Winding a wind-up watch

AlanConnolly

Hi guys.

Quick basic question.
How often do you wind up a wind-up watch, and how would you know if it's wound enough.
Are there any problems with over winding it

Cheers.

peasant

I wind mine twice daily.
You can feel when the watch is fully wound, the resistance increases to the point where your fingers slip. On the watches I own you'd probably have to wind them with pliers to over-do it ...but if you did then it's kaputt (broken spring, broken stem or broken gears)
Some high end movements supposedly have overwind protection in that the mainspring just slips through a ratchet kind system ..needless to say I wouldn't have any experience of high-end

fishguy

I wind mine every night before going to bed. Even really old watches has at least 30-32 hours of power reserve. If you wind them use just enough force to wind the spring so if it`s fully winded you will feel it straight. In fact if it`s just getting about fully winded you will feel the resistance starting to build up. I never managed to over-wind any of my watches but I had a few pieces what I purchased broken as they probably over-wound. Mostly not difficult to fix them...

g.