I've had some questions recently regarding the operation of an automatic watch. This technology goes back to the 20's, but a self winding pocket watch was made by Breguet in 1777, the same year a similar watch was claimed by Perrelet. Further claims were made by other watchmakers of the time, not the least Le Roy, but I'm not going to delve into that here, it is a hotly contested thing, being able to say you were first. Breguet still exists as a company, as does Perrelet.
An automatic watch utilizes a weight which moves with the motion of the wearer, and was at first a pendule type, followed by various designs that included 'wig-wag' wristwatches as well as 'Bumper' type weight systems.
The most common today is the rotor, or oscillating weight type. Not all automatics are created equal, I could fill pages with the history of the variations, but for the purpose of the blog, I'm just going to describe what happens inside your modern automatic watch, especially when you bring it in for service.
Generally, during a full service or CTR, the mainspring is one of those parts that gets replaced as a rule, regardless of its appearance. (For the purposes of this blog, I am talking about modern automatic watches here, which means mid 20c to present)
As I have pointed out elsewhere, overwinding is a myth, you wind your watch until it stops, if it is a manual wind. For an automatic, the motion of the wearer and subsequently the rotor inside, is what winds the mainspring. At some point, the watch is fully wound, so now what?
Adrien Philippe (of Patek Philippe) developed a mainspring with a slipping bridle. This end is not attached to the wall of the barrel as it is with manual wind watches, it slips on the wall of the barrel against a film of braking grease.
If the wearer is so active as to make the watch wind itself completely, the spring will slip, so that no damage is done to the mechanism. These springs are usually described in watch literature as 'unbreakable', but they do break occasionally. Usually the bridle end breaks off, but sometimes the spring will break right near the centre, at the winding arbor. 
So you wear your watch, the rotor spins around, and the watch winds itself. Green technology at its finest, no batteries or capacitors to worry about. 
The automatic mainspring looks like an 'S' shape when it is uncoiled, and is a very specially engineered spring. The outer coils are curved the opposite way of the centre, placing extra friction agains the barrel wall via the bridle. 
There are no fewer than 3 different types of lubrication in the barrel of a watch, and each does its job to mitigate friction. The barrel itself is smaller than a dime in most men's watches, even smaller in ladies watches. 
So that's it- your watch gets the full treatment and the spring is now brand new, ready to keep on powering the movement. A well cared for watch can last hundreds of years. Here is the spring uncoiled, next to the arbor around which it is wound:

​

I get asked from time to time about counterfeit watches. These are really no different than counterfeit shoes, clothing, sunglasses, etc. There are some really awful counterfeits out there but there are also some that are surprisingly good quality.
I'm not going to get into any kind of judgement here, if you buy one of these knowingly, depending on what you paid for it, you might not want to cross an international border with it.
Horror stories abound.
The guy who paid 5 grand for a fake Rolex Submariner, or the lady I met in Calgary who had a solid gold Rolex that was an undetected fake for 40 years.
Rolex is not the only brand that gets faked, but it is at the top of the list. I've seen fake Seiko Tunas and Apocalypse models, but also perfectly pedestrian ones.
Sometimes I just wonder......Why?
I'd expect to see High end Seikos getting faked, but so far I have yet to encounter one. For those that may not follow Seiko that closely, you can pay over Fifty Grand for one, so they aren't just that cheap watch brand everyone knows.
The long and the short of it is, know your seller. There are a lot of fake goods online, and if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. A Qualified watchmaker can often determine the authenticity of your watch. There are exceptions. The most common faked watches are easy to spot, but I've seen Cartier and Breitling watches that were not easily verifiable. Basically this is because these companies have models that use fairly ordinary movements, and a highly decorated ETA with Cartier engraving looks just like a Cartier produced highly decorated ETA with Cartier engraving. Ditto with Breitling. Put either of these into a quality Stainless case with a good looking dial, and you have a high quality fake.
Keep in mind a lot of these high end watches have cases and bracelets made in China.
Yeah, you heard that right.
Beginning in the late fifties, a lot of Swiss companies used cases made in China and Hong Kong. This takes advantage of the definition of 'Swiss made.' At present the term means that the watch has a Swiss movement, which was cased in Switzerland, and Final Inspection in Switzerland. The case, bracelet, crystal, etc. can be made anywhere else and often are. Very few watches are entirely Swiss made, Rolex comes the closest, with their own foundry for gold on site. Patek is another.
However, (and this is where it gets interesting) the sheer number of fakes and the public awareness of them contributes to the opposite sometimes happening. 
I was at a Cash Converters where the owner was telling me one of his junior staff took in a 'fake Rolex', gave the guy 20 bucks for it, and put it in the showcase for $100.
Aaaand of course this time it was an authentic, 18k gold Rolex, and it was purchased a few hours later. This all happened while the boss was away, and no one would have been the wiser, except that the guy who bought the watch came back a few days later with an appraisal in his hand.
He basically waved this at the hapless store owner, and mocked him for having sold him a $20,000 watch for $100.
I don't know why he thought this was necessary, but lesson learned, suffice to say.
Pawn shops are a whole other world, you could probably make a tv show out of one..........

