The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi all,

seems to be the only thing I post about but I have a problem with a new winder I just bought, its quite an expensive one but it doesn't seem to be winding my watches

it turns as expected, and looks to be working perfectly, its on a run 6min rest 30 min program all day/night.

It did seem to keep one of my watches wound when i put it in an an odd angle, could this have something to do with it? The winder itself angles the watches at about a 30' incline.

cheers,

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Breitling
Omega
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Have you set it to rotate the right way?

well, both my b and omega can be wound either clockwise or anti clockwise (it says so on their spec sheet)... but neither of them seem to get wound

I'm not exactly sure what is wound inside the watch? I know its a spring but what winds the spring?

I'm really clueless as to why this winder doesn't seem to wind the watches...

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Breitling
Omega
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Well first off.......

Watch winders don't wind watches - they prevent watches from winding down, so make sure that the watch is wound / has been worn before putting it on the winder.

Next you need to make sure that there are enough turns per day for the needs of the watch, otherwise it will run down.

In terms of what winds the watch, the motion of the rotor is converted into the tightening of the mainspring in the mainspring barrel. A watchwinder effectively keeps the rotor moving.

If the watches are turning and the direction doesn't matter then I don't know what to suggest.

Thanks for your reply.

Basically, when the winder arrived, I wound both watches fully, put them in the winder and since then when I wear a watch I take it out and straight away after wearing it put it back in again. So there is no time when it is off a wrist/winder. However, it may not be moving quite a lot on my wrist as I spend most the time in front of a computer working.

I worked out that it is winding about 1000 rotations per day, and both watches require 650.

Does the winder effectively maintain the current spring tension? As in... if I wear a watch and not move too much therefore reducing the spring inside from full to half, then put it back into the winder. When I take it back out again, is it still at a 1/2? as if I then do the same thing again, its going to run out, yea?

Thanks in advance for replies.

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Breitling
Omega
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I know youve mentioned that they can be rotated either direction, bu are you sure? What model Breitling and Omega are you having trouble with? At the very least, the winder should keep the watch working until it gets back onto your wrist, so something is definitely up.

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-RJ

I'm not exactly active myself (an extreme sport for me is running around the house with scissors). Still, you are moving enough to keep the watch wound even if you don't live on the edge like me.

If your winder has a setting that alternates both directions give it a try. Try an an/off ratio of 1-3. The 30 degree incline is the same as mine. It should work fine.

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SHARKMAN

Along those same lines.... Are both of these automatics? Might seem like a dumb question but a manual wind will not get any juice from a winder.

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“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” - Albert Einstein

1,000 tpd if they only need 650 will do more than maintain - basically in a 24 hour period the watch will use stored energy from the mainspring equivalent to the amount of reserve added by the rotor if it turns 650 tpd - more than that and you add additional reserve (if it's not fully wound) and less than that and the watch will lose reserve.

As the others have said there is something odd - if they are automatics capable of winding in both directions then there is no reason why they shouldn't wind. To one of your early questions - yes the pads should be at an angle because you are partially relying on gravity to ensure that the rotor moves relative to the watch (in fact the rotor is more or less staying still and the watch is moving).

Watches are B Seawolf and Omega SMP.

I tried to angle the pads to even more of an incline so that gravity would have more of an effect and I think it may have been the reason my B kept going for a week, but since I took it out and put it back in(how I thought it was positioned before) it has stopped.

Its quite annoying to think I have to mess around with the angle of the pad as I would have expected to be able to put them in as snuggly and evenly as possible.

Cheers for all the help and responses so far guys!

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Breitling
Omega
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That really shouldn't matter - 30 degrees is sufficient. Just give the bi-directional rotation a try. Also if they are on a single turntable each watch should be placed with the crown facing to the outside, so they are not facing the same direction. It's best to have the case of one angled to one end of the holder and the opposite for the other watch. They won't be "flat" and "even" - just the opposite.

Try it for a day.

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SHARKMAN

Like this -

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SHARKMAN

However I would only use dual watch cushions on a high end watchwinder - doing it with a cheap one with plastic motor parts is a recipe for disaster as the weight will not be balanced and the parts will wear in no time flat.

Thanks for all the replies, it looks to be working now, I have tested various watch positions and it appears that the image above works.

Many many thanks!

J

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Breitling
Omega
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