The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Is it normal for the Avenger Seawolf to slow down on timekeeping if I don't wear it for about a day and it doesn't move at all. Also, I don't think I've ever fully wound the watch (40 turns max I believe?) because I don't want to risk snapping a spring, therefore I doubt I'm getting my full reserve time. Please tell me my watch is ok

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If it's not a Breitling then don't touch me!!

It could slow down some. Wind it and then see. You needed be afraid of damaging an automatic watch by over winding it.

From Wikipedia -

In automatic watches, motion of the wrist could continue winding the mainspring until it broke. This is prevented with a slipping clutch device. The outer end of the mainspring, instead of attaching to the barrel, is attached to a circular expansion spring called the bridle that presses against the inner wall of the barrel, which has serrations or notches to hold it. During normal winding the bridle holds by friction to the barrel, allowing the mainspring to wind. When the mainspring reaches its full tension, its pull is stronger than the bridle. Further rotation of the arbor causes the bridle to slip along the barrel, preventing further winding. In watch company terminology, this is often misleadingly referred to as an 'unbreakable mainspring'

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SHARKMAN

Thank you sir Could the slowing down have been caused by anything else, or is that too vague of a question? I haven't hit or damaged the watch at all, so I'm 99% sure everything internally is ok, plus people tell me that the AS is practically indestructible, so I'm hoping they're right.

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If it's not a Breitling then don't touch me!!

It is highly probable it slowed down becasue the mainspring had almost no tension on it. Just wind it. 40 full turns or so.

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SHARKMAN

If the mainspring had very little tension in it then (if the watch had no issues) it would run fast, not slow.

Without knowing how slow it is running I suspect that it is actually stopping because the mainspring has completely run down.

over the course of approx 1/2 a day, it slowed down less than 1hr. I set it to the proper time this morning and wound it a bunch, 3+hrs later it's still keeping perfect time with my iPod. What do you think?

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If it's not a Breitling then don't touch me!!

It stopped! Josh look at the possibilities - misuse/damage- you are aware of nothing bad that happened to the watch. What you are supposed to do? One thing is obvious - you never gave it a full wind.

If you can bear not wearing it for 42 hours, set it down and check it for the power reserve.


But really just wear it and check the time over the next few days. Dollars to donuts it is fine.

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SHARKMAN

boy if I didn't have you guys my back would be COVERED with stress pimples! Thanks folks.

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If it's not a Breitling then don't touch me!!

My Superocean heritage 46 runs slow when there the spring is almost unwound. On the other hand my Hamilton watch runs faster when nearly unwound. Both have the same movement in them except the grade of the movement in the Breitling is far superior. In theory, running faster is what should happen since the balance wheel does not swing as far in both direction.

I've fooled myself before by picking up a watch that had stopped, then started the second I touched it. If it had only stopped 20 minutes previous, it makes it appear to have lost that time over many hours. Common sense says you're not going to have a watch that runs well then out of nowhere loses many minutes or hours.

If you never wind your automatic, or keep it on a winder, then you've got wear it a lot every day to keep the power reserve up. Absent that, it's a good bet at some point it is going to stop.