Wristwatch Basic Infoformation Tips

Operating an Automatic Watch

With a new watch, wear it every day for at least two weeks.

Note: Many watches have a screwdown crown that must be released.

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Different Types of Movements Available

Automatic Watches: A rotor on the movement keeps the watch powered by the motion on your wrist. If worn everyday, an automatic watch will run for life (or until it breaks). Automatic watches generally have 100's of parts inside their small cases. If an automatic watch has stopped, it is best to wind it via the crown 20-30 times to give it a good kick start. If not wound manually, wrist motion is generally not enough to keep it running accurately.

Quartz Watches: The quartz movement became common for watches in the 70's. They are powered by a battery and need little maintenance except for a battery swap every year or so. They are highly accurate compared to mechanical watches.

Manual Wind Watches: A manual wind watch must be wound every one or two days by the crown in order to run. Even with that perceived inconvenience, they are still produced in Switzerland and can even be found on watches well over $5000. Many collectors find them highly desirable. It is easier to make a thinner and lighter watch without the self-winding mechanism. Some unique movements can reserve up to 8 days of power and will usually have a power-reserve indicator on the dial.

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Setting The Date On Mechanical Watches

• Never change the date manually when the hour hand is about the 9 and 3.. Adjusting the date with the quick-set can damage the movement in this position.
  
• Never wind the hands back beyond the 12-midnight position, this can damage the movement.
  
• Some watches with complex movements and/or features require special care; please check the instructions that came with the watch.
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Watches Company Owners

Audemars Piguet

Rolex

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Watch Crystals

Sapphire, Mineral, and Plexiglass (typically called plastic) are the three main crystals used on watches today.

Plastic is the least expensive and commonly found on vintage watches and many modern watches. These crystals scratch easily, however they are cheap to replace and easy to buff scratches out. Sapphire is the most expensive and the most scratch resistant. It can only be scratched by diamonds and other surfaces with a mineral hardness of 10. They are generally over $100 to replace and basically impossible to buff any scratches out. Since they are so hard, they are more likely to shatter on heavy impacts than a plastic crystal. A mineral crystal is between plastic and sapphire in cost and scratch resistance. It is virtually impossible to tell the difference between mineral and sapphire without taking a steel knife to the crystal to test it (not recommended!).

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Breaking In A New Watch

Most new mechanical watches will go through a short burn-in period. Nothing special needs to be done by the owner, the watch should take care of itself...

Before a watch makes it to your wrist, it has likely been sitting in the jewelers store or a warehouse. Oils and lubricants can pool in certain areas. It takes 1 or 2 months for the oils to be distributed to their proper locations. The moving of the parts will also wear away and microscopic imperfections that most parts have. After a couple of months the watch will be properly broken in and run with more precision.

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Operating an Manual Wind Watch

• With a new watch, wear it every day for at least two weeks
  
• Wind the watch first, and then set the hands
  
• Wind the watch slowly and regularly
  
• Wind it daily, and if possible do so in the morning
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Jewels in Watch Movemeents

Jewels are man-made artificial rubies or sapphires that have been drilled, champfered, and polished to serve as bearings for the gears and as stones for the pallet-arms. This reduces the friction of mechanical parts against each other to a minimum. Most Swiss watches today will have 19 or more Jewels. A quality mechanical piece needs at least 15.

The popular ETA 2824 has 25 jewels. It's more presigious sibling, the ETA 2892 only uses 21 jewels.

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Watch Forums

Listed below are useful watch forums. They contain discussions between members, articles, photographs, and plenty of watch related material.

Poor Man's Watch Forum
Watch-U-Seek
Timezone
Watchnet
The Purists
Equation of Time

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Operating a Quartz (Battery) Watch

• If the watch is not going to be worn for a long period of time, stop the movement by pulling the crown out to time setting position. This will stop the watch and preserve the battery.
  
• Have the battery checked every two years by a competent watchmaker.
  
• When the battery is changed, have the watchmaker insure the watch is pressure-tight to withstand dust and moisture
  
• If the second hand starts advancing in four-second increments, the battery needs to be replaced. Watches will run another 1-4 weeks when the battery is low.
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Temperatures, shocks, magnetic fields

• Avoid extreme shocks and vibrations to your watch.
  
• Avoid extreme temperature fluctuations.
  
• Do not expose the your watch to extreme magnetic fields for any long period of time.
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Hack Seconds

Many watches today have a "hack seconds" feature. When the crown is pulled out to adjust the time, the seconds will stop. This allows accurate synchronization with another clock. On most hack movements, when the crown is pulled out, a lever is moved which contacts the rim of the balance, which causes the movement to stop.

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Water Resistance

Water resistance is normally expressed in meters. This rating is only theoretical and refers to the depth that a watch will keep water out if the watch and water are both motionless. These conditions never really exist in real life because the user's arm movement dramatically increases the pressure on the watch, along with the water moving itself. The chart below should help you understand how deep you can really go with your watch.

Measurement Units: 1 meter is about 3.3 feet / 1 ATM (atmosphere) or bar is about 10 meters
Technically, 1 atm = 14.7 psi = 1.03 kilograms per square centimeter = 1 bar

If a watch is labeled only "water-resistant." It can withstand splashes of water but should not be submerged in any water.

50 meters: suitable for brief water exposure
100 meters: suitable for standard swimming pools
200 meters: suitable for recreational scuba diving
1,000 meters: (roughly three-fifths of a mile).

Watches should not be worn in the bath/shower. The soap suds reduce the surface tension of the rubber gasket in the watch, which allows water to get in. The soap can also damage the seal itself. So we highly recommend you do not bathe with your watch.

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Tips on Keeping your watch Water Resistant

• Take off your water-resistant watch prior to showering or washing dishes. Soap reduces the surface tension of water and increases the chances the water can get past the seals.
  
• Once a year, have your watch's water resistance checked and have any bad seals/gaskets replaced.
  
• If you notice condensation under the crystal or on the dial of the watch, take it to a watchmaker immediately.
  
• If your watch has a screwdown crown, make sure it is screwed down before swimming of getting it wet.
  
• Always rinse your watch in tap water after swimming in chlorinated water or in the sea.
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