Since getting my Speedy Pro last year I find that I'm wearing my 2254 much less than I used to. I've got into the habit of fully winding it once a week or so, even when not wearing it, to keep the lubricants moving. I'm wondering if fully manually winding an automatic movement might be harmful to it in some way? Hopefully @Archer or others in the know will be able to advise me. Thanks,
Not at all, I hand wind my others when not in use every other morning typically. Typically 40 turns will fully wind an automatic watch.
If you’re not wearing it, you don’t need to keep it running. This has been said by Archer several times in the past. Just search google for winding and limit the site to omegaforums.net (i find it works much better than the in-house search here).
Nothing wrong with winding your watch every so often if you want to wear it, but as others have pointed out, you don’t need to do it to “keep the lubricants moving” - a watch movement isn’t a car engine, drenched in oil. The lubricants are in specific areas and supposed to stay in those areas.
All you are doing is putting extra wear on the crown seal and in the case of the 2254, increasing the chances of accidentally stripping the threads on the screw down crown.
I am inclined to agree with this. If you subscribe to the theory that the watch should be kept running to keep it healthy, and I don't by the way*, then a watch winder is surely a better solution for a seldom used auto since as above this puts less wear on the manual wind train, which really isn't designed for heavy use on an auto. *I personally feel storing watches in a non running state it better long term as there is less continuous wear. Yes I may give them a wear or wind every month or two to keep the lube moving about but I think constant running off the wrist is counter productive, and letting them run down better.
These watches are made to be wound by hand, and doing so (reasonably) won't do any real harm. but there's n9o reason to wind them if they aren't being worn. Lubricants do not need to be "kept moving" inside a watch. Cheers, Al
Thanks for the reply. When I bought the speedy, I asked the AD about getting a winder to keep the 2254 going when not in use. His reply was there was no need to buy a winder, just manually wind it every week to ten days & that would keep it lubricated. As you can write what I know about watch innards on the back of a stamp using a marker pen, I followed the advice. I'm pleased to find that I've only wasted time, not done any damage. @Archer, out of interest, how, speaking slowly & using small words, do watches get lubrication? I'd always assumed that, like engines, the moving parts carried the lubricants through the mechanism as they moved against each other. I'm now beginning to see that this ain't necessarily so... Thanks again,
The inside of a watch is not like the inside of a gearbox. Oils do not splash around inside and spread all over to lubricate like they do in other mechanisms. In fact the opposite is true - watch oils are formulated to stay in place, rather than spread like traditional lubricating oils do. In addition watch movements are treated at the factory, and some parts in after sales service, with surface treatments that prevent the spreading of oils. Watch movement use very small amounts of oil, and the oil is placed very precisely during the manufacturing or service. For the most parts the oils are held in place by capillary action between the jewel surface and the surface of the pivots of the wheels. For more on oiling watches, you can read these threads to get an idea of what's involved: https://omegaforums.net/threads/basic-watchmaking-tips-oiling-part-1.62310/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/basic-watchmaking-tips-oiling-part-2-the-mainspring-barrel.71246/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/basic-watchmaking-tips-oiling-part-3-the-wheel-train.84482/ https://omegaforums.net/threads/basic-watchmaking-tips-oiling-part-4-the-escapement.87072/ Cheers, Al
That's brilliant, thanks very much for posting these links. I'll have a read through & get an idea of how it all works. J