​R

This is a question I get a lot, so for those that have wondered about this you probably have correctly assumed it has to do with the alloy.
Pure gold is soft and is not used in modern jewellery, so what we usually see are alloys containing Silver, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Palladium, and in the case of Green gold, Cadmium. Cadmium is toxic and is no longer used, but Rose gold contains Copper, and White gold has Silver added to it. White gold also often has Rhodium plating, so you aren't even seeing the lustre of the underlying metal.
As an alloy, the metal is susceptible to reaction with environmental pollutants and off gassed chemicals from the fabric lining of the jewellery box, the glue, the wood, and any plastic. 
So this is why you open your jewellery box or watch box after many months and everything is starting to look tarnished and dull.
​

Just a word of caution about watch winders.
The reason these are sold and used, is to keep an automatic watch fully wound when it is not being worn. A lot of mechanical watch aficionados have more than one auto, whether vintage or modern, and it is just more convenient to put the watch on without having to start it up, set the date and time, etc. Especially on vintage watches that do not have quick set date functions. 
Makes sense.
However, there has been increasing evidence to support the theory that watch winders can harm your watch.
There is even a warning inside the instruction pamphlet to this effect. If you set the winder at too great a rate, the watch will be wound to full, and then the slipping bridle of the automatic mainspring will slip.
If this continues hour after hour, it causes excessive wear to the mainspring and the barrel walls. This may not be an issue immediately for a new watch, but for a vintage timepiece that already has many miles on it, it can cause hiccups. And almost right away at that.
It is critical to set the winder according to the needs of the watch.
If your watch is a type that winds in both directions, you need to set the winder accordingly. In general, these watches are more efficient in the winding department, so they don't need as many rpm. Ideally, you want the winder to fluctuate direction in this case. The Winder Manual should have guidelines to help you.
In the case of a unidirectional winding watch, like the ETA 7750, only one direction is needed on the winder, but needless to say, you need to know which direction that is. The 7750 winds clockwise when viewed from the back, so that means counterclockwise when viewed from the front. This also means that the winder, when viewed from the front, needs to go against the rotor winding direction, which would mean clockwise. Clockwise from the front is the opposite of clockwise from the back.
​Capiche?
Micro rotor watches are often less efficient in the winding department, depending on the make and model. This must also be taken into consideration when setting your winder. 
This is the only time that the term 'overwinding' has any meaning. There is no such thing as being 'overwound', but to subject an automatic winding system to excessive or constant motion will slip the mainspring constantly, causing wear. When the mainspring or barrel gets worn in an automatic, it results in 'Mainspring Creep' and will shorten power reserve and the watch may even fail to wind and maintain power properly. In a manual wind watch, you can tell when the watch is wound because the crown won't turn anymore. 
This brings me back to something I say often to my vintage watch customers. 
Vintage watches are elderly, and deserve some extra respect and careful handling. Watch winders can and will mess them up.
I consulted with a wide range of watchmakers in many areas of the Industry on this subject, and more and more this is being seen as a definite issue, especially for older watches. 
​

I'll make this one short and sweet.
I've touched on this before, and those visitors to my shop will have heard me say this repeatedly also.
OVERWINDING IS A MYTH.
Your watch or clock cannot be overwound. If it will not run when it is fully wound up, that is an indicator of something seriously amiss. Extreme wear and tear, lack of lubrication, crud,  magnetisation, and about 200 other things will stop a mechanical watch or clock. 
Overwinding is not one of these. 
As you were.

