The Breitling Watch Source Forums

firstly hello from a new member!

I've just bought my first and just have a few questions if you'd be so kind

(I did try and search on the forum - but to no luck as they are v.simple questions indeed!)

As well as my first breitling - this is also my first auto! so first off a question about winding... To manually wind the watch do I just pop out the crown and wind clockwise? can i overwind? the crown seems to tighten, then losen again?! is this okay or am I doing the wrong thing?!

secondly the watch seems to lose about 10/15 seconds a day... it's from around 1999 but apparently has had a service not _too_ long ago... as it's a chronometer should i go visit my AD and will they be able to verify how it's running? will it be a while I wait affair or will they need it for a few days?

Thanks

If you got a manual with the watch - read it, there's important stuff in there.

If the watch has a screwdown crown then unscrew it and wind the watch in the position that the crown falls to, if not screwdown then wind the watch with the crown fully pushed in.

Rotate the crown clockwise to wind and you can't overwind it, 40 turns should be a full wind. Hard to determine if tightening and loosening is a problem without experiencing it, but I doubt it. Problems with the crown / crown stem / keyless works are more likely to appear as a slipping or binding.

Also, don't use the quickset date (if it has one) between 8pm and 3am, you could damage the watch.

In terms of the accuracy, well depending on how consistent it is it may just need a regulation. A rough and ready regulation can be done 'while you wait', but if the watch cannot maintain more accurate time after regulation then it likely needs servicing. 1999 is very early for chronometer certification though, so if it is a chronometer (fourth character / third digit of the model number is a 3) then it may be slightly newer.

many thanks for the quick reply

Yups, crown is screw down - sorry should have said - it's a Superocean A17345. Didn't get a manual with it unfortunately

Just trying it again now - If I unscrew the crown (anti-clockwise), once it's free it will only turn clockwise with a fair amount of effort... (will turn anti freely)

There should be resistance clockwise - you're winding the mainspring throught the keyless works. All that you are doing anti-clockwise is slipping hte crown stem so no resistance.

So if I'm getting a great deal of resistance, does that mean it's fully wound? Its not particularly a nice resistance, it feels like I'm forcing it...

Apologies for my lack of knowledge - i'm new

I've just found this;

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=28853

Which I wish I'd have found before posting... I think I'll visit my AD. It definitely feels like I'm forcing something

It's tough to know without feeling it.

There shouldn't be a huge amount of resistance even when fully wound. The only thing that would cause a lot of additional resistance is if the rotor is also rotating when you wind the watch. If that's happening consistently then it's a problem and needs Breitling attention.

Perhaps I'm being paranoid but that would make sense... we'll see!