The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I inherited a 1945 Chronograph, it was hidden in a draw for a few years, not knowing anything about it. Once I realised what it was, I had it serviced by Breitling in Tunbridge Wells. I did some research into looking after such a watch, and found keeping it wound and moving keeps it in good order as it stops the oils in the mechanism from hardening. There are differing opinions about how far to wind a watch like this. Some say it is not possible to over wind it and some say it is.

When i got it back I found there were two stages of resistance when winding. From completely unwound, i could wind it about 7 turns with no resistance at all, and then about another 7 with some resistance, but at about 14 to 16 turns the mechanism felt pretty tight so never when past that.

One morning I wound it as usual. But this time after a few turns the winding mech jammed. The watch was ticking ok, and i could turn the crown backwards, but not forwards to the next click. The watch wound down to a stop, but still the winding mech was jammed. I sent it back to BUK and they got it up and running again.

So now I am paranoid about over winding. If I wind it up to the 7 turns-stage of resistance, the watch runs for 7/9hrs and I often have to put the time right. (annoying). If I wind it 12/15 turns it will run for roughly twice as long.

Is this as it should be? How far should I be winding it? Did I break the watch by over winding? Is this possible? And.. should this watch be running longer on a wind than it does?

Many thanks for any opinions and help!

Lots of questions there, but let's try and get them all.....

It absolutely, categorically is possible to overwind a manual watch - most likely symptom is a broken mainspring followed by a repair bill.

If Breitling serviced the watch then I would expect them to have used a quality mainspring (they are replaced during servicing automatically) and you should easily get 36 hours of run time - that will decrease over time, but I would be disappointed with less immediately after servicing.

It's impossible to tell you how many winds it needs to get to a full wind because it depends on the gearing, length of mainspring, amount of reserve left (there will be some even if the watch has stopped), etc. There should be a very obvious increase in resistance when the watch is fully wound - the crown will move only very slightly until it would need to be forced (which you don't want to do!). As a guide - but nothing more, my 40s Premiers generally need about 15 turns (finger movements) per 24 hours.

The description of resistance increasing part way through the winding cycle (no way is 7 turns a full wind) sounds odd - there will be some increase as mainspring tension increases, but that should be more gradual than a sudden step and it sounds almost as though something else is happening in the keyless works - but not sure what that would be in a freshly serviced watch.

In terms of running the watch to keep the oils from hardening - right idea, wrong reasoning. Modern oils are very good, and I am sure that Breitling uses quality synthetic oils in servicing. They are remarkably stable and will not harden. They will break down over time - 5 - 7 years and in a vintage watch a 5 year service interval is always a good recommendation, maybe less if the watch is constantly running. You do want to run the watch to ensure that the oils don't migrate from where they are needed, but generally a full wind once a month is enough for that - you don't have to keep it running constantly.

Just wanted to add a pic of my Premier....

Thank you for your quick and informative reply. I think what ill do is use your guide. Run the watch down, wind about 15 turns, paying attention to the tension, and again note how long the watch runs for, for confirmation. If it doesn't run close to 36 hrs, Ill send it back to BUK. Many thanks.

Well note what I said - 15 turns per 24 hours - i.e. a fully wound watch will need 15 turns after 24 hours to return to a full wind. From dead to a full wind would be more.

You should be able to wind it all the way up at any time until it cannot be wound anymore. Around 30 to 40 twists. If the watch was properly repaired/serviced, a full wind should not be a problem. There is NO such thing as on overwound watch - its a mith! BUK should confirm this. Craig

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S. Craig Bergsma

Thanks for your post.... but now you understand this is why I am confused!!

On a service receipt I got from BUK there is some standard text at the bottom of the page which says something along the lines of- 'please do not over-wind you manual watch'.

I am not saying I know the answer, it could be that BUK are just covering their arses by stating the above, but it does seem sensible not to mistreat and put too much tension on such a delicate piece of engineering.

Ask BUK to explain what they mean by that statment. Its hard to believe a reputable watch repair company would make a statement like that. Here is a good thread (even if it is about clocks) on the subject...
http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?t=66069
You can find a lot on this subject with an online search.

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S. Craig Bergsma

Craig, would you tell us more, please ?

We have all been hearing about "overwound" watches for years, it is the most often stated reason why a watch is not in working condition.

As I know you speak out of relevant experience and knowledge, please explain a little more about this myth, thanks !
WatchFred

Craig has a lot more experience than I do, but.....

When you wind a watch you are tightening the mainspring in the barrel. In a manual wind watch the spring is attached to both the arbor and the barrel which results in a significant amount of resistance when the spring is as tight as it can be - think about winding a strip of paper around your finger - when it's wrapped as tightly as can be then there is much more resistance.

In a watch that condition is fully wound - not overwound, so technically you can't 'overwind' a manual watch. However, if you continue to try to force the crown past that significant resistance then the piece that's likely to give is the mainspring - resulting in a broken mainspring and a service visit - back to the paper example - if you try and force the paper tighter then you will end up tearing it.

So you can't over wind a mainspring because fully wound is designed to be as tight as the spring will go, however it is possible to break the mainspring by attempting to wind the watch beyond that fully wound condition.

To add to Roff's note, I did actually have a watch that could be called "overwound" that I repaired last month. It was a Landeron 48 movement and someone had applied enough pressure to the crown the strip some of the gears off the ratchet wheel and break the end off of the arbor! It take a lot of force to do this and its something I rarely see.

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S. Craig Bergsma

And a darn strong mainspring!

understood, thanks, WatchFred

Ok, thanks guys. I would be really interested to see a video of an exposed mainspring being wound... even better see it in person...

Ive added this pic just for a visual reference.

I found this text that explains the old 'over wound' phrase. After reading I feel much more informed, and thanks to all the contributors above too.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Over-Wind-or-Over-Wound-Watch-Mainspring_W0QQugidZ10000000001632352