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Are manual watches less durable and prone to wear

mseamaster
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I watched some videos claiming exactly that.. "auto is more durable". And it made me wonder if it's bad that I am mostly getting manual watches.. I enjoy the winding. Auto feels a bit lifeless when you can wind stuff.
 
STANDY
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Automatic have more parts moving.

What videos and who by…..
 
X350 XJR
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mseamaster mseamaster
Auto feels a bit lifeless when you can wind stuff.

You know you can wind an automatic...
 
Waltesefalcon
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I'm happy someone brought this up, because manual winders are not durable at all. This one is only 137 years old, and depending on position it only keeps time to within +3 to +5 seconds per day. Plus, I have to service it like every three years. It's so frustrating to deal with this level of fragility.
20240704_122409.jpg
 
gbesq
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Waltesefalcon Waltesefalcon
I'm happy someone brought this up, because manual winders are not durable at all. This one is only 137 years old, and depending on position it only keeps time to within +3 to +5 seconds per day. Plus, I have to service it like every three years.
20240704_122409.jpg
What a worthless piece of junk! I feel the same way about this 65 year old manual wind POS. 🙄
upload_2024-7-4_13-34-43.jpeg
 
DaveK
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I think you’ve misunderstood the video. Manual winding watches are fine. It’s being in the wind that is hard on them. At least for speedmasters, which can’t be worn in high winds, or while shoveling snow.
 
mseamaster
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I am already collecting way too many manual watches to stop now.. it's too late 😁.

As for the videos, not sure, I was just looking for videos about winding a watch since I was looking to improve my technique. And two of them mentioned this.

Btw when a watch is fully wound, is setting the time putting pressure on the spring? Should I set it forward or backwards?
 
gbesq
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DaveK DaveK
I think you’ve misunderstood the video. Manual winding watches are fine. It’s being in the wind that is hard on them. At least for speedmasters, which can’t be worn in high winds, or while shoveling snow.
You forgot while mowing lawns …
 
Waltesefalcon
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mseamaster mseamaster
As for the videos, not sure, I was just looking for videos about winding a watch since I was looking to improve my technique. And two of them mentioned this.

I wouldn't pay them any attention. As for technique, I've found that using my thumb and fore finger to wind works well.
 
DaveK
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gbesq gbesq
You forgot while mowing lawns …

What kind of reckless animal would do that 😲
 
p4ul
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DaveK DaveK
What kind of reckless animal would do that 😲
Probably the fool that would scuba to 50m wearing a speedy.
 
noelekal
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DaveK DaveK
I think you’ve misunderstood the video. Manual winding watches are fine. It’s being in the wind that is hard on them. At least for speedmasters, which can’t be worn in high winds, or while shoveling snow.

What about breaking wind? Can one wear Speedmasters while breaking wind?
 
noelekal
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Waltesefalcon Waltesefalcon
I wouldn't pay them any attention. As for technique, I've found that using my thumb and fore finger to wind works well.

When I'm not using this handy all-purpose watch tool to open watches I find that it also serves to wind recalcitrant watches very effectively.
 
Archer
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mseamaster mseamaster
I watched some videos claiming exactly that.. "auto is more durable". And it made me wonder if it's bad that I am mostly getting manual watches.. I enjoy the winding. Auto feels a bit lifeless when you can wind stuff.

Whoever made those videos, you should ignore any technical material that they publish, because they clearly have no idea what they are talking about.

All else being equal in the movement, the opposite is more likely to be the case. Why? Because automatic watches have a large mass swinging around that is more problematic when it comes to shocks, and which winds the watch whether it needs it or not.
 
mseamaster
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Thanks for the comments everyone. I guess YouTube is full of crap.

What about setting the time after the watch is fully wound? Is that bad? In what direction should I set it? Clockwise or counterclockwise? Or maybe it doesn't matter?
 
Aroxx
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Waltesefalcon Waltesefalcon
I wouldn't pay them any attention. As for technique, I've found that using my thumb and fore finger to wind works well.
Maybe that’s where I’ve been going wrong. I was using my nose and my elbow.
 
Archer
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mseamaster mseamaster
What about setting the time after the watch is fully wound? Is that bad? In what direction should I set it? Clockwise or counterclockwise? Or maybe it doesn't matter?

You can set the time at any state of wind. Most watches will allow setting of the time in either direction.
 
mseamaster
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Archer Archer
You can set the time at any state of wind. Most watches will allow setting of the time in either direction.
Seiko 4522 felt like it got stiffer to set after winding it. I have Seiko 4500/4502 which don't resist at all, even if wound.

It made me think I was doing something wrong.
 
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