Quick question to discuss...

[-JP]

Wear & Tear:
For those with a few automatics in rotation what do you think is worse for your watches? Keeping them on the winder running them constantly or unscrewing & popping out the crown, resetting the time & date (which seems even harsher for those of us without quick set date...looking at you Rolex) popping in or screwing the crown back down every few weeks? Both are obviously going to make any mechanical watch require service sooner or later but what option do you feel better if you have a regular rotation of a handful of automatics that may not get used for weeks at a time? Im sure there are some strong opinions on this topic would be interested to hear....

[Seriously]

less use , less wear

more use, more wear

They might still need servicing , but one will only need clean and lube, the other might need parts and clean and lube.

But then:


intermittent use with oil drying out starts to wear more than intermittent use with servicing thrown in from time to time


Oh I don't know !!, just wear the damn things out !!

[mlcor]

There have been numerous discussions of this point on the other forum. I'll save you the trouble of doing a search--the results are inconclusive. FWIW, my view is that if you keep it on a winder, it's not getting any more wear and tear than it would on your wrist (if you have a decent winder that counts tpd, stops appropriately, etc.). I do worry about using crowns (especially screw down ones) more than necessary, but don't know if the benefits of less wear off a winder outweigh the detriments having to use the crown more often.

I split the difference, myself--watches that I wear at least one a week or so (plus my JLC Master Hometime, which doesn't have a quick set date) go on winders. The automatics I wear less frequently sit in the watch box.

[Donf]

I just gave up setting dates as my way of limiting wear and tear.

[OTGabe]

I am a dive watch enthusiast so almost all my watches have screw down crowns. I have winders, but over the years just came to the conclusion that it was too much trouble to use them so I don't bother. I keep my collection in watch boxes and wind/set them when I want to wear them. I'm quite careful and I've never stripped a crown yet, so it doesn't concern me much. I have watches a decade or more old that spend most of the year sitting idle, and I've had no issues yet. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I see no reason to change my ways.

[Seriously]

my view is that if you keep it on a winder, it's not getting any more wear and tear than it would on your wrist

I know it's an old response to the 'argument' .....
.....but you're not getting the benefit of it being on the wrist ... so you're effectively 'using it up' without reaping the benefits (of using it personally on your wrist)

You could say it'd be like having a butler (or several) to wear the watch(es) when you can't

[mlcor]

You could say it'd be like having a butler (or several) to wear the watch(es) when you can't

You mean you don't?

[skywatch]

Remembering back to past threads, most of the replies from people with actual watchmaker's training said it's best just to let the watches run down when not worn. However, I believe pulling the crown to engage the hacking mechanism for a long period of time, while the watch is wound, is not recommended. There is a constant pressure placed on the hack lever, and the mainspring will last longer when loose, as opposed to a constantly tightened state. So, as I have about three dozen mechanicals, I just let them run down until I want to wear one. The vintage slow-set dates are a bit of a pain, so those will sometimes wait until the next date cycle comes around (handy to have more than a month's rotation I guess.)

[Matt]

Personally I leave my car idling in the garage overnight to keep the oil warm and reduce the wear on startup...

[Nokie]

ess use , less wear

more use, more wear

Yup.