Caring for Your Luxury Automatic Watch: Dos and Don'ts for Watch Enthusiasts!

Kas Klerx

Chief Content

Updated at: 16/12/2023

Self Winding Watches

Automatic, or so-called Self-Winding watches tend to stop when the rotor has stopped moving for anywhere from 40 to 70+ hours. This is also called the ‘Power Reserve’. This is the energy that is stored in the mainspring that keeps the watch running. While it should not be a problem to not wear a watch for a couple of days, and letting it fall still, we do however advice you to make sure every automatic watch is getting wound at least once each 2 weeks. You can do this by manually ‘rolling’, not shaking, your watch for between 20 and 30 rotations. Sometimes automatic watches can also be hand wound with the crown, then this should be your way to wind it. This makes sure you’re the mainspring of your watch properly remains its tension, when needed. It also makes sure the lubrication in your watch movement gets spread out evenly, across all the essential moving parts. It also makes sure that you verify that your watch is still in good shape, and you don’t find out 3 months later that your watch does not run anymore all out of a sudden. Even though we advise you to manually wind your watch once every two weeks, remember to check the watch’s manual to find out the exact instructions.

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Storing Position

Where and how you store your watch is also an important part in the lifespan of your luxury automatic watch. Before putting it away we advise you to clean you watch beforehand. You should wipe it gently with a soft lint free cloth to remove the dust and any other fingerprints or residue of the watch. Please don’t use any chemicals or abrasive materials that could damage the watch. If this is all done well, you should choose a suitable storage option, like a well-made watch box or watchcase. These storage options are designed, specifically for the protection of your beloved timepiece. They often have soft inner materials, and durable outer materials, to make sure your watch is protected from the outside environment. These options often have compartments or individual slots, to make sure your watches don’t scratch and rub into each other.

The Environmental elements

Make sure when your luxury automatic watch is stored, it is well protected from the environmental elements. For instance, a humid environment might damage your watch from the inside. Vintage pieces for example, tend to not be very water resistant anymore. When stored in a humid location, the inside might pick up some moisture as well which can lead to corrosion in the movement. This should be always prevented! Direct sunlight can lead to high temperatures and discolouring on the face of the watch. While ‘Tropical Dials’ and ‘Patina’ is sometimes very desired, we advise you to keep your watch safely away from direct sunlight when not wearing your timepiece. Some watches are also very sensitive for magnetic fields. With these we don’t mean the ones in the Bermuda Area, but the ones you often find in your laptop or other electronic devices.

Watch winders

As mentioned before, it is advised to manually wind your watch at intervals. When you want to take away the manual part, your best option would be to look for a suitable ‘Watch winder’. This combines all the guidelines mentioned above and will also make sure your automatic watch will always tell you the right time and day, depending on the deviation of the watch, which nowadays are luckily often very small. You can put your watch away, and pick it up whenever you feel like it, and it is all ready to go another day on your wrist!

Where to start?

When opting for a cleaning kit, watch box or even a watch winder, we would strongly recommend you to go for quality over quantity. These are very valuable items which should be well taken care of. There are some providers that can offer you the highest quality of products, while still offering a very decent price. You can check out sellers like www.roogs.nl For instance. They offer a variety of different watch boxes and cleaning kits, all guaranteeing that your watch will stay in the best possible shape. Let’s be honest, who does not desire their watch to be in their best shape at all times? Well, at least we do!