There are different kinds of watches on the market. These include the mechanical watch, automatic as well as quartz or electronic watches. Electronic watches depend on batteries to operate this means that you do not need to wind such watches for them to work.
If on the other hand that you use mechanical or automatic watches, you need to be winding it from time to time. When you wind the watch, you must do it the correct way and you have to wind it to the clockwise rotation of the watch crown. This is the best way to wind a watch. The implication of this is that such watches are not meant for backward winding. The effect on the watch depends on the type of wristwatch.
In a nutshell, winding a watch backward is bad by winding the watch backward can cause damage to the watch.
Is it bad to wind a watch backward?
Depending on the type of watch, it is not a good thing to wind your watch backward. While it does not matter in some watches, in other kinds of watches, it can damage some parts of the watch and require replacement. So, it is bad to wind a watch backward, especially mechanical watches.
If you wind a mechanical watch backward it can cause the watch mechanism to disengage from the gear. The implication is that the crown could spin, but it does not have any effect. It does not wind the watch. This means that it is a waste of time and energy. Winding of quartz watches does not arise because it has no mechanism for such. It is powered by a battery so you cannot wind it. In any case, quartz and other electronic watches do not come with winding features, so you do not wind them.
If you do not wind mechanical and automatic watches, they do not tick and that means that it could stop working and it could not keep time accurately.
It is easy to wind your mechanical and automatic watches. If you do it the correct way, you can reap the benefits and you discover that you can use it for a long time and it can keep time accurately. When you are winding and you feel resistance, it means that the watch is wound and you have stopped immediately. Taking it further comes with its own problem of overwinding.
Automatic watches do not work on the same mechanism as mechanical watches. It is also wound, but it winds itself and it does that through the wrist movement. Sometimes it may not wind it effectively and it could stop working. When that becomes the case, you have to wind it. Note that automatic watches are not the same. Study the watch manuals to determine how it works and the best way to wind it.
Unlike mechanical watches, automatic watches do come with a slip clutch, this stops the watch when it is fully wound. It is self-protected against overwinding which could damage the watch. The problem of overwinding is pronounced in mechanical watches. please note that it is not in all kinds of mechanical watches as you would see in the case of Rolex watches.
If you wind the watch backward, it would not have any effect because the winding mechanism does not move when you move it counterclockwise. When you wind anti-clockwise there would be a disengagement in movement between the first gear and the stem of the watch.
If you want your automatic and mechanical watches to keep time accurately, you have to set a wind alert reminder. When it is time to rewind the alert will remind you. It does not only keep the watch healthy; it makes it keep time accurately.
Why do you need to wind your watch ?
Watches are either powered by a battery or it is powered by a mainspring. The mainspring is that thin strip of steel you found in most mechanical watches, and it is known as spring steel.
This can always wound through the central stalk and it forms what is known as the mainspring barrel.
You can always think of this mainspring as the rudimentary battery for mechanical watches.
The type of charging it undergoes is the winding effect. When you wind the watch, it charges the spring and makes it work optimally.
How to wind the watch
You now know the importance of winding your mechanical watches. You must know how to wind it the correct way. When the mainspring is in a state of charge, it is wound, and it is going to work optimally. This means that it can power the watch for two days or more pending the time you charge it again to put it in the state of charge.
When you wind it, you have to wind it several times until you begin to feel the resistance. If you turn it in a few minutes, it can only work for a few minutes and it will disappoint again. Always check the watch manual to determine the number of times you need to turn it to become fully charged. Watches like Derwent require 35 times winding before they can be fully wound. Some watches require a higher number of times or a lower number of times. The most important thing is to ensure that you wind the watch the correct way to get the best result from your efforts.
The direction in which you wind that watch also matters here. You must read the instructions very well to be guided. Most such watches would require that you follow the clockwise movement when you are winding it. In some watches, if you follow the counterclockwise movement in the winding it may not have any effect. This means that the watch does not wind. Moreover, such an anti-clockwise movement can damage the watch. It is not in all kinds of watches.
