Power Reserve....How Important Is It ???

[Tools]

I put on My Sub this morning.... It was still ticking away and on time after 8 hours..

This got me thinking........ It has a 40+ hour power reserve ? That's almost 2 days....

The Daytona has a 55+ power reserve... More than a full weekend. And I was reading about the Panerai 10 day with multiple mainspring barrels and 10 days of power reserve...

What's up with all that....

How much power reserve does a watch really need............

How important is this to you ?????????

[JostheBoss]

I guess it's important for the ownwers out there with a large collection. But even with one watch, I can forget to put it on on a leisurely weekend and leave it bedside. The power reserve gives you time for that and lessens the number of times you manipulate the crown to wind it up(which carries a small risk of harm)

But the 10day reseves are just for bragging rights IMO. Ten days! What for?

[buz-lh]

10 days is overkill. I found my DJ has 47+ hours of reserve and that is plenty for me.

[scottschoe]

Power reserve numbers aren't that important to me (as long as they're over 24hrs), but I would love to have a power reserve meter somewhere on the watch.

[doc_colton]

Depends, if I'm wearing it, and I haven't moved in 40 hrs, I'm probably dead....

[donutdanny]

Originally Posted by doc_colton

Depends, if I'm wearing it, and I haven't moved in 40 hrs, I'm probably dead....

[Paulie]

Those of us that Desk-Dive need a large reserve. Keyboard action doesn't spin the rotor.

[ratmotortom]

Power reserve is no big issue for me. I can see where it would be great for guys that change watches throughout the week though. I wear the sub all the time and rarely change.

[SPACE-DWELLER]

I have wondered about this, too. For a while, I have considered getting the Panerai 10 days power reserve GMT as a non-Rolex watch, but if you let the power reserve drop too much (say let the watch stay idle for 6 of the ten days), it will have its effect on the precision of the watch, and you'd need to wound it fully to obtain the best accuracy once again. And since you need to fully wound the watch no matter what you do to get the best precision, what's the point of such a long power reserve?

[JBat]

For me the power reserve only has to be long enough to get me to the next morning, but I can see where a 10 day reserve would be nice if you rotate a couple of watches every other week.

[Perdu]

If you wear your watch all the time it is wound optimally and who cares is the power reserve is 40hrs or 55. I have wondered how accurate the movement is as the spring unwinds, but I've never tested that.

[C.J.]

I'm pretty much a one watch guy now as I wear my GMT about 90% of the time which keeps it continuously wound. But, when I had a few at once, I really wished I had a longer PR especially when the GMT wound out. My wife on the other hand, leaves her Datejust off for a day or two at a time and can't figure out why it keeps "breaking" And, yep, you guessed, I always get to re-set it poor woman just refuses to grasp the concept of an auto-mechanical movement. She want Rolex to make a quartz ladies DJ so she can trade hers for that

[Paulie]

Originally Posted by C.J.

<snip> She want Rolex to make a quartz ladies DJ so she can trade hers for that

I got my wife a manual wind no date. I am happy to give it about 10 turns every morning while my coffee is brewing. I wish my GMTII kept as good as time as hers though (her's I can keep with in a couple seconds all the time with keeping it crown down overnight.)

[GoldenBear]

Usually, when I swap out a watch I wear the new one for a week or more. So, the back-ups almost always needs to be reset. So its no big deal.

[C.J.]

Originally Posted by Paulie

I got my wife a manual wind no date. I am happy to give it about 10 turns every morning while my coffee is brewing. I wish my GMTII kept as good as time as hers though (her's I can keep with in a couple seconds all the time with keeping it crown down overnight.)

You're a lucky man I'm lucky if I can keep my wifes date anywhere within the same week with the way she takes care of her watch

[BiG JeEzY]

I have two Rolexes that are on a winder when not in use. So the power reserve may not be significant for me right now. But when I didn't have the winders, the watches would stop occasionally since I don't really wear my Rolexes during the weekdays. I switch to the Longines usually for weekdays and the Rolexes would stop running as a result.

My opinion is that the more power reserve a watch has the better. I think there is nothing wrong with having more in this case. If they had a 5 day power reserve or so, I would have never needed any winders in the first place.

[Alcan]

Originally Posted by C.J.

My wife on the other hand, leaves her Datejust off for a day or two at a time and can't figure out why it keeps "breaking"

Originally Posted by C.J.

You're a lucky man I'm lucky if I can keep my wifes date anywhere within the same week with the way she takes care of her watch

I think we hooked up with triplets!

Nancy has several automatic date and day/date watches, none of which are ever close.

Not an issue for me because my automatics with complications live on a 4 watch winder when I'm not wearing them, so they're ready to go when I feel like wearing one. I guess the answer is to buy another winder.

[Andad]

The Daytona SS 4130 has a 72 hr reserve.

[bgriz]

Right now I only have 1 Rolex, however if I had more I would appreciate that power reserve as I rotate through the watches.

[supermarz]

my cartier gives me the s&#T!! i will take it off for a day whilst its fully wound to wear my YM and within 30 hours lets say...it will be off by 3 - 4 minutes .... and the watch is only 3 years old ....tiem to get it in for service i think.. :-/