Power Reserve

Archer · Jan 6, 2016

Just wind it through the crown say 30 or 40 turns. If you read most watch manuals, they will tell you to wind it from a fully wound down state before putting it on. Although it will wind through the day, if you don't give it that initial wind, timekeeping will likely suffer.

Cheers, Al

Archer · Jan 6, 2016

Pvt-Public
Yes it will if worn long enough, unless you put it on and were totally inactive for the day. Almost any auto magic watch will get to full wind even if you are minimally active through out the day. Even my cheap old Seikos will wind just while I am driving.

Auto magic...interesting typo. The Seiko Magic Lever is one of the most efficient winding mechanisms out there, so saying "even" a cheap Seiko will stay wound is a bit misleading since most watches aren't as efficient when winding through the motions of your wrist.

Having said that, it's rare that I get complaints that a properly serviced watch won't stay wound on the wrist. You would have to be quite sedentary for it not to wind.

Cheers, Al

sengvin · Jan 6, 2016

I'm sure if I put it on my wrist without winding it before it will start working ! BUT ! That is not the point if you let it wind just by the motion of your hand ,the power reserve will be on 10%-20% of its capacity therefore your watch won't be very accurate. That is why you should fully wind it up so it keeps the watch 90%-100% wound and therefore meets the COSC specifications of accuracy.

Pvt-Public · Jan 6, 2016

sengvin
I'm sure if I put it on my wrist without winding it before it will start working !

Just as an aside most of my older Seikos can not even be wound by the stem. The manual shows that you should gently shake it for a bit and put it on.

sengvin
That is why you should fully wind it up so it keeps the watch 90%-100% wound and therefore meets the COSC specifications of accuracy.

No one even mention anything about COSC accuracy, when did that enter the discussion? With all my automatics (auto magics) that will stem wind I just give them a couple cursory winds and strap them on, they seem to do just fine. But then again I don't have or have need for anything COSC spec. I don't have anything important enough to worry about the seconds.

sengvin · Jan 6, 2016

Pvt-Public
Just as an aside most of my older Seikos can not even be wound by the stem. The manual shows that you should gently shake it for a bit and put it on.

No one even mention anything about COSC accuracy, when did that enter the discussion? With all my automatics (auto magics) that will stem wind I just give them a couple cursory winds and strap them on, they seem to do just fine. But then again I don't have or have need for anything COSC spec. I don't have anything important enough to worry about the seconds.

Lol Right that was more for people that spend $10k on watch and measure every second. But in general fully wound watches are more accurate just in case you care about that 😀

Pvt-Public · Jan 6, 2016

As long as I can figure out when dinner time is, I'm good !

Archer · Jan 6, 2016

Collectors vary quite wildly with what accuracy they will accept, so when someone says "don't bother to wind it, just wear it" they are typically in the camp that is not very concerned with accuracy. You don't need to spend $10k to get COSC timing (as most people know it) so really the advice to wind it using the crown is pretty standard, except for watches that don't have this feature obviously...

Cheers, Al

sengvin · Jan 6, 2016

Archer
Collectors vary quite wildly with what accuracy they will accept, so when someone says "don't bother to wind it, just wear it" they are typically in the camp that is not very concerned with accuracy. You don't need to spend $10k to get COSC timing (as most people know it) so really the advice to wind it using the crown is pretty standard, except for watches that don't have this feature obviously...

Cheers, Al

I didn't say you have to spend 10k , but in general people that do 😀

duc · Jan 7, 2016

Based on this thread, I am testing my brand new Speedmaster Pro. I put it on for the first time Monday afternoon. I wound it to the point that I thought it should be wound (not to the bitter end). I rewound it some Tuesday am (again, not to the bitter end). Wednesday am, it was stopped at 0550. So I did some research and discovered it should be wound until it stops, to achieve the maximum reserve. Today it is almost 10 seconds behind where I set it yesterday. I'll report out again tomorrow am. According to specs, it should be running up to 0600.

This brings me to my question; how often do Speedy owners wind your watch? I'm going to play around with this, but based on losing 8 - 10 seconds in 24 hours, I am thinking I should try winding it twice a day (morning and night seems logical) to try to improve accuracy. All this assumes that tomorrow am it will still be ticking at 0600, indicating that there are no problems with my watch (at least as far as reserve is concerned).

If this sounds to you like I don't know how to handle a manual wind watch, you're close. This is the first time I've had to deal with winding a watch routinely in 40 years. 👎

Archer · Jan 7, 2016

Just wind it once per day at around the same time of day...that is how it was meant to be wound. The average rate should be between -1 and +11 seconds per day for the 1861 movement per Omega specs.

Cheers, Al

duc · Jan 8, 2016

To close out my little matter. The watch was ticking strong at 0400 this am (46 hours after I set it and last wound it). My new protocol will be to wind it to the limit every morning.

Also, it lost almost 10 seconds on day one, but seems to be holding there. If I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with how I attempted to hack the second hand to align with the digital clock I was setting it to. The "put slight pressure in the anti-clockwise direction" instruction is strange to me, and maybe I missed the actual time set. In either event, I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Thanks for the guidance Archer.

Power Reserve

Archer

Archer

sengvin

Pvt-Public

sengvin

Pvt-Public

Archer

sengvin

duc

Archer

duc

Similar threads

Omega 1120 Timing Check - Power Reserve

Power Reserve 2231.80 Caliber 1120 OMEGA

Bracelet for Longines Conquest power reserve

Longines Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve Limited Edition

Omega Seamaster Apnea 2595.50 Caliber 3601, low power reserve and inconsistent accuracy, does it need service?

Power Reserve Indicator on newer Omegas