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There were 37 articles found in this category:
 How can I test the timekeeping of my mechanical watch?
The only correct way to accurately time a mechanical watch is to use a watchmaker's timing device. That being said, we use a "Seven Day Test" to approximate the results of a timing device. Here are the instructions for that test: 1. Set the watch to an exact time using an atomic clock or comp ...
- Can I play golf or tennis with my mechanical watch?
Our recommendation is no, although the risk to a manually winding mechanical watch is less than the risk to an automatically winding mechanical watch because of the rotor. Any activity which causes a sudden, violent and accelerated motion to a mechanical watch should be considered carefully. Th ...
- Can I shower in my mechanical watch?
Our recommendation to this question is no. There are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Mechanical watches are water resistant, and not water proof. This means that they have been tested to their rated depth using water testing machines, but they are not guaranteed to never leak. 2. Showering ...
- Can I swim in my mechanical watch?
We receive this question almost daily, and the answer is not simple. There are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Mechanical watches are water resistant, and not water proof. This means that they have been tested to their rated depth using water testing machines, but they are not guaranteed to ...
- What's the difference between a manual and automatic watch?
An automatic wristwatch is a mechanical wristwatch with a self-winding mechanism. In other words, one does not have to wind the crown periodically to keep the watch running. A manual or manual wind watch must be wound by hand, using the crown, usually every day, to operate continuously. If on ...
- Are more jewels better?
Not necessarily. A typical hand-wind movement today will have only 17 jewels as a full complement. Some really high-grade or ultra-thin movements will add a few extra jewels to further protect against any wear, but even these top out at 21-23 jewels. Only those pieces of the movement which ar ...
- How accurate can I expect my mechanical watch to be?
This is truly a Frequently Asked Question, in that people will post that they have just bought a new watch, and it gains/loses X seconds per day - they then ask whether this acceptable for this brand. After reading several articles on this subject, I've come to the following conclusions: Just ...
- How do I remove scratches from my watch?
Polished Stainless Steel 1. For fine scratches, Ive found that nothing beats a jewelers cloth, like the Pioneer/Shino Polishing Cloth available from most watch suppliers for $3.60. It is a double cloth. The inner cloth is impregnated with a red polishing powder (ferric oxide or rouge, i.e., y ...
- How do I remove the scratches from an acrylic crystal?
Good old-fashioned toothpaste is a good start. Start by buffing a little bit onto a clean cloth over the area of the scratch. Rub lightly, and rinse with a very slightly damp cloth. Repeat until gone. Note that there are also purpose-made polishes for this purpose, such as Polywatch or Crystal- ...
- How does an automatic mechanism work?
All self-winding watches work on the principle of converting arm motion (kinetic energy) into the winding of the mainspring (potential energy). Usually, this is performed by a half-disc of metal weighted at the edge called a rotor, which spins when the wearer's arm is accelerated unpredictably ...
- If a watch is advertised as "18K", what does that mean?
The term 18K refers to solid gold. Pure gold is very soft; gold is made in several "karats", or 1/24th proportions of gold, to make it harder and stand up to daily wear. 9K = 9/24 purity of gold = 37.5% purity (sometimes seen in vintage and/or UK market watch cases, along with 10K gold) 14K = ...
- What are some other materials used as watch cases?
Aside from the standard gold and stainless steel, high-end watches are often made of platinum or titanium. Platinum is a very heavy metal, and gives a shiny white metal appearance. Unlike gold, pure platinum is fairly hard and resistant to scratches (similar to hard stainless steel). For this r ...
- What are synthetic rubies?
Ruby is technically known corundum, and is a crystallized form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3). In pure form, corundum is white in color; trace impurities are added to change the color - to red in the case of rubies. It should also be noted that any other color of corundum (including clear) is known ...
- What do I need to do to keep a mechanical watch running for a lifetime?
Within reason, a mechanical watch can always be brought back into good time keeping, and a jeweled movement can last for generations. However, it is important to periodically service a watch to ensure that the components are well-lubricated, and that the mechanism is free from dust, dirt, and ...
- What does "17 jewels" mean?
Higher grade watches have traditionally used a jeweled movements, which means that jewels (originally natural ruby, now synthetic ruby) were actually used in the movement. These jewels are functional - they are used as the bearings for the wheel trains and in high wear parts such as the escape ...
- What does "adjusted" vs. "unadjusted" vs. "regulated" mean?
An "unadjusted" movement is a movement where no attempt has been made to ensure that the daily error rate in several orientations (positions) have been minimized across the positions. An "adjusted" movement, therefore, has had some extra care in ensuring that the variance in accuracy between se ...
- What is a "hack" seconds feature?
This is a military term referring to watches that stop the second hand, to allow for more accurate synchronization between two watches. In the most common type of hacking watch, when the crown is pulled out to the time-setting position, a lever is moved which contacts the rim of the balance, th ...
- What is a column wheel?
As one can imagine, constructing a chronograph is fraught with the potential for inadvertently stopping or damaging the entire movement. For example, if the reset mechanism was somehow activated while the chronograph was running, large destructive forces would be applied to the entire movement ...
- What is a complication?
A complication is defined as a wristwatch function beyond that required for simple hour, minute, and second. More practically, common additions such as a day/date window are typically excluded from this definition. This leaves a wide variety of features that can be either commonly or less frequ ...
- What is a mechanical watch?
A mechanical watch is a device for keeping time, which uses the energy from a wound spring, and keeps time through the highly regulated release of that energy through a set of gears (the wheel train) and an escapement. It differs from the typical quartz watch in that it uses purely mechanical c ...
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