how important is fully winding the watch?

[noche619]

My watch was running fast....seemed to be gaining a few minutes in a week. When I found out the only way to get it corrected under warranty was to send it back to Rolex myself or have the AD send it back, it got more serious about testing the accuracy. I followed the instructions from one of the friendly forum members here and wound it 40 times. My SA hadn't told me that and I think I had been winding it about 30 times in the past (only had the watch a couple of mos).
It's been 5 days and since re-setting and winding 40 times, seems to be keeping much better time.
Could under-winding cause the watch to run fast?
thanks for all your advice to a newbie

[KarlFr]

no but if you store it overnight crown up it will gain less, however a few min per week is to much and needs calibrating by a watchmaker

[padi56]

Originally Posted by KarlFr

no but if you store it overnight crown up it will gain less, however a few min per week is to much and needs calibrating by a watchmaker

The OP said it seemed to be gaining minutes a week,I would suggest he/she do a proper accurate check.First fully wind watch 40 full crown turns clockwise,then set watch to a reliable time source.Now for this test a quartz watch will do to synchronise both watches.Now wear your watch as normal check time daily over 5 days with the original setting time source, then average out the loss or gain over the 5 days for a accurate result.In general if watches power reserve is low they will speed up a little

[MortgageGuy]

Sounds like perfect advice from Padi above. Let us know what happens :)

[Roja]

If power reserve is LOW they will SPEED up a little?

I had no clue about this (or how/why that would be).

Thank you for the info.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Roja

If power reserve is LOW they will SPEED up a little?

I had no clue about this (or how/why that would be).

Thank you for the info.

As any watches mainspring winds down a bit and falls underneath the peak running curve for that movement. The watches escapement hairspring will not have the same power and torque. This will translate into less power getting to the pallet fork jewel thats at the base of the hairspring.This will give and a faster but shorter amplitude causing the watch movement to speed up in general.

[Onikage]

Great info, as always. Will the watch just stop you winding it once it's wound to full capacity?? I've never given mine 40 full turns before for fear of overwinding. And it IS a bit fast :D

[bighaole]

All Rolexes have a clutch to prevent overwinding.

[Onikage]

Time to get winding, thanks for that!