Hey guys

This is probably a very dumb question and exposes my lack of real understanding of how watches really work, but is there any adverse effect from keeping a manual wind watch fully wound?

For example, if I give it 30 turns in the morning and then give it a few twists at various times throughout the day, does that cause any sort of 'damage' to the mainspring?

Curious to know...

Thanks!

J

 

Well there is no need to constantly wind the watch to keep it at full power, so not sure why you would want to do this. Just wind it once every day and you will be fine.

Just to expand on winding it to maximum multiple times per day...this is how an automatic watch works, with the automatic winding mechanism keeping the watch at full wind as you wear it. However an automatic mainspring has a slipping bridle on the outer coils of the spring, so one end of the spring is not attached to anything - it slips in the barrel.

With a manual winding watch, both ends of the spring are connected to something, so that is why there is a stopping point when you wind. When you wind a manual wind watch fully, and come to that stop point where the crown can't be turned anymore, it does place some stress on the spring. As a result I see far more broken mainsprings in manual winding watches than I do in automatics.

I don't really keep track of it in any formal way or generate stats, but throwing out a SWAG here I would say a good 20% of the Speedmaster Professionals that end up on my bench have broken mainsprings, and probably 70% of all manual winding Panerai models I get in (ETA 6497-2) have broken mainsprings. I would say less than 1% of the automatic watches I get in for service have broken mainsprings as a comparison.

While plenty of Speedmaster Pros may have gone 40+ years without a mainspring breaking, I would say that's really not the point.

Although I won't predict immediate doom for your mainspring if you do wind your watch to the max several times per day, I would suggest that you may accelerate the process of having a mainspring snap, or increase the chances of it happening between services. BTW this is one reason (there are a few reasons actually) why I always replace the mainspring at service...it may look good but I have no idea how it's been used over the years or how old it is when I take the watch apart.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks gents! A new bit of knowledge gained and very much appreciated.

...now when does the next tz watch school class start?