Hey guys,

I'm just wondering if someone can help me with this question:

I got a brand new Diver 300m in march 2020. The thing is though that I have so many watches that I don't wear it much. So i often put it in my watchcase and wear something else for a few days, and then the watch "dies" from not being worn or wound.

But here comes my question: When i am going to wear the Seamaster again I wind it a couple of times and then it starts going again. But how do you know when the new Seamaster 300m with the Co-axial 8800 is fully wound? I can give the crown 100 spins and still not hear any kind of sound or anything that tells me that it is now at Max capacity/fully wound.

So how do you know when you have spinned the crown enough times to get the 55 hours/Full power reserve? The old seamaster, it gave away a loud noise that the mainspring was fully wound. But the new one makes no sound...

Any help would be appreciated. I am suspecting that maybe it's just my watch that is not giving off a sound when it is fully wound. And that would be a warranty issue. If that's the case I will take it back to my AD and hear what they have to say about it.

 

If you have decent hearing or if the watch is close to your ear then you should hear a slight clicking sound from the main spring clutch to indicate that it's fully wound. Once you're familiar with the feel then you may detect a slightly increased resistance once it's fully wound as well. If you're about to wear the watch then 15-20 turns is enough to get it going for a while. The winding rotor will do the rest.

 

I've had the watch for months and i've been collecting watches for 15 years. Including older Seamasters.
Didn't you read what i wrote? I do not get any clicking sound of any kind. My hearing is fine. And yeah, I know that 15-20 twirls is more than enough to get the watch started and then use leave it to the rotor/automatic to do the rest. But I want to be able to charge it up to full power reserve and know when it's full.

The thing you said about detecting a slightly increased resistance once it's fully wound, it doesn¨t happen. It's the same.
Look, I'm not some amateur. I have collected watches for a long time. Some of which are an Aquanaut, A twotone rootbeer, a submariner date and nodate, dark side of the moon, JLC Reverso and ultra thin moonphase and many many more.

None of my other watches are giving me problems detecting when it's power reserve is fully wound. This Seamaster 300m does.

Do you have a the watch? Any chance you could make a recording of you winding it up and get the "slight clicking sound" on an audiofile?

 

You clearly know more than a simple amateur like me then, if only I had more watches then I might be able to assist. Maybe someone with a bigger watch collection can help you out instead? So sorry...

 

Last year I have reached out to Omega's Customer Service re the same question. I am copying their response.

Considering your request of how many times you should wind your watch, we anticipate that your calibre requires approx. 65 full clockwise rotations of the crown for a full winding.

Also, we inform you that you cannot overwind your self-winding OMEGA watch. The caliber 8800 is equipped with a slipping main spring, which prevents the overwinding of your fine timepiece.

We hope to have been helpful and send you our best regards from Switzerland.

Kind regards,

Your OMEGA Team

 

Thanks for this, I had the same query but did nothing!

 

Reading comprehension / actually reading what i wrote might have helped you. The size of your collection is pretty irrelevant. Just don't assume everyone you talk to is an idiot and you'll be fine.

 

WTB Sarcasm Detector .

 

Thanks alot buddy. Appreciate it. So from that i take it that my watch is functioning as it should, and that there is no clicking sound on this new 300m like there was on the older ones to know when the mainspring is fully wound. Nor a slightly feel of resistance to indicate that it's getting fully wound like the Bug guy was talking about. I don't get any of that. So you basically have to just wind it 65ish times and assume that gives you a full power reserve? Since you cannot overwind it I guess just give it 80 twirls and you know for sure that it's full.

I love the watch, but this kinda sucks. Would have been better to have the rather loud popping click noise you get from the older models that had the date displayed at the 3'o clock position or some way of knowing when you have fully wound your 300m to maxium power reserve. When i'm home i often take my watch off to shower, swim in the pool, take a hot tub and when i sleep. So alot of power can get lost from not wearing it. And i assume that this watch keeps better time and precission when it's wound close to max like every other mechanical watch I know about does. I could put it on my winder I guess but I only have one underwood case with 4 winders in it, and my Rolexes and Aquanaut is on there, because I use them more frequently than the Omega.

@Bugbait why comment and give advice when you clearly have no idea what you're talking about? Giving bad/false information is worse than giving none at all ...

 

What does sarcarsm have to do with you not knowing what you're talking about? Whatever dude... I have better things to do than argue with forum warriors.

 

Why so hostile over something so simple? The advise I gave is accurate unless no one else can hear the clutch slipping or felt the slight increase in resistance?

