The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I now have two mechanical watches; one self winding (SW) one manual winding (MW). The MW has to be wound every day since the power reserve is short. My SW (once wound and left on the night stand until it stops) needs to be wound every 42 hours. I want to wear my manual to work and leave the auto for afterwork/days off. Until the end of this month I work 4 days in and 2 days off; sometimes morning somtimes afternoon. If I wear my manual work I'm leaving my auto to wind down; so of course I have to wind it again. And because my auto has a screw down crown, I have to unscrew it, wind, then screw it back in.

So should I let the auto watch wind down till it stops and then wind it up again or should I just wind it every other day? And which ever answer it is, will the threads on the screw down crown eventually break off or bend in such a way that I can't open or close the crown because of repeatedly opening and closing??

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Breitling for Bentley 6.75
Breitling RCAF one button chrono

I look at watches to pass the time

why don't you get a watch winder so you won't have to worry about it anymore?

It's personal choice. If I have watches that aren't on watchwinders at any point then I wind them every 24 hours. You can't overwind an automatic so there's no risk there. You will cause wear on the threads, although that's minimised with care, but you can leave the crown unscrewed and just screw it down when you wear the watch - you just need to remember.

Other than convenience, the argument for not letting it wind down is the risk of inadvertently using the quick set date in the 'danger' window.

Am I reading that right Roff? You wind the watches not on winders every day!

This has been concerning me for a bit now, well, since I got the Legende(no4). I have been reading other threads as I only wear my 'little ones' at evening/weekends which invariably means that at the mo, the AS and SOHCLE aren't getting worn at all.

I don't use the 2 piece winder I have but I have been winding each watch every Sunday, I couldn't be arsed to wind the watches everyday. By the way some weeks I may only wear a selected watch at the weekends so I'm not really sure what the hell to do!

Cheers

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Currently:
Avenger Skyland(Black)
Super Avenger(White)

Moved on:
Montbrillant Legende(Silver)
Panerai 312
SOHC 125th Ann. LE(Silver)
Navitimer World(Pearl)
Panerai 441

Most of my automatics are on winders, although at times I run out of winder space, and I have a number of manual wind watches. You can get winders for those, but they are expensive and I'm not a fan. You can also get little hand held things that grip the crown and then you twist the barrel to wind the watch - don't like them either

So at any given point I have a number of manual wind watches and possibly some autos that aren't on winders. I do wind each of those every day - it takes 20 - 30 seconds per watch and (cool me stoopid) it makes me feel like I have a connection with them.

There are some watches - predominantly older ones, that are rarely worn, and those aren't running all of the time. I do make sure that they are given a full wind at least once a month to keep the oils moving.

Not to hijack this thread, sorry OP, but i am going to.
Roff; you communte 5 hours a day. Raise horses, run a very sucessful business, weight pull your Malamutes, maintain a sprawling wilderness estate, post over 10000 times on this forum and hand wind a number of your watches daily.


DO YOU EVER SLEEP???????????????

As a doctor I am concerned for your well being. To that end, I will gladly relieve you of some of those automatics that will not fit on a winder. That Lemans comes instantly to mind.

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Chronomat, Steel/Gold, MOP Dial, 2-tone band (2008)
Super Avenger Black Baton Dial (2009)
Bentley B04 GMT Silver Dial (2013)
Avenger Blacksteel Baton Dial (2014)

And don't forget Boney, that Mr Roff, does all his 10000 posts via a DIAL UP connection!!! I think that part of Canada must have more hours in the day than the rest of the world.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Not all over dial up - just the ones from home And this is supposed to be the month that we finally get high speed (not that fast, but better than dial up).

I get a solid 6 hours a night whether I need them or not

ok, now a question for experts:

i usually wear to self wind watches in a row... one between 09-17 and the other between 17-01, without charge them from screw...
they both are running fine (it seem..) but is it good for the watches or shall i wind with a couple of screw turns before to use them?

d

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Breitling Antares B10047
Breitling Chronomat B13050
Breitling Chronomat A13050.1 - pilot bracelet
Breitling Chronomat Blackbird A13050.1 - serie spéciale
Breitling Avenger Seawolf E17370
Breitling Chronomat EVO A13356 - pilot bracelet

Wearing them like that every day should be fine. They are running well, keep on!!

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Chronomat, Steel/Gold, MOP Dial, 2-tone band (2008)
Super Avenger Black Baton Dial (2009)
Bentley B04 GMT Silver Dial (2013)
Avenger Blacksteel Baton Dial (2014)