Care and Feeding of Mechanicals

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Hey guys, I’ve been running a Seiko Kinetic for the past decade or so, and came across a reasonably priced Seiko Auto with an “open heart” window which charmed me to the virtues of a mechanical, so I bought one. I know a mechanical cannot approach the accuracy of a quartz, but since I’m no longer a train commuter, having exact time is less critical, although I do appreciate accuracy and low maintenance (who doesn’t?). With less than a week of ownership, and perhaps the watch is still “breaking in,” I think I’m the 5-10 sec slow per day average, which I understand is quite good.

So I’m wondering what care and feeding practices you folks employ with your mechanicals? For example:
– Do you reset once a week… or month? And how minutes off are you comfortable with?
– Do you position the watch a certain way overnight to correct/off-set the error in the day?
– Do you do preventative servicing, “broken” servicing, or just buy another? (Except for sentimental reasons, I may be in the “buy another” category.)
– If you rotate watches, do you use an auto winder? I understand the only benefit of a winder is to avoid having to reset dates and times when swapped frequently (if I rotate, it would be infrequently).

I understand there is no “right” answer, but I was just curious what the different practices people were using to develop my own set of best practices. Thank you in advance .

[admin]

I reset my Seiko Diver’s about once every two months. I adjust the time when I have to adjust the date during months that don’t have 31 days.

I’ve basically daily worn my Seiko Diver’s for 14 years; with a short break when I had to send it in for service once. The watch needed to get the regulator adjusted since it was gaining minutes per day. I guess for sentimental reason I will pay for repair, but I guess I’ll make a final determination when repair bill cost approaches close to just getting a new watch.

[admin]

– I reset my watches on a weekly basis, just because I rotate between 3 or 4. If weared for a long time, I reset them when I got 5 minutes off. But the only watch I own that need a reset is my Tutima BUND (gains 2 minutes a day), the other ones are accurate as hell !
– I always wear my watch while sleeping…
– I plan doing “preventive” servicing on my watches, but I won’t follow the maker’s servicing schedule. I think I’ll have them serviced after 10 years of use, if they still work flawlessly at this time. I can’t affor to be a “buy another” guy, my cheapest mechanical watch is $2k worth…
– I have a watch winder, but it never worked. I can easy live without it.

[admin]

I have a couple of automatic watches (plus a few quartz ones)

Without thinking about it I normally end up letting them run flat pretty much every week or two, so they get reset then back to atomic time, or if I notice they have been going constantly, probably around the fortnight mark too – they will drift a bit in that time, but then again I can’t say I ever really need atomic level accuracy daily so it doesn’t bother me too much – More than 1-2 minutes would probably start to bother me and be time for a reset. It is perhaps worth mentioning both of mine are Seiko 6R15’s and ~1 year old, so still happily running to a decent spec.

You can tame the accuracy by positioning them certain ways overnight if you want to figure it out (basically trial an error) – going back to the accuracy issue I am not really bothered about measuring accuracy, so haven’t bothered figuring it out. Mine just get left face up on the bedside table or in the watch box.

Servicing a watch is normally advised by the manufacturer every fiveish years, in reality you can probably double that happily enough. With a fairly basic Seiko movement lots of preventative maintenance isn’t really cost effective given the relatively cheap price to replace the movement with a new one, so even with a more sentimental piece, it is possible to get them overhauled and fixed up of rate foreseeable future. I plan on perhaps getting mine checked around the ten year mark (unless there is a specific problem beforehand) and mostly plan on winging it then – for a year old watch I am paying no attention at the moment.

I do rotate watches – a smarter watch at the office during the day, a more casual one in the evenings so they both normally keep themselves going. The smarter watch will stop if left over the weekend, which I am happy enough with as a reminder it needs to be reset every so often. I alternate often and reliably enough that mine keep going, so I have little need for a winder, but I can see them being handy if you tend to swap every few days or want to make sure there is always one ready.

In my head I know automatic watches are a silly relic – I have a solar powered Citizen that hasn’t stopped in the 5 years I have owned it, keeps time to around 4 second a month and is far tougher and more sock resistant than an automatic, yet here I am wearing one anyway – there is just something enjoyable about the knowledge of all the clockwork whirring around inside (mine has a display back, so I can see a little of it too) and watching the hands whoosh round rather than jerkily ticking…

[admin]

….
– Do you reset once a week… or month? And how minutes off are you comfortable with?
No set schedule … when I notice that it’s off by more than a few minutes.

I tend to switch watches, which requires winding & setting, more often than I would otherwise need to correct and reset the time on any single watch.

[admin]

– Do you position the watch a certain way overnight to correct/off-set the error in the day?
Mechanical watches (especially those with cheaper movements) will typically run faster or slower in different positions. If it is so far off that you are considering this, it may need “regulation” which can usually be done pretty easily (by someone knowledgeable).

[admin]

– Do you do preventative servicing, “broken” servicing, or just buy another? (Except for sentimental reasons, I may be in the “buy another” category.)
Depends a lot on the details of the cost, both of the watch and the service.

For an inexpensive watch, complete service might easily exceed its replacement cost, either of a “dropin” movement or even the watch as a whole.

A routine service for an expensive watch might cost more than several brand new cheaper watches.

Reasons to do service include preventing more costly damage in the future. In other words, running a watch until it breaks could result in more expensive repairs.

Not too different than vehicle maintenance, really.

[admin]

– If you rotate watches, do you use an auto winder? I understand the only benefit of a winder is to avoid having to reset dates and times when swapped frequently (if I rotate, it would be infrequently)….
Watch winders keep the watch wound and running, while you are not wearing it. For simple watches (time, day, date), this might save a few moments when switching watches, but some (expensive) watches have complex “complications” (such as moon phase) that might be difficult to set and adjust.

Note that these do increase the wear on the watch, as it is running constantly.

Even if the watch sits idle instead, however, it will still need some maintenance based on it’s age (as opposed to mechanical wear). Again, similar to a vehicle, some parts are replaced every number of miles, others are changed every certain number of months or years.

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