How to Wind a Watch

As an owner of a mechanical watch, you may now know that it won’t run by itself. And that is exactly its charm – the relationship it needs to have with you to keep it running. If you don’t own one yet and are looking to, you should know that a mechanical watch needs to be wound regularly to power the mechanism.

So how difficult could winding a watch be? It’s actually easy, but there are some intricacies inside your watch that can be affected by how you wind it.
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1. Always remove the watch from your wrist before winding. Winding the watch while it’s on your wrist may place it in an awkward angle that can strain the mechanisms inside.

2. If your watch has a date complication, don’t wind the watch when it’s at 9PM to 2AM. At these hours, the date-change mechanism is engaging the gear train and setting the date during this period may break the delicate teeth of the mechanism.

3. Hold the watch with your other hand at a vertical position. If your watch has a screw-down crown, lightly pull the crown away until you can turn it. If you have a normal crown, you can start winding it without preliminaries.

4. Begin winding the crown, moving the hands forward or clockwise, completing a number of revolutions. Turning the hands clockwise means rotating the crown away from you.

5. Continue winding slowly and consistently until you feel the tension increase. Be patient – it may take anywhere from 20 complete revolutions, to as many as 40 for some watches. Stop winding when you feel a resistance and can’t turn the crown anymore. Your watch is now adequately wound.

As always, every watch is different, so it’s best to check the watch manual before doing anything to your watch or visit a watch specialist to give you appropriate advice.