​R

So you've heard me rant about showering with your watch on, so I won't repeat any of that here, but I wanted to share with you the official line about water, direct from Breitling.

The Breitling Service Centre recommends that IF your watch is in regular contact with water, either by swimming or boating or what have you, it SHOULD have its gaskets replaced every one to two years. Hot water will VOID the warranty. It does NOT recommend showering with your watch for the same reasons I have noted elsewhere in this Blog. Hot tubs doubly so. 
The service Interval is 4-6 years, and at time of Press is $760 Canadian Dollars, for an Automatic Chronograph. 
​

I've been getting asked this a lot lately, so here it is....
In this 21st century world of instant gratification, tech hacks, life hacks, shortcuts and DIY, let me present:
Watchmaking.
A quaint old trade, you might think. Must be almost dead, like blacksmithing.
Absolutely not.
Millions and millions of mechanical watches are produced every year, and watchmakers service them. That's how it works, and it has been like this for a very long time. (Numbers have varied, obviously)
I do not share the view that phones and tech replace the watch. Or the clock, for that matter. Sure, I can set my phone to wake me up or look at it to see what time it is, but that means it's handy enough to just grab and look. (Which in my case, it isn't. I no longer carry my phone in my pocket after seeing what it did to a solid metal Rolex movement. See the cell phone blog post)
As long as it's charged up and all, and this goes for the Apple watch also.
Now I'm no Luddite, but I certainly do admire the craftsmanship of antiques and well made mechanical devices, like watches. My automatic chronometer on my wrist tells me what time it is, and I don't have to wind it. I take it off at night and put it on in the morning, pretty simple, pretty green tech.
Vintage watches, which we specialize in, require proper care and maintenance, more so usually because they almost always end up in front of me after decades of neglect. 
I need to stress this, there is no shortcut to this, no hack. The procedures in watchmaking are time consuming, and skill heavy. You can't 'just oil' or 'just clean' a watch. The full service for a mechanical watch is called a 'CTR' in the trade. I've seen watch movements that are 'dipped' or rinsed with various solvents and the result is either destruction of the watch or various other problems. 
The watch MUST be completely disassembled to properly clean it, and once you are at this point, you are deeply into a full CTR. Repair or replacement of parts, lubrication and regulation follow, and the case is cleaned also, usually polished. Bracelets are re-conditioned and leather bands replaced if necessary. 
I remember a Flea Market I used to go to every weekend, and there was a guy there selling vintage watches, claiming that they were serviced by 'his guy'. I asked him a few times what this service entailed, but he obviously did not know.
So one weekend I bought an Omega Seamaster from him, which he swore up and down was fully serviced and guaranteed. I took it home and looked inside.
Guess what?
It was filthy.
It was swimming in oil, and had rust issues under the dial. It had most certainly NOT been serviced in any way shape or form, in fact, only the balance side had been lubed at all, so half the watch was not lubed. There was oil everywhere it did not belong, and very little where it did. I did a CTR on the watch and took it back the following week to show the guy in the market.
He was not a bit impressed with my Smart- Assery, to say the least. He suspected I was trying to shake him down or something, but I insisted that I did not want my money back, I just wanted him to know that he was not getting value for his money. He told me the 'guy' knew what he was doing, and only charged him $40.
So you get what you pay for. We argued for a bit, and I agreed that to service every old watch would certainly cut into any profits he was making. 
Plus, it was quick.
Of that I have no doubt. Open the case, put some oil in the jewels that were visible and close the case, maybe regulate it a bit.
But what I am getting at here, is that quality takes time, and you can't hack watchmaking, you just can't. There are no shortcuts, especially in the learning part of the trade. If you don't fully understand what you are doing you are unlikely to do it well. There is school, and then apprenticing. The days of having a Master, where you just walked in 'picked up' the trade with no schooling are long gone. 
I have a sign that I have been meaning to put back up in the shop, it is something I have kept since my gun smithing days:

FAST   CHEAP   GOOD

Pick two, invert the third.

