest of draws so that each time I go to the room I can admire them!

Here is THE man.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by MSchott

I would not recommend this method. As the mainspring unwinds, there is less torque to the drivetrain which affects accuracy. Watches basically run better at full wind.

If you wind it just to start it isn’t the watch winding the mainspring up from that point?
The watch may run slightly faster when unwound and work up to a slightly higher amplitude as it winds up.
Won’t this average out the precision? (Precision not accuracy btw).

[Devildog]

Originally Posted by Dirt

I personally try to keep it simple.
I put a handful of winds into the watch, and if it hasn't started of it's own accord I'll give it a light jiggle to set it on it's way.
I then hack the movement when the second hand gets to the 12 o'clock position and wind it through to the required AM/PM position and set the time to a known reference.
Then I set the date and screw the Winding crown down, put the watch on and off I go without any further adoo.

As long as the watch is in normal working order it will wind itself up to full power over the course of the day with my normal wearing habits.
How do I know this?
It's always been my loose estimate based on experience that wearing the watch for about an 8 hour period will bring it to a fully wound condition from a dead stop.
To check the theory not so long ago I simply put the watch on from a dead stop in the morning and noted the time. Then I removed it after 2 hours and the watch had started of it's own accord during the 2 hour period.
I then took it off and set it aside to see how long it would run for.
It ran for about 12 hours.

Any method will work though, and it's a matter of personal preference.

This

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by directioneng

If you wind it just to start it isn’t the watch winding the mainspring up from that point?
The watch may run slightly faster when unwound and work up to a slightly higher amplitude as it winds up.
Won’t this average out the precision? (Precision not accuracy btw).

It will but it depends on the activity of the wearer. Many lead a fairly sedentary existence, sitting at a desk or driving a car. Others may do more walking which would eventually fully wind the watch.

[Benjamin108]

Originally Posted by directioneng

Here is THE man.

I agree...he is THE man.

[VicLeChic]

Originally Posted by Cjtnef91

- Wind it just enough till the second hand moves, and just wear it in the weekend, and let the self winding complete it's course

This is what I do with all my automatic mechanical watches which are on rotation during the week and at the weekend equally when I'm not travelling. I'd rather use the rotor than the stem and I don't need the extra accuracy of a full wind from the start.

[Dr.Brian]

Just get a Patek or Panerai 8 or 10 day movement.
Problem solved.

[watchwatcher]

Originally Posted by directioneng

Are you a watchmaker?

Nope.

In light of this, let me re-phrase my response.

OP: I wouldn't think fully winding your watch would affect the longevity of your movement, but I am not certified to give you an authoritative answer to your question.

I will happily defer to a trained and certified watchmaker to give you a definitive opinion.