The Breitling Watch Source Forums

How often should you wind the watch if you don't wear it every day? Should you keep it constantly running or is letting it "rest" ok? I am new to vintage watches so I want to make sure I take care of the new piece I acquired.

Thank you!

I wind mine when I wear them keeping in mind they will usually need service every 5 years. If they have a date window and you wear it very often you need to keep it wound so the date advances or you will have to reset every time you wear it.

_________________
"A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure."

It depends how long you leave it at rest for. If left too long then the oils can congeal which in turn cause added friction within the movement which normally cause poor timekeeping. Also,more so in older watches , the mainspring can 'permanent set'. This basically means that the spring itself loses its elasticity with the coils sticking together. This is less likely to happen in the more modern watches with more advanced mainsprings. Changing the date every now and again is not really a problem as the parts of the keyless work are robust and normally well oiled and have no real effect on the timekeeping of the watch. In short,I would give it a good wind once a month. Also keep it in a warm place which would alleviate the oil congealing problem.
Hope this helps


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Using Tapatalk

Vintage watches generally use modern unbreakable mainsprings so they don't form a problem. They are also serviced with modern synthetic oils so congealing isn't an issue, migration of oils is a much bigger threat for stored watches and a full wind once a month will help to prevent that.

Ive serviced many vintage watches with both set mainsprings and congealed oil. I've also serviced modern watches with oil congealement issues!! Broken mainsprings are one of the most common problems I encounter even in modern watches (particularly Rolexs for some reason)!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Using Tapatalk

I would change parts suppliers then.

Parts suppliers.......
Now there's an interesting subject


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Using Tapatalk