You must study the instructions to find out the implication of winding the watches the wrong way. When you wind the wrong way, the clock does not move and that means a substantial loss of time as well as energy. Some watches come with self-protective mechanisms that when you turn it the wrong it and the spring will jump out of the way. What it does is protects the watch from damage. That is the best thing that can happen to you. But it does not move when it is in that condition.
Different watches come with different winding techniques. It is therefore necessary that you master the technique and wind your watch the correct way to avoid damage and enhance the performance.
The problem of watch overwinding
When you wind your watch too much, it comes with its own problem and it is called overwind. There is a big problem associated with it, and that is why you must always avoid that kind of winding. Over winding can be prevented and you can always check when you are winding to know when you start to feel resistance from that watch.
If you get to a point where the mainspring reaches the maximum point and you still wind further, it is simply a case of over-winding. When it reaches the state, it does not move again and you notice that at this stage the watch will become heavier in the hand. This is because of the plenty of resistance that is coming from the watch. When you reach this point, you must stop winding the watch. When it reaches this state, you find out that the watch can work consistently for forty hours.
If you fail to notice it when it reaches this stage and you continue to wind it and force it to move, then there would be a problem. When you continue to wind when it reaches that stage, you have overpowered the mechanism. What happens next is that things will start to break. It is a bad situation. You may need to take to a repairer to fix the watch. The likely thing the repairer would do at this point is to repair the broken crown, as well as the stem which might be broken as well. When you replace these two parts, the watch would now move normally again.
It is possible to avoid getting to the stage. What you need to do is to study how the watch works and have a way of winding it regularly. Just know how the watch works and form the habit of winding it daily. When you do that, try to know how the watch feels in your hand when you do the winding. If you feel that it is perfectly wound when you are feeling the resistance stop winding at that point. The internet has made it possible for users to get helpful information they have about mechanical and automatic watches. Check the watchmaker’s website and study the manual.
Winding Rolex watches
Rolex watches owners should also wind the watch the correct way they wind other watches. The watch work on the same mechanism. If you wind the watch the correct way which is the clockwise winding, it can reach that charge state. This is when you wind it the correct way.
The proper way to wind your Rolex watch is by turning its crown forward or in the clockwise direction. You can feel the tension in the watch when you wind it the correct way. When it moves you feel the subtle click movement.
When you turn this watch the other way, it does make this kind of noise, and it does not do anything since it does not wind that watch. It is not like the other kinds of watches where anticlockwise winding can cause problems. When you use Rolex, it is not the case, it does not damage the watch when you move it anti-clockwise.
Taking care of your watches
Every watch owner, especially mechanical watches, has the obligation to take care of the watch to enable it to perform. There are different ways of taking care of it. The most neglected way of doing it is not to wind it at the appropriate time and not doing that correctly.
If you do not know the correct way to take good care of your watch, you can check online for the best information about the watch. You can get relevant information that can assist you to take good care of your watch.
Many watch users destroy or abuse their watches because they do not know the correct way to wind them. You must ensure that you wind it as often as possible. Secondly when you are winding it, do not overdo it. If you do that, the watch mechanism might be damaged it takes money to replace or repair the damaged part.
Moreover, when you wind the watch, you must ensure that you do it the correct number of times. This will make it to be fully charged so that it works efficiently. If you do a few turns, the work will just work for a few minutes and it would stop working. The tendency is to blame it for fault or damage while a simple rewind can bring the watch back to work.
Another common problem is winding it the wrong way. There is no way you can wind it anti-clockwise and you expect it to work. Watches and clocks have one direction of movement and this is the clockwise movement. If you move it the other way, it does the wind. It could damage the watch depending on the make of the watch.
Adjusting time backward
Winding your watch backward is different from adjusting watch time backward. Some watch experts warn that it is not good to adjust mechanical watches with date features when the hour hand is from 9 pm to 3 pm. According to the holders of this opinion, it can damage such a watch. It depends on the type of watch. The truth is that modern watches have ways of overcoming this kind of challenge. The first is that when you adjust the watch backward most of the watch mechanisms are disengaged and this means there is no movement and there is no damage to the watch.