Comments:
Remove watch. Take fingernail (if present) and from underside of case, pull up using serrated groove in crown.
Now without loosing the crown's extension, pull one or two clicks to set or wind.
Fiddly.
Once you have it, keep wearing the watch to avoid having to reset it too often.
E. SILBERSTEIN WITH TRIANGLE CROWNS How do I wind a watch that has a sharp-edged triangular crown? Ouch!
No, you reach into the tool kit, pull out the plastic crown tool, insert over the crown and wind as normal.
The PITA
I press on the bottom and find it does nothing. Closer inspection with a loupe reveals that it is not a pusher at all, but a symmetrical depression in the case, which cleverly disguises the hallmark, indicating the case is gold. What were they thinking!? How frustrating.
Ok, so moving on to the top pusher, we find a gentle half-touch advances the month, and a full touch advances the month and the day of the week together.
Then push in one click and turn the crown clockwise. The days spin by, as do the months, until the correct day and month are reached. The red dots next to the day let you know if you are in the AM or PM half of the day.
This raises the question - should you try to change your own battery? That's in another episode, along with other servicing tips. Come back and look for it.
LINK TO POST 4
This message has been edited by cazalea on 2015-03-02 22:36:30
Care & Feeding of a Watch Collection 6: Winding & Setting
Welcome back to installment 6 in the Care & Feeding of a Watch Collection. In this post I will discuss the issues of winding and setting your watch. How hard can it be?
Speaking as a long-time collector, I can tell you how many issues there are in winding and setting watches. Many! Read on ...
Winding and Setting the Watch
Winding
Anyone knows how to wind a watch, right?
A. MANUAL WIND WATCHES Turn the crown gently in a back and forth motion of the crown until it stops. Easy.
B. SPORT WATCHES Unscrew the locking crown and turn it until it seems to have a heavier load or stops. Turn it back a bit, press in, and turn to lock.
C. MANY SEIKOS Shake your arm around until the watch runs.
D. THIS BELL & ROSS Space 4 How do I get the (*^&% crown out to wind it??
Remove watch. Take fingernail (if present) and from underside of case, pull up using serrated groove in crown.
Now without loosing the crown's extension, pull one or two clicks to set or wind.
Fiddly.
Once you have it, keep wearing the watch to avoid having to reset it too often.
E. SILBERSTEIN WITH TRIANGLE CROWNS How do I wind a watch that has a sharp-edged triangular crown? Ouch!
No, you reach into the tool kit, pull out the plastic crown tool, insert over the crown and wind as normal.
Setting the date and smile are done by hand in the normal way, pull out crown one click and turn towards or away. But setting the date can be painful as you might have to turn the triangle many times.
NOTE: do not lose the winding tool if you have multiple Silbersteins!
F. ANY NUMBER OF OTHER WATCHES LACKING CROWNS
Read the manual!
The FREAK
The PITA
How much do I wind it?
Until you feel tension, or the crown stops, or until the power reserve hand says the watch is Full, or Up or the hours are highest, then Stop.
Automatic Winders
A winder relieves you of the need to wind or set watches that you rarely wear. In essence, it's a mechanical wrist that exercises your watch for you. There are debates over the danger to a watch from being on a winder too long. But ignoring those, I find it very convenient with my calendar and perpetual watches.
Setting the Time on Simple Watches
A two or three-hand watch shouldn't cause any of us too much trouble. Pull out crown, turn to set time, push in.
HOWEVER, it's not always that simple when you get up to 4 hands.
Most GMT watches come with an instruction sheet or user manual to inform you about setting and adjusting the watch. However, some are in foreign languages, others are downright useless, and used watches may come with nothing. If in doubt, ask before you buy.
Here's a page from a GS Chronograph manual explaining (in a very complicated way) that you have two options when setting the GMT function:
As any Rolex Explorer owner knows, there is one way to set a GMT hand, and then there's the Rolex way. Which do you prefer?
