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Confusion/Trouble about fully winding my Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch

  1. DrPepper May 30, 2021

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    Dear other enthusiasts,

    yesterday I received my first luxury watch, after buying into the field of mechanical watches with a Tissot Ballade Powermatic 80 (COSC) roughly 3 years ago. I was a long-time admirer for Omega watches and had highly trouble selecting my first one.

    However, it got to be the Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch (Hesalite) with Ref. 310.32.42.50.01.001 (new 2021 version with the 3861 calibre).

    Now my trouble: It is my first mechanically wound watch. I commonly wind my Tissot as well from time to time, but i guess its not comparable. I now realize I shouldn't have done the purchase of such a watch via the Omega e-Boutique, but let me have it introduce it to me by someone experienced.

    From the first start it was quite easy to wind the watch, until the counter torque of winding slowly rose.
    I stopped at a point were I felt that its now a significant counter torque / resistance. However it still let me wind further with hearing clicks. At this point I feel a quite significant torque from the spring when trying to wind one step further, and the crown winds back when I do not apply enough torque. I never felt an aprupt high rise / or "end-stop" feeling in the counter torque.

    Since my backstory, I am a bit anxious of damaging something. On the other side, I read a lot about the high resistance from some Speedmaster calibres when being wound.

    Now my question: From what I described - Did I wound it fully? Can anyone describe the experience of winding his/hers calibre 3861 a bit more thouroughly?
    Should there be a real aprupt resitance?

    Kind regards,
    Sebastian
     
  2. YY77 May 30, 2021

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    Welcome and congratulations on your Speedy.

    Before my Speedy I had only experience with automatics, the 3861 was my first manual and winding it was very stiff, however you'll know when you reach the point of it being fully wound.

    I would compare the feeling with a car being on the parking brake if you have fully wound it.
     
  3. amfalconer May 30, 2021

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    It is a very obvious stop when it's fully wound, no slight resistance
     
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  4. Flysatchmo May 30, 2021

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    Welcome to the forum . Yes very obvious when it’s fully wound. Some other threads on this topic. Do a quick search and you’ll get some good info . Good luck
     
    MikiJ likes this.
  5. Evitzee May 30, 2021

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    A manual (not automatic) watch is wound until the crown can't be turned anymore, it's always obvious when this occurs. Newbies just have to accept this or they'll be continually frustrated/confused/troubled. They must overcome the fear that they may break something, they won't. A manual watch's winding mechanism is designed to take the force needed to fully wind the mainspring without failing, day after day, month after month, year after year. Have faith, the designers knew what they were doing. Wind the crown until it hits a hard stop, you'll know it when it gets there.
     
    Edited May 30, 2021
  6. Crunchie May 30, 2021

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    If you’re not sure if it’s fully wound and don’t want to risk forcing it, just stop at the point you’ve described and see how long it runs for before it stops.
    If you’re getting close to (or more than) the quoted power reserve time, you know that what you are feeling is right for a full wind.
     
  7. amcclell May 30, 2021

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    As others others stated, just continue winding until it stops and you can't wind it anymore. Do this once daily. You won't do any harm with your bare fingers.
     
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  8. MikiJ Likes songs about Purple spices May 30, 2021

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    My everyday Omegas have been manual winders, I have always wound them in the morning before I put them on.
     
  9. Dan S May 30, 2021

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    No. Based on what you have described, you have not wound it fully. Keep going.
     
  10. PandaSPUR May 30, 2021

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    This confuses me a bit. I've owned mechanical watches for a little over a decade now but they have all been automatics. I've never wound any of them to the point where the crown couldnt be turned anymore. Is what you're saying actually true for all mechanicals or is it specific to manual movements only?
     
  11. amcclell May 30, 2021

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    Autowind watches don't have the end of the main spring fixed to the barrel. This allows the spring to slip as the rotor continues to move, even when the spring is fully wound. Manual wind watches have the end connected to the barrel, which is why you feel a hard stop. On an autowind, the end of the spring just starts to slip if you try to over wind it.
     
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  12. PandaSPUR May 30, 2021

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    Thanks for that bit of info. Thats what I had always assumed for automatic watches, but never realized that manual-only movements would have a hard stop.
     
  13. Evitzee May 30, 2021

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    Yes, manual watches only, I clarified my original post.
     
  14. Larry S Color Commentator for the Hyperbole. May 30, 2021

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    OP, this is a reasonable question. What I was taught by Mr Roland Murphy of RGM: Wind till you feel you can go no further, back off one turn.
     
  15. AngelDeVille May 30, 2021

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  16. Gruesome May 30, 2021

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    Is that Murphy's law? 'Wind fully, open the back, lift the click and back off one turn.'
     
  17. magicbadger May 31, 2021

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    Based on my calculations, about 40% of this forum is about when to stop winding a speedmaster
     
    4011021, MikiJ, apsm100 and 4 others like this.
  18. Evitzee May 31, 2021

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    It does seem we have a spate of nervous newbies who are unduly concerned about the procedure to wind a watch fully. There is just way too much analysis over one of life's simple activities, one which should take no more than 15 seconds each day.
     
    Edited May 31, 2021
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  19. GoBlueJedi May 31, 2021

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    When I got my 3861--my first Speedmaster--I was a little hesitant about winding it, fit fear of breaking it. My only other manual watch is a Serica, which uses a modified automatic movement, so there isn't a hard stop at the end.

    From my experience, the resistance in the Speedmaster increased noticably as I got closer to fully wound. For the first week or so, I stopped at that point, thinking that was the significant increase in resistance that I had read about. But I was really only at about 75-80% wound at that point. There is a very clear stop at the end, and I imagine you'd have to crank on it pretty hard to move it past that point. I also notice that the frequency of the clicking noise changes the last 0.5-1 turn, and that signals the stop is coming.
     
    Gene Parker likes this.
  20. Donn Chambers May 31, 2021

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    I was thinking we should start a new sticky at the top: “How do I wind my Speedmaster.”

    Maybe that would cut down on some of it.

    but probably not.
     
    magicbadger likes this.