Automatic watches

[Frenchkitty]

I recently just started using a Revue Thommen ladies winding skeleton watch.

However, I dont know why but the watch stops moving once I stop wearing it and it is hard to get it to run again completely without having to keep shaking it.

How do you take care and use your automatic watches?
Or should I just take it to the watch shop for them to have a look?

[carrie_princess]

hi French Kitty, Automatic watches will stop when you do not wear them..
thats their mechanism..

Need not bring back to the shop..
Just buy a watch winder.. Cheers

[VinLongo]

you should be able to wind it. then buy those box for automatic watch. i saw lower end at $388 for 2 watch. either power plug or battery to keep it moving. higher end boutique are selling at 2k or so. more because of the wood. if u rarely wear, u may consider buying such box.

servicing for automatic watch (if good ones) is very expensive. so do take care of yr watch by wearing it often.

[Frenchkitty]

Thanks ladies! I did a search online but couldnt figure out how to manually wind my watch so I brought it to the watch shop... and the boss taught me how - wind it till I can feel resistance. learnt something new again.

[maoying08]

I'm confused. Is your watch a winding or automatic? Automatic watches works by movement. I.e. you wear it and your usual movement will self-wind for the watch to work. Energy will be stored in the watch, for how long would depend on the watch as different watches would have different reserve. One way to keep it going is as mentioned as another cotter in the thread, which is to store the watch in an automatic watch box (or closet, if you have many watches). A good one for a single watch is about $500. How it works is that it will spin around in slow circles, causing movement. You store it in the box everytime you're not wearing it and there's no reason why the watch would ever stop.

Sounds like your watch is manual wind since you mentioned the person at the watch shop taught you how to wind it. In the same way, once the spring unwinds totally the watch would stop. So you have to wind it constantly to keep it going. Be careful to stop once you feel the initial resistance in the taut spring though, as there is such a thing as overwind. The spring would break and that is also very costly to repair.

One tip I could give is that for the initial wind (when watches stop completely), is to give 30-50 winds (again depending on your watch), and to maintain it, wind it about 20 times in the morning before you wear your watch.

Hope that helps!

[VinLongo]

i think now automatic watches can 'auto wind' by itself and can also be winded manually too if u are not going to wear it etc. so which one is better? automatic or winding watch? i was told that the one thats 100% manually wind is more value for $? not sure if its more lasting........ hmmn esp now i read from above that there's a chance of over winding..

[stillvoice]

For automatic watches, due to their movements (internal mechanism) - they dont require batteries but rely on the springs/coils inside to work.

You've to wind (the springs) to make it work. The coil will rewind itself when you're watching due to the movement from you wearing it on your wrist. So when you dont wear it, the coil'll eventualy unwind, you need to rewind it again to wear it.

Just make sure you find out from the sales person how to wind your watch proper cos overwinding might spoil your watch.

P.S: I'm very lazy to watch my automatic watch due to the winding each time i want to wear it.

[VinLongo]

oh thanks. my mum checked with omega service people and they said that if we are wearing automatic watch for office work, its not so much movement and thus need to self wind too.

[Francis]

So you will for sure feel some resistance once it is fully wound up? I never felt it for my omega..but then again I only wind it for like 20-30 times each time.

Oh..and the service people also warned me against shaking the watch. They say it might damage the mechanism. So winding it weekly or buying one of those watch boxes is a better option.

[Dewy]

wa.h i always shake my watch pretty hard! i will stop doing that now!!

[VinLongo]

I still havent own automatic watch but what i've learnt through my 'tiny research' is that, u shouldnt shake yr watch. and yes, thats why u shouldnt wear automatic watch during golf sessions. The way one shakes the watch might be where the gears etc move and somehow so lucky shake it in a direction that will cause internal parts to shift. Then the automatic watch will give problems sooner or later. By right is winding it or just normal movements like moving arms etc

[Dewy]

hi francis and vinlongo

thanks for your advice! wa.h scare the hell out of me i dont scare to shake it anymore. to think i have always been shaking it to get the mechanism moving lol.

[Francis]

No prob Dewy. I learnt it the hard way.

Been shaking my watch plus not wearing it regularly....ended up sending in for servicing. I also always thought the watch will be auto wound as long as I wear it...but they say that normal hand movement cannot wind the watch sufficiently. So the weekly winding is neccessary.

[Dewy]

thats why they say its best to wear your watch often lol.

hmm even if im not wearing the watch i got to wind it weekly too? i know for rolex u got to wind it like 40 times? cant rem..

[VinLongo]

40times??????? go buy those self moving stuff from this bencoolen or what (next to OG). Or just be good and wind everyday! otherwise once fly over to HQ for servicing will not be cheap anymore okay!

Thats why now i am going to settle on a Quartz hahahhaa. I think automatic buy next time :wow:

And yes, like those doing office work, hands not much moving much so also cannot charge for a whole wk. Better to wind on wkend too. But at least its better than those (like my dad) who bought automatic and really can count how many times he wear the watch. In this case, this kind of watch will be send in for 'opening up' faster than those wearing automatic regularly?