Setting the Time on Calendar Watches
Since it's the beginning of March and virtually all my watches need to be set, let's go through some typical examples. Here are 4 watches with calendars of various sorts.
Let's take a vintage watch -- my triple date Record. It has the typical crown - pull to set the time, and turn around the 24 hours to advance the date hand and the day window. Eventually if you turn far enough you will advance the month too, at the end of 31 days. But that takes too long, and you might not have the weekday match your month.
Today is March 2nd and I need to get my watch set to match the day, date and month. It is equipped with pushers on the left side, into which you insert a special tool (or toothpick).
I press on the bottom and find it does nothing. Closer inspection with a loupe reveals that it is not a pusher at all, but a symmetrical depression in the case, which cleverly disguises the hallmark, indicating the case is gold. What were they thinking!? How frustrating.
Ok, so moving on to the top pusher, we find a gentle half-touch advances the month, and a full touch advances the month and the day of the week together.
So I push a few times to get the day to Monday and the month is at December.
Three more gentle touches, and I'm on Monday in February (ignore the details on the photo, I can't adjust and take pictures at the same time).
Now I go to the other pusher and move the day along to the 31st.
Now I go to the other pusher and move the day along to the 31st.
Then the day hand sticks and the pusher "pushes back", so I advance the day using the crown.
Which also moves the day of the week to Wed.
I push a bit more on the top pusher to get myself back to Monday and March. Here's the final result. About 10 minutes, including finding the toothpicks.
Moon phase pusher is at bottom left.
Day (red-tipped hand) pusher is on bottom right
Month on top right. Day of the week is not separately adjustable.
SUDDENLY (quoting George Clooney from Brother, Where Art Thou), "Damn, we're in a tight spot!"
Normally this means a trip to the watch repair shop. DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT.
I cleaned the pusher tubes with a drop of lighter fluid, and put her back together. Remembering the mantra of the bicycle shop regarding seat tubes, which is
Pull out crown fully and advance the hands until the day of the week is set. Either direction, depending on which day you're on already.
I push a bit more on the top pusher to get myself back to Monday and March. Here's the final result. About 10 minutes, including finding the toothpicks.
If you don't like fiddly stuff like this you will want to stay away from vintage watches!
Next, let's set my IWC calendar watch which has 3 pushers. It's quartz and has no second hand OR minute markers, so reading the time off the dial isn't a precision event. But it does indicate day, month, date, moon.
Moon phase pusher is at bottom left.
Day (red-tipped hand) pusher is on bottom right
Month on top right. Day of the week is not separately adjustable.
SUDDENLY (quoting George Clooney from Brother, Where Art Thou), "Damn, we're in a tight spot!"
The pusher for the day of the week is stuck in the case tube, and the day indicator has disappeared.
Furthermore, since the quartz movement is running, it jams things further.
I carelessly broke the PRIME DIRECTIVE of setting a calendar: NEVER set the watch when it's between the hours of 10 pm and 2 am.
The movement is preparing to switch itself over and you can jam or break things. I hope it's jam.
Normally this means a trip to the watch repair shop. DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT.
But in my case, I AM the shop, so off we go to the bench... I remove the back. Nice little movement with "Zurich" stripes (this is an IWC; NOT made in Geneva).
and pull the movement from the case. I won't recount the whole process, but eventually, without removing hands and dial, I was able to get the movement unstuck. After gentle fiddling and some moans and groans at my stupidity, I dropped it carefully from 2 inches above the table. It clicked and the day reappeared. Yay!
I nudge a few pushers with my nifty Swiss screwdrivers, and find it's all free and working again.
I cleaned the pusher tubes with a drop of lighter fluid, and put her back together. Remembering the mantra of the bicycle shop regarding seat tubes, which is
"lube before insertion", I put some of the proper slimy stuff on the stem and slid it in.