​R

Ah, the joys of owning a vintage timepiece, be it a watch or a clock. Maybe it belonged to your Grand Dad or your Great Great Grandmother. You remember it from your youth perhaps, you might even see it in old Black and White photographs, even tin- types. 
Just a word of caution in our hectic and hurly-burly world:
Vintage watches and clocks are elderly, and deserve some extra care and respect. In particular, because you might be carrying it on your wrist or in your pocket a lot, watches are the subject of today's missive. 
I've mentioned it before, but it bears mentioning often: Old watches, either wrist or pocket, are probably NOT water resistant in any way shape or form. Even if they were rated at some time in their past, or carry the wildly misleading imprint of "WaterProof", chances are they are no longer any such thing. Old wristwatches, in particular may not even be dust proof. Likewise they may not have any kind of shock protection. Now, take this with a bit of common sense, if your watch is a dive type and has some gaskets and a rating of some kind, these you might not worry as much about as say, a vintage Tank watch from the late thirties or forties. Military watches from the same period might be more robust, but not always. With this in mind, here's a few do's and don'ts for your vintage watch:

• Don't drop it! Always put your wristwatch on over your nice soft bed or over something soft in case you let go of it while you are fiddling with the clasp or band.
• Don't take it off in the washroom and set it on the counter while you wash your hands or even worse, run a shower. Your watch is all nice and warm from being worn, and is now cooling. Old cases will now begin to suck ambient air into themselves as they cool, and you are filling that ambient air with moisture. Keep them well away from the sink, especially the older types. Watches with screw down crowns should be ok, I'm talking the watches from the teens through the sixties unless they have some form of water resistance and it has been verified. 
• The same thing goes for being out in the rain, keep your wrist covered.
• Magnetism is everywhere these days, keep your watch away from magnetic fields and don't put them on the desk next to a cell phone. Cell phones kick out a field that will easily magnetize a vintage watch. 
• Don't work on your stripping your boat's hull or jackhammer your driveway while wearing your heirloom. We have actually had issues with this....
• Don't let the watch get overly hot, like on the dash of a hot car or in direct sunlight on a hot day while you catch some rays. Black dialled watches doubly so. (This also applies to modern Quartz watches big time)
• Even if your watch has a water resistant rating, and even if it HAS been pressure tested and passed, do NOT immerse it in hot water a la Hot Tub or hot shower. Heat shrinks gaskets, see where I'm going here? Hot water voids most (if not ALL) warranties. In order to maintain your watch's depth rating (If it has one) you must replace the gaskets every one or two years, if the watch is getting wet on a regular basis. Otherwise, the gaskets should be changed during your 4-6 year CTR.
• If your watch does get wet, and it shows signs of moisture in the case like fog on the crystal, it is a good idea to get it to a watchmaker STAT. Rust happens very quickly inside a watch. This also applies to quartz watches.

So that's it, really. Don't bang it into the door jamb if you can help it, watch out for magnetism and water, and be proud you are the caretaker of that time capsule from the past!

