Two Mistakes That Can Ruin a Mechanical Watch and How to Avoid Them

Setting the time on your mechanical watch is deceptively simple, but it’s possible to unwittingly damage the delicate movement inside with seemingly innocuous actions. There are just a couple basic rules to remember: 1) Only turn the hands clockwise, and 2) only adjust the date more than 3 hours away from midnight. That’s it. But you should also understand why not to do these things.

Mechanical watches require regular attention from the user, such as setting the time and winding. These are the times when you interact most directly with the movement inside, and different watches offer different tactile feedback that is determined by the movement itself as well as how the watchmaker has constructed the case and crown. If you wear the same automatic watch daily or keep it on a winder it will require less frequent setting, but at the very least, most simple automatic watches with a date (that are not perpetual calendars) will require periodic adjustment.

Watch newbies should definitely be aware of these important watch-health guidelines along with other watch maintenance — mostly very simple stuff. Even many longtime watch enthusiasts who follow these rules, however, might not know exactly why they follow them. We spoke with the excellent watchmakers who work with Analog/Shift and got the technical details. These principles should generally apply to most common watches and movements.

Don’t Set Your Watch Counterclockwise

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

How It Works: It’s called “clockwise” for a reason: That’s the way it’s designed to go! Unlike setting the date incorrectly (see below), going the other way does not risk immediately breaking your watch. Rather, it causes undue wear on the gear train, much more so than normal operation.

If done regularly over time, this wear can have adverse effects on the watch’s overall health. If you space out and overshoot the exact time you’re aiming for (it happens), turning it back slowly a couple minutes isn’t such a big deal and is far easier than spinning through another 24 hours and cycling through the date (see below) again. Consider this a best practice.

How to Set a Watch the Right Way

1. Pull the crown out to its second position (unscrewing it first, if necessary) to set the time. If it’s the kind of movement that stops the seconds hand (“hacking”), you may want to wait until it reaches zero — you know, just for precision’s sake.
2. Then turn the hands clockwise to set the time — this is often (but not always) done by turning the crown toward yourself.
3. Press the crown in to start the watch again (then screw it back in, if necessary).

Don’t Set the Date Within 3 Hours of Midnight

Photo by Zen Love for Gear Patrol

How It Works: When the time approaches midnight, you may notice that the date disc appears to be gearing up for the change and that it sometimes doesn’t actually click over until, say, 15 minutes past the hour. That’s the case for many watches, using, for example, movements like the common ETA 2824-2, though some higher-end watches have dates that change instantaneously at midnight.

As watchmaker Harris Freedman explains, a pin sticking off of the date wheel (a gear) pushes the date disc (which displays the date) forward every 24 hours. As the pin comes into contact with the disc, quickly turning the date disc via the crown can cause it to jam or, in a worst-case scenario, cause the wheel to actually break.

If that happens, you’ll not only have to replace the wheel but also probably will need a full service done on the watch in case any debris got into the movement. That’s why you want to get that pin clearly out of the way before changing the date by keeping the hour hand toward the bottom of the dial.

How to Set a Watch’s Date Safely:

1. To be safe, it’s a good idea to just make it a habit of setting the date when the hour hand is traveling somewhere along the bottom half of the dial (following the instructions above for setting the time).
2. Set the date by pulling the crown out to its first position, for the vast majority of mechanical watches with a date function.
3. Turn the crown gently to set the date. If your watch also has a day-of-the-week display, you can usually also set it via the crown in this position by turning it in the opposite direction.
4. Push the crown back in when finished.

Bonus Tip: Make Sure Your Crown Is Pushed In!

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

I know we’ve already said to push or screw in your crown all the way when you’re done setting the time and date on your watch, but it’s worth repeating.

If the crown isn’t pushed in all the way, your watch’s water resistance is compromised, making it susceptible to water damage should you get it wet (or worse, should you submerge it). If water gets into the movement, it will almost certainly require a full service, which can cause rust and other issues.

If your watch has a “hacking” movement that stops the seconds hand when the crown is pulled out to the last position, then it’s pretty obvious when your crown is all the way out because the watch won’t be running. But even hacking watches will continue to run when the crown is only pulled out to the first position, such as when changing the date, so always make sure your crown is sealed all the way against the case any time you finish adjusting anything on your watch.

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