It's physically impossible to overwind an automatic watch, the spring will just slip in the barrel.

Roff, I once posted "to fully wind my watch I do it near my ear until I hear a clicking sound." You said, mechanically there's no reason for a clicking sound. Do you think this slipping in the barrel I what can be causing the "clicking" sound?

I think that it's more likely to be just the click which makes a clicking sound all the time that you wind it.

I think that it's more likely to be just the click which makes a clicking sound all the time that you wind it.

In most watches I've owned, you can hear and also sometimes feel the spring slipping in the barrel. If you start with a watch that is not running and wind until the spring slips it is evident if you are listening for it.

Why that is so, I have no idea. I first noticed it on a Breguet and it is equally evident on Rolex. The turn of the crown sounds and feels normal for about a half turn and then ... well .... slips. IDK

I bought a U-Boat Classico once.
After a few weeks, i found that the watch could only be wound about 15 times. At this point onwards, you could feel the spring slipping, and it just sent the rotor spinning instead.

This didnt seem right to me, so when I relayed this incident to Selfridges and U-Boat they basically came back with something along the lines of "it's a mechanism put in the watch to prevent over-winding and stop any damage to it".
Any truth in such a mechanism? Or was the watch just faulty??

Needless to say, I have since sold the said watch and have not bought another U-Boat because of the very poor aftersales, and frankly over-inflated prices for not a lot of watch.