Winding an automatic watch every day.

[linux]

I was researching movements and came across a design defect in the ETA 2824 and the corresponding SW200, namely the ratchet wheel breaks teeth if you wind it too much.  Sellita has allegedly fixed it with the 200-1 in 2008 though there are reports of it happening since that upgrade.

It "seems" to have been correlated with people winding them a lot rather than an initial wind and then letting the rotor keep it charged.

So my question is if there's any reason to wind an automatic at all once you get it going.  I would think not unless you're not active enough or don't wear it enough during the day.  I swear that I've seen the advice to nevertheless wind it daily, but then it is the internet...

[RichardHarris123]

If the automatic works is functioning correctly, I  can see no reason to wind.  

[Marc]

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

If the automatic works is functioning correctly, I  can see no reason to wind.  

No matter how efficient and perfectly functioning an autowinding system is, it will still require a minimum level of activity to replenish the power used as the watch runs. If the wearer doesn't enjoy that minimum level of activity, or if the watch isn't worn continuously, it will require a little help from manual winding.

[Neverenoughwatches]

5 hours ago, linux said:

I was researching movements and came across a design defect in the ETA 2824 and the corresponding SW200, namely the ratchet wheel breaks teeth if you wind it too much.  Sellita has allegedly fixed it with the 200-1 in 2008 though there are reports of it happening since that upgrade.

It "seems" to have been correlated with people winding them a lot rather than an initial wind and then letting the rotor keep it charged.

So my question is if there's any reason to wind an automatic at all once you get it going.  I would think not unless you're not active enough or don't wear it enough during the day.  I swear that I've seen the advice to nevertheless wind it daily, but then it is the internet...

Some fault causing the mainspring to not slip soon enough causing continuous winding of the mainspring ? 

[JohnR725]

11 hours ago, Marc said:

No matter how efficient and perfectly functioning an autowinding system is, it will still require a minimum level of activity to replenish the power used as the watch runs. If the wearer doesn't enjoy that minimum level of activity, or if the watch isn't worn continuously, it will require a little help from manual winding.

we run into an interesting problem with the typical automatic watch which is what is its current state of power reserve? in other words if you had a more expensive watch it would have some sort of up down power indicator to tell you how much power you have but on the normal watch you have no idea.

you have the problem of which automatic and how active is the person who has the watch. Just how efficient is an automatic watch for winding itself up?

for instance I've oftentimes seen or heard in like a Rolex discussion group they seem to think that they can pick up their Rolex it's been sitting on the shelf for a week and just shaken a couple of times and their often running in the reality is the watch isn't going to be running for a well because it needs a little more power than that. Which is why a lot of people will advise you especially at the watch is not running is to wind it up a little bit to give it some energy to get going

I've attached a PDF it's basically an OEM Seiko let's look what it takes to wind up your watch. So you'd have to turn the crown 55 times which is probably a lot more than most people realize. So if you put it on your automatic winding machine rotating at 30 revolutions per minute you're looking at  60 minutes the fully wind the watch up. If you translated that Intel arm movements I guess a good 60 minute  walking with your arms moving back and forth would that be equivalent to that?

Now obviously wouldn't have to wind it up all at once you could wind it up continuously been I basically just moving your hands around your arms around all day long which is what the automatic expects you to be doing but not everyone moves around that much.

 

it would be interesting to interview the people who are winding their watches up all day long. Like for instance or they misinformed do they somehow think they have to wind it 20 times a day or whatever they're doing? Or is a watch in need of servicing and barely running and they keep winding it up because it's silly way to get to actually run? If you work in a retail store like I do when you listen to the conversations between the employees in the customers there's all kinds a peculiar misunderstandings that seem to occur from time to time.

 

 

 

NH35_TG.pdf

[Waggy]

This is an interesting discussion, ideally the watch should be wound to a high percentage so that the spring is delivering power linearly (give or take) on the power/time curve (see below) rather than at the end of the wind where it suffers a rapid drop off and is under-performing. If you have a sedentary life and are moving just enough to take out the wind in a day equivalent to what you wind in (ie net zero wind in 24 hours) or slightly less then you may be continuously operating at the right hand side of the power curve where the spring (and therefore watch) is working inefficiently. Giving it a good wind every now and then will move the spring to the left of the curve and allow the automatic winder to top up or greatly prolong the period the watch is working to the left of the power curve where the watch works efficiently.

Edited January 25, 2024 by Waggy
Clarification