This little guide to taking care of your wrist-watch is planned to help answer some of those questions we all have but have never bothered to really find out the solution to. Certain sides of timepiece upkeep cause much debate between watch buffs. Many people accept the announcing, “don’t fix it if it’s's not broken.”
To help keep your watch running for the years to come, here are some things you’ll need to know.
Different Band Types and the Simplest Way to Adjust Them…
Having purchased your new or used timepiece you find that the band wants adjusting:
There’s some type of adjustment available in the clasp in the case of a band, and this is thru a pin that’s spring-loaded, locking into the clasp’s holes. By using a tool thin enough to press the pin from the outside to release it, you should not have any problem about attempting this adjustment. Careful! These little pins may fly across a room and could go missing. Always make sure that the watch is on a material or such like before attempting this adjustment or you will find you have accidentally scratched the side of the case or dented the crown.
Straps usually have multiple holes so finding a cushty position is mostly easy. If not you can always make a new hole using a button hole sewing tool.
Hang on, the band needs links removing.
Some bracelets use screws to connect links to each other, while others use push pins. It’s best to leave this to a watchmaker, if you do not have the tools to try this,eg bracelet pin removal tool and watchmakers’ screwdrivers. If you have the correct screwdriver, make sure to resolutely hold the bracelet before unscrewing the screw, ideally with a specialist bracelet holder. Having said that , it’s critical the screwdriver, aside from being the correct size is also of the correct thickness – or you can end up with a broken screw slot.
Push pins, well firstly there are typically little arrows on the bottom of the links indicating which way the pin should be pushed out – clear maybe but worth discussing; some pins are of the split type pure and simple, these are normally found on lower-mid range watches. Again, it is feasible to remove them yourself if you have an instrument that may fit the pin hole right and if you can secure the band. Light drumming of the tool is commonly enough to remove the split pin type. Extraordinarily meticulously, the links are inserted and the pins replaced from the opposite end. If you do not feel ok with doing this it is better to seek a pro watchmaker.
The solid type pins can be infinitely more problematical as bands employing these frequently have special collars in the band links themselves which firstly must be in the correct place when the band is assembled and second are incredibly easy to use. The fit is intensely tight, and I recommend that you let a watchmaker do this. Better to be safe than sorry!
Winding your timepiece….
My watch is a manual, how do I wind it up?
Try to wind a manual wind timepiece at the same time each day to have more consistent timekeeping, preferably in the mornings to have optimum power during the day. When winding a manual wind watch, do so relatively slowly and consistently ; when it is totally wound you’ll feel resistance as the mainspring tightens. This is a good thing. Don’t try and force it any farther as damage might be done both to the mainspring itself and to elements in the escapement.
Remember this. When winding a manual wind watch, it is extremely advisable to take the watch off! Why? It’s possible that you can put unnecessary tax on the winding stem if you keep the watch on. I have seen folk wind their watch by causing a finger under the crown and then winding by a forward and back ward motion of the said finger! This isn’t an excellent idea.
My watch is an automated, does it need winding?
If it died, then it does. Some less expensive automatics don’t have a manual winding capacity; in cases like these you must swing the watch gently in an arc for a minute or so to get the watch running. In the case of those watches with a manual wind capacity then it is usual practice to give the watch approximately 35-40 delicate and slow turns of the winder; this puts the movement in a perfect state of wind to begin with. Normal arm movement should then be enough to keep the watch wound for a while. If you are reasonably active, then it should be OK to leave the watch off overnight without any farther manual winding.
Setting your timepiece…
When setting the time and date?
OK, well firstly a watch provided with a date feature will normally have 3 positions for the crown: in, pulled out one click ( for date setting ) and pulled out two clicks (for time setting). Easy enough. 2 main tips here actually. First, wind the hands slowly when setting the time; doing this much too fast will prematurely wear the parts. Relatively slowly and delicately is fine and preferably in a clockwise direction. Unless a watch allows this specifically, don’t adjust the time backwards thru midnight. Secondly, when using the rapid date advance feature AKA the quickset feature, as a rule avoid doing so between 8.00pm and say 4.00am – serious damage can be caused to the date mechanism if this advice isn’t heeded. If the timepiece stops, make sure you are sell into the safe area before you set the date and that you set the time once through midnight.
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