​R

 I thought we had touched on this before, but it seems we haven't, so some important information about quick set watches.
Quick set means you have a stem and crown that pulls out with more than two positions, and it is used to quickly correct the date or day, and in some watches, other functions as well. The reason this must be done correctly is that failure to observe the procedure will damage your watch.
Quickset began to be used in the Fifties, and various methods were patented to attempt to avoid the 'round and round' syndrome which used to be necessary to set a date on a watch that had stopped from disuse. This applied to both Automatic and Manual wind of course, so depending on the power reserve of the watch, you would pick it up after a couple days sitting on your desk or dresser, and in addition to setting the time, the date (if it had one) was also incorrect. 
The first thing you need to do is determine what time it really is on the watch. Rotate the hands forward to 12 O'Clock and see if the date flips over. If it does not, keep going to the next 12. If the date flips, that means midnight. If it still doesn't, the mechanism may be broken or there could be other issues. What is important is that you now know where midnight is. In the older watches with no quick set, you now have to advance to midnight to get the date to advance, then backup to around 8:30 or 9 and forward again to midnight, advancing the date each time until the correct number shows. This old system is the back-and-forth one and caused extra wear to the Cannon Pinion. It was an improvement over the even older method which I mentioned, the 'round and round', which meant you had to go forward a full 24 hours to advance the date. 
Makes it pretty tedious, I can tell ya.
So fast forward to the modern era and quick set. Different companies adopted the quick set at different times, so you might be surprised that your 1978 Rolex is NOT a quick set, but your 1968 Mido is. In addition to this, different companies experimented with different mechanisms, and some were just weird, and didn't last. Examples are the 'push-pull', and a mid seventies Omega device that set the Day by rotating the hands backward. Every couple mins would roll a new day past, which makes setting the watch back more than a couple mins a bit challenging, because you will automatically be rolling the Day as well. 
But back to the procedure.
So you pick up the watch, you advance the hands, you know where midnight is. Anytime after say 2am and before 8pm, it will be safe (In ALMOST all cases) to use the quick set. In most modern watches, this is the middle crown position. There is all the way in, middle, and all the way out. All the way out is the hands setting position we all know.
So you pull the crown halfway and now you can set the date and day, depending on your model. Now you advance the hands to whatever time it actually is, and Robert's your Uncle's Brother.
So what's the big deal anyway, you ask?
If you try and use the quick set during the hours that the watch is already beginning to change the day or date, you can strip the teeth off wheels in the motion works, and your watch is now damaged and won't work properly. Other parts may break, depending on the design of the mechanism. What is really important though, is that this can also apply to quick setting Quartz watches. 
So let's say you pick up your watch and the battery is dead, no problem, you change the battery yourself. (Or you take it to a trained professional, but if you do it yourself, use finger cots. Do NOT touch the battery with bare fingers, or the inside of the watch anywhere) And of course you use a quality battery(Like Renata), not some cheapo bulk purchase no name abomination. 
Now you want to set the watch, and all the above protocol applies. The quick set mechanism can be damaged in exactly the same way as those mechanical watches. This doesn't happen as much with quartz watches, because the batteries last a year or more, so you aren't picking up a dead watch that often. 
So that's it. A very important tip to avoid damaging your precious timepiece, and we do see a lot of watches that have issues from this sort of thing.

Keep on Tickin'.

​R

Just a quick word here about the current state of batteries.
In recent years, we have seen the elimination of dangerous toxic materials used in the manufacture of cells, both for watches as well as the more common AA, C, and D cells found in quartz clocks. 
This makes for easier and less toxic recycling, but this seems to come at a price.
We have seen a rise in battery failure, mostly in clocks but also the smaller watch batteries. The batteries are more prone to leaking, and especially for battery powered clocks I recommend changing the  battery once a year, even if the clock is still running.
The chemicals will leak out and damage the battery compartment and can wick along the wires or circuit board and destroy the quartz clock movement. Some brands are more likely to do this than others. 
Generally, when this happens we make an attempt to clean out the chemicals and re-establish proper contact, but in some cases the damage is too severe and the movement is kaput.
​We change our store clock batteries once a year, in the Fall. 
I should point out that battery failure is not a warranty issue, but we make every attempt to address the problem, and both Bulova and Howard Miller are sympathetic to this issue. 
In addition, handling or touching the battery, especially in watches, will increase the likelihood that the battery will fail or leak. Under no circumstances should you touch the watch button battery, or the movement inside your quartz watch. Finger cots must be worn to change batteries and this is our procedure, we have seen countless movements with fingerprints burned right into the metal parts. 
Of course, you could always take your watch to your friendly neighbourhood watchmaker, and they will change your battery properly for you.