The spacer ring is a swine; no notch for the stem but a hole, so you have to get everything lined up just right before re-insertion.
Here we go. Only an hour used so far to adjust 2 watches!
Next is the MIH. It's an annual calendar and sets itself for every month except February, Rats, that's just gone past.
The spacer ring is a swine; no notch for the stem but a hole, so you have to get everything lined up just right before re-insertion.
Here we go. Only an hour used so far to adjust 2 watches!
Next is the MIH. It's an annual calendar and sets itself for every month except February, Rats, that's just gone past.
MIH has NO pushers, and it can be adjusted in either direction at any time of day or night. Noon or Midnight, no problem.
Wow. I haven't worn it for a long time.
Thank you Ludwig and Paul. It's set in 3 minutes.
Finally, we tackle the 7-handed Credor.
How? Maybe the secondary crown at 2? NO!
If you pull out the secondary crown at 2, it will adjust the GMT-to-regular hour hand relationship. It also throws the day hand off the scale which is frightening (no harm done, says the book).
Pull out the main crown to the first click. Turn towards yourself to set the date. Turn away from yourself to set the day of the week.
Done. Ten seconds. Thank you Seiko. And the manual.
Setting the Time on Complicated Watches
Without the manual you might find it difficult or impossible to set any complicated watch.
For this special astronomical Citizen, I never did find a manual in English, nor did I ever successfully set this watch! I sold it in great frustration.
Quartz Calendar Watches after a Battery Change
In many cases it's easy. In others, read the book or take it to the shop. Or give it back to the owner, as he'll probably know how to set it. In all the hundreds or perhaps thousands of battery changes I've done, it usually takes longer to set the watch than to change the battery. No kidding.
Thanks for reading along!
Cazalea
This message has been edited by cazalea on 2015-03-02 22:36:30
Pardon my ignorance, Mike, need advice here....
A. MANUAL WIND WATCHES Turn the crown gently in a back and forth motion of the crown until it stops. Easy
What do you mean by "back and forth"?
Usually I keep twisting the crown in a clockwise direction using the thumb and index finger (looking at the crown), I don't loosen it a bit and then forward again.
What is the merit of doing "back and forth"?
Great read....I'm following....
)
Rgds
Raymond
It's a matter of coaxing the watch into action
My watchmaker mentor said be gentle with your watch.
Don't try to twist the stem off; don't just throw the top of the crown back.
Coax it back, forth a half turn at a time, easy does it.
Listen to the watch - whirr (winding up), zing (ratchet back).
It takes 40-100 hours to unwind that spring, so don't be in a rush to wind it in 10 seconds.
I don't think it matters much from a mechanical point of view as long as you are easy on it.
But what I notice, and I don't have that many manual wind only watches - they sound and feel entirely different.
Even my 3 nearly identical Grand Seikos feel different from one another - the crowns even vary in shape, size and number of serrations.
So look at your watch, feel its front and back, hold it up and listen to it. Enjoy it.
Thanks for reading along through my posts.
Mike
Enjoying this series!
Good thing the date-setting procedures have generally simplified over the years. That beautiful Record triple date is worth the toothpick work though.
Excellent, Mike. Thanks for putting all these advices together.
Which also gives us the opportunity to rediscover some cool watches, such as the Silberstein!
Best,
Nicolas
Thank you cazalea...
for this series, many good points and advices. I learnad a few new things about the approach to watch collecting.
One thing if I may add is: newer wind your watches when your hands are not entirely dry.
Regards
Edward
never wind it underwater either!
Water and watches really don't go well together, you are right. I'm a bit of a coward anyway, having seen the effect of diving in the pool, taking a shower, going in the sauna, etc. with the crown unscrewed ...
I tell my wife the writing on the dial is how far to stay away from the water with this watch - for example, keep 2000 M from the ocean!
really informative series, Mike. I was entertained by the setting of..
Complicated quartz watches.
