Kelly received a very nice pocket watch as a gift. She showed it to me and said, "It stopped again, I can't figure this watch out?"
So I look at it and it appears to have a winding stem.
Well, yes it does wind. So I wound it up and now it runs all of the time :-).
So what is the proper procedure? I know you aren't supposed to over wind a watch. Maybe once per day? Wind it until it stops or just until it gets stiffer?
I'm by no means an expert, but the last wind up I had I received for high school graduation. I wore it all the time for several years and I would always keep it wound up all the way - at least once a day. Never had an issue with it.
I still have it and it goes in my travel kit every where I go. Every time I am in need of it I wind it up and it keeps good time.
As with surveying issues, the contrary may be shown.
Another suggestion, if it's a new watch google it for operating instructions.
Also not an expert, but I always winded mine first thing in the morning and as soon as you feel the resistance start to increase STOP.
> So what is the proper procedure? I know you aren't supposed to over wind a watch. Maybe once per day? Wind it until it stops or just until it gets stiffer?
Wind it the same amount once a day at the same time of day. If it loses a little time every day, wind it a little tighter. If it gains, a little less.
OMG! Am I that old?
No expertise here, but it seems to me that you'd want to regularly exercise the spring throughout its whole range of motion, minus the extremes at each end. That would suggest letting the watch run down not quite all the way, then wind it up just short of tight.
> Wind it the same amount once a day at the same time of day. If it loses a little time every day, wind it a little tighter. If it gains, a little less.
Isn't the regulator mechanism designed to account for the constantly-changing spring tension? I wouldn't think that differences in winding schedule would affect accuracy.
> So what is the proper procedure? I know you aren't supposed to over wind a watch. Maybe once per day? Wind it until it stops or just until it gets stiffer?
Dave, if extreme accuracy is needed, do not wind the watch at all. Once the movement of the hands ceases, it will be exactly correct to the nearest nanosecond, but only twice a day. You're very welcome.
I like Norman's approach.
The regulation is not perfect. It is a mechanical device, although a refined one. There are a number of design features introduced over they centuries to get a better approximation to constant timekeeping, but they are only a second or third order approximation and probably work better if they don't have to deal with the extremes.
In particular, I always heard that you should not over-wind a watch. That applies too much force to somewhat delicate parts.
I had one from about 1962 that I wore for 20-maybe-30 years that kept decent time. My practice was to wind it frequently (almost a nervous habit) but never past the point of increased resistance. I just now pulled it out and wound it and it's ticking at age 50. I eventually switched to an LCD watch that kept a little more accurate time.
Spring-powered navigation chronometers required the same number of winding turns each day at the same time of day to maintain properly regulated time within the allowable error of the chronometer. The error rate was/is more or less constant, within a max of 10 seconds per day.
A Great, Great Grandfather of mine once was a Royal Chronometer-Winder in London before he came to the U.S.
I get my Dad's railroad pocket watch out about once a month, and wind it up and set it. It will run for 24 hours and 30 minutes on a full wind. This watch was retired from daily service in 1962 when my dad got a Ball Rail Road approved wrist watch. He wore it for 2 years, when it was not in the shop. He traded that watch in on a Boulvia Acutron, the tuning fork watch. It keeps good time, but not as good as a digital watch. It really bugged him that my $20 digital watch would keep better time than his $200 in 1964 dollars watch.
When you wind your watch, wind it all the way. You don't "overwind" a watch, you break something in it. If your watch quits running, the first thing you do is wind it. If it will not run then, it is because of some problem like a bent gear, broken spring, or damaged escapement. Just don't wind it like our former PC used to tighten the clamps on our SET II. He also destroyed many tripods by over tightening the legs.