As you've also pointed out, the magnitude of sound and resistance can vary notably between movements. It's quite subtle, in a good way on the modern Omega movements (since going in-house/exclusive). It's definitely more audible and tactile on my Omega 3603. It's not a competition to see who can or can't hear/feel it, just a observation. Maybe yours just has a very smooth barrel and gears?

You can't over wind any correctly functioning automatic watch. They're all built with a clutch on the main spring or some kind of over wind protection (assuming there are other forms), otherwise the rotor would seize once fully wound.

 

Like manually, fully winding all your automatic watches? Only joking, couldn't resist We're only talking watches after all! Relax, unwind, browse some more watch sites.

 

Noone can hear it because it doesn't exist on the new inhouse 8800 calibre movement that was released in 2018. I have an older Seamaster and on that I can clearly hear a sound that lets me know it's fully wound to max power reserve. This does not exist on the new one. What is it you don't understand? There is no slight increase in resistance either. Again... why are you commenting/talking about stuff you have no idea about? If you have the watch i'm talking about, a) take a picture with your name on a piece of paper nex to it with todays date and prove it and b) make a recording with your phone when you wind the crown to max power reserve and let us all hear your imaginary clicking noise.

 

Only if you send me a video of 10 dancing monkeys playing saxophones first.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/question-regarding-at-8900-and-winding.89195/

I'll even summarise the key bits for you:

@Bimmerman77 states in his first post referring to the 8900: "I’ve wound this thing 80-90 turns and it and haven’t heard it. I tossed it up to being a newer movement, but I bought the 2018 SMP 8800 in December and it clicks at full power reserve."

@Lbreak replied: "I can confirm this with my De Ville Hour Vision Master Chronometer cal 8900. It does takes quite a bit of winding to start producing that clicking sound -- took around 60 turns after resting 2 days when I was winding it yesterday."

@JeremyS doesn't hear or feel it at all on models he owns: "8900, 8906, 8602, 8400"

@Bimmerman77 concludes: "I think mine falls into the same way as yours. It’s dead silent."

As I said, it's likely that it just varies by watch and movement. Unless we see and hear yours then what other watches do isn't relevant. Some find ball bearing rotors too loud, others barely ever hear it. Some find manual winding buttery smooth, others may not. It's all subjective, even when face to face. Either way, I think we can all agree that your watch appears to be functioning normally.

EDIT: Typo.

 

Just to explain the clutch and clicking sound you hear when you reach full wind...

This is a photo of a mainspring barrel I've prepared for the installation of a new mainspring:



The black grease you see smeared on the inside of the barrel wall is braking grease - this grease prevents the mainspring from slipping too much once you reach full wind. You need the spring to slip, but not slip too much, and this grease controls the amount that it slips.

The 3 red arrows you see point to notches made on the inner barrel wall. These notches also help "catch" the mainspring as it slips, and the spring riding in and out of these notches is what causes that additional clicking you hear when the watch is fully wound. So what people refer to as a "clutch" makes this mechanism sound much more complex that it really is - one end of the spring just isn't attached the way it is in a manual winding watch, so it slips - that's all the clutch is.

The barrel drum shown above is for a Cal. 1120, but all modern Omegas that I am aware of use the same system in the barrel, so although I have not personally had an 8800 apart, I would be very surprised if the notches were not present, as this is a pretty universal design. So they are most likely clicking, but how loud it is can be affected by how much braking grease is used, if the notches are slightly worn, what the case material is, the depth rating of the watch, etc. So I have watches I've serviced where I can clearly hear the clicking when the movement is out of the case, but you can't hear it when cased, but it's still happening.

Hope this helps explain the clutch and source of the clicking.

Cheers, Al

 

The DEPTH RATING!

No, I actually see your logic. My 19.5mm thick SMPO Chrono with a 600m rating is gonna retain sound better than some old Speedy with a 50m rating and a plastic crystal (oh, excuse me, hesalite).

 

I collect watches for decades now and this new movement 8800 Calibre movement is amazing me everyday, the boutique rep said basically just wind the watch for a full minute to get the 55hour power reserve, the slow date movement is what got me, I thought it was defective but noticed it’s just a slower process than a normal spring switching it.

But no matter what there’s no such such as overwinding this watch, but i have felt the clicking you mentioned, at one point it felt like it slipped loose from the 3rd position and just starting changing the dates, I mean these watches are robotic assembled so defects might ensue...