Watch Movement Guide – Caring for your Swiss Timepiece

With the proper care & maintenance, a fine Swiss watch can be enjoyed for a lifetime. To ensure proper operation, be aware of how to properly set, wind & care for the various timepiece movements.

Quartz
Battery Powered

Battery – Batteries should last up to two years. If you need a battery replacement, please attend to it immediately as a dead cell can harm the movement. If you own a water resistant model, all gaskets should be replaced & water resistance tested to proper depth.

Maintenance – To ensure reliable performance, your watch should be serviced when issues arise within 1 year of a cell change such as erratic timekeeping, stops during calendar change or stops and starts.

Water Resistance – Seals should be checked every year to ensure integrity of water resistance. If a diving model, water resistance should be checked before each
diving session.

Mechanical
Selfwinding/Automatic

It’s not uncommon for automatic watches to
require winding after an extended period of time at rest. In order to maintain the desired level of performance, please wind the crown 40-50 times before wearing.

Maintenance – To ensure reliable performance, your watch should be serviced every three to five years.

Mechanical
Manual Wind

If you have a manual wind watch, try to wind it at the same time every day. Winding it in the morning is best because you will have consistent power throughout the day. This may also contribute to more accurate
timekeeping.

When the watch is fully wound, you will feel resistance as the mainspring tightens. When the crown stops, that’s enough winding. Do not try to force it any further, you could damage both the mainspring & components in the escapement.

When winding a manual wind watch, it is advisable to take off the watch. If you keep the watch on while you wind it, you may put unnecessary strain on the winding stem at all points, but particularly where the stem attaches to the winding crown.