Which choice for optimum long-term watch "health"?

[timepup]

Hi, all,

I have a (really picky!) technical question for all you watch "gurus" out there who are familiar with the mechanics and long-term wear patterns of Rolex watches...

I have a two-year old GMT-Master II. I usually wear the watch four to five days each week.

The watch rarely ever uses up its winding reserve, and so basically has been running continuously for the past two years (as it is, of course, designed to do).

Until recently, when the watch was not worn I simply let it rest on my nightstand dial up.

A couple of weeks ago I purchased an Orbita Sparta watch winder, and since then I've been putting the watch on the winder when I think I'm not going to wear the watch for a couple of days.

With me so far?

Anyway, since purchasing the winder I've been reading a bunch of info about watches and winders, including the pros and cons of using or not using winders. The conventional wisdom seems to be that ordinarily a winder is not necessary for a watch that does not have multiple complications.



In reading through all of the info on the web there was one "pearl" of information that really caught my attention, and I'm honestly interested to know if it is true...

I read somewhere that some watchmakers feel that it is better for a watch if its mainspring is kept near its fully wound state... something about the mainspring being more likely to develop problems or be damaged if allowed to unwind frequently.

If this is true (and I'm sure this, like just about everything else about watches is a matter of controversy), then It seems that If a watch is never going to be allowed to run down completely then using a (well designed and correctly programmed) winder might actually be GOOD for it.

So, assuming that a watch is used regularly, not babied but not abused (and MIGHT have to go a bit longer than five years between service intervals...),
then which scenario is likely to cause the least amount of wear or problems over the long term:

1) The watch is frequently allowed to go 24 to 36 hours between wearings, and then is either allowed to wind itself or is manually wound before wearing. Thus the mainspring is wound and unwound regularly.

2) The watch is kept on a winder when not being worn. Thus the mainspring is always near fully wound.

Keep in mind that there is no difference between these two scenarios in the amount of time the watch is actually keeping time. The only variable is the constant vs. the intermittant state of wind of the mainspring.

Thanks for any advice, comments or wisdom!

Ken

[fwellers]

My wife bought me a winder for Christmas a couple of years ago. I never use it, because I'm either wearing a watch every day, or I'm not. The ones I'm not wearing just wind down.
I've never heard what you are describing, but I do remember reading that a watch will be more accurate while at the near fully wound position compared with one whose mainspring is almost unwound.

[Tools]

Watch mainsprings are still pretty much the same as they have been for more than a century except for the technical advances in metallurgy.

Until the auto wind came along, watches were wound daily and the conventional wisdom of the day was to wind it at the same time every day so the mainspring received 'consistency" and would, therefore, last longer..

With the autowind winding the mainspring all the time, and to varying degrees, it seems that that "old" thinking was off base.

Perhaps the mainspring is just a mindless hunk of processed metal and doesn't know if it is half, one fourth, or completely wound...

[Perdu]

Well, I am not an expert but a watch will keep better time when it is fully wound - that's the optimum state. I believe the best thing for a mechanical is wearing it. I use a winder because I may not wear my watch for a couple of months, so I use the winder one week on and one week off. The reason is I once left the watch unwound for a couple of years and the oils dried out, clogged up, whatever and I got a service bill. But for 36 hours I would not bother with a winder. I can't see that unwinding the spring is going to hurt the watch at all, but it might be slightly less accurate this way. Not wisdom really, just comment.

[The Engineer]

A watch is at its most vulnerable state to impact damage when it has wound down. that is because there is no torque pressure on the geartrain, you need to keep this pressure on by keeping it fully wound, or store it safely away when not using it.

[BuffaloRolex]

Originally Posted by The Engineer

A watch is at its most vulnerable state to impact damage when it has wound down. that is because there is no torque pressure on the geartrain, you need to keep this pressure on by keeping it fully wound, or store it safely away when not using it.

That's interesting---so they're in their most fragile state when they're being shipped most of the time...I know my watch came to me unwound.

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Originally Posted by The Engineer

A watch is at its most vulnerable state to impact damage when it has wound down. that is because there is no torque pressure on the geartrain, you need to keep this pressure on by keeping it fully wound, or store it safely away when not using it.

I agree.

All Rolex movts. are COSC tested today. But when the movts. are sent back to Rolex for further adjustments, they are not running, and it has often been reported that the perfect COSC regulation has been ruined by rought treatment during transit from COSC to Rolex S.A.

Rolex makes further testings and regulations in-house for the same reason.

[The Engineer]

Thanks Bo.