Winding on Wrist Harmful?

Hi folks! Received a Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional as a present to mark a milestone birthday. (My previous watch, which has served for almost 15 years on various nylon bands, is a Citizen Eco-Drive Chandler.) Have been unable to get to a shop to adjust the bracelet to my wrist so I've been wearing the Nato strap, which I find very comfortable.

Although I'm taking reasonable care of the watch, I'm not intending to keep it in a drawer or treat it like a museum piece. I'm going to use it, wear it, and enjoy it.

This is my first manual watch, so (of course) I was surfing around and reading various bits of info. (The HODINKEE Reference Points article was great!) One bit of guidance I read seems like bunk to me, but I wanted to ask the group. Here's what some articles are claiming:

While winding a watch is a simple process, there are a couple things to be aware of. First of all, wind the watch off of your wrist. While it may be tempting to give the crown a few twirls while you’re surfing the Web at work, the angle can be awkward and put lateral stress on the delicate winding stem.

There are a number of other articles and watch dealer sites that repeat similar admonishments.

It seems to me that (1) it'd be difficult to put more stress on the winding mechanism with it on your wrist vs off, (2) the winding mechanism is well seated within and supported by the watch case, (3) the tips of my fleshy fingers can't be torquing the crown in any meaningful way in one position vs the other, (4) the winding stem can't be all that delicate, and (5) did astronauts really need to take their Speedys off their wrists to wind them like delicate jewelry during spaceflight and risk them floating out the airlock? (OK, the last one is a little goofy, but still.)

What's your call: solid advice or complete bunk?

I find it difficult enough to wind off my wrist, so winding with it on is near impossible for me.

I also take the watch off at night, so when I pick it up in the morning to put it on, it makes sense to wind it then, it gets wound to full daily.

Given I’ve seen this info in numerous places, I’m not willing to risk damage unnecessarily.

I’m sure one of the more experienced members will be long shortly to confirm/deny the theory of why.

That's a novel approach👍
Adapt and improvise😉

The article might be more applicable to those with screw down crowns like Rolex. When the stem is out and exposed, it's cantilevered out and the angle of your fingers going down and out would put undue stress on it.

Surely the crown and assembly should be engineered strong enough so one could wind on wrist if they wanted to?

I wind on and off my wrist.

I take it out before getting into shower, so after getting out of shower, before putting it back, I wind it, those who does not take shower everyday or does take with the watch may wind it one the wrist taking necessary precaution to not to break the wrist or the watch 😀.

I haven’t had a Speedy very long but I do have a Zodiac Seachron (Val. 72) that I bought in 1972 and I never had any problems with it and I don’t recall paying much attention to when I wound it. Just got it back from service and there were no issues. Morning or evening when you take it off seems the logical time but unless I heard from a watchmaker, as opposed to Hodinkee, that it’s a problem, I wouldn’t worry.

Should we do it once a day?


😁

I just wind it when necessary. Works for me. It’s a tool watch.

Depends how long you plan to keep the watch. You will put unnecessary stress into the keyless works, stress is proportional to strain. If you don't wear a watch day in, day out, that's probably OK, but if you plan to keep it on your wrist daily for the next 30 yrs, just take it off your wrist. These two crowns used to look the same - the worn one was a wrist-winder, the pristine one was off-the-wrist winding only. I am joking, but if your fingers can do that, then metal on metal can do much worse. Don't rely on your lubrication. All friction produces particles you don't want in your watch. I build sterile clean rooms, what I know about particle shedding leads me to take my watches off - unless it doesn't have a crown. Ultimately it's up you.



p.s. good question, thoughtfully raised, and you did some research first - your Speedy is in excellent hands.