How To Wind A Mechanical Watch

One of the oldest methods for powering a watch is by using a mechanical movement. This harnesses the gradual release of energy from a wound mainspring - regulated by a series of gears and an oscillating balance wheel - to precisely drive the hands and maintain accurate timekeeping.

Mechanical watches can either be hand-wound or automatic. Though it is nearly always possible to wind an automatic watch by hand, automatic watch movements use an oscillating rotor that moves with the wearer’s wrist motion to wind the movement’s mainspring. However, as the name suggests, hand-wound movements do not have a rotor and require manual winding regularly. 

We recommend winding your watch at the same time each day to establish a consistent routine, minimising the risk of it stopping unexpectedly due to insufficient winding.

Though mechanical movements will store enough power to run for well over 24 hours, daily winding will also help ensure consistent timekeeping. This is because, as the mainspring becomes almost fully unwound, it can lack the energy to ensure the watch remains as accurate as it should be. It’s therefore best that you don’t leave winding your watch until it’s nearly run out of power. 

Below are the key steps you need to follow to wind a mechanical watch correctly. 

STEP 1

First, take the watch off your wrist and hold it with the dial facing towards you. You do not want to wind a watch whilst it is still on your wrist, as this could put stress on the stem attached to the crown, which would increase the risk of it snapping. 

STEP 2

Now, you simply start winding the crown clockwise. If your watch has a screw down crown, you'll need to unscrew it first, though it’s usually just automatic watches that have a screw down crown.

STEP 3

To fully wind the watch, you'll need to turn the crown between 20 and 40 times, depending on the movement. And by turn, we mean a full 360-degree rotation of the crown. Most people can only turn the watch about half to three-quarters of that in one go, so that’s something to be aware of when you do this yourself. 

As you wind a mechanical watch, you should feel the resistance increase slightly as the mainspring inside becomes ever more tightly wound. It’s not significantly harder to turn, but you will feel it become just a little bit harder to move. 

Now, in contrast, when the watch is fully wound, you won’t be able to turn the crown any further. It will move clockwise a fraction, but then return to its previous position as soon as you let go. 

When the crown stops being able to move, immediately stop trying to wind it, and don’t apply any more force to try to turn it. If you do this, you risk breaking the movement.

STEP 4

Once the watch is fully wound and you can no longer move the crown, you can push the crown back in and put the watch back on your wrist. That is, assuming that you don't need to set the time. If your watch has a screw-down crown, do not forget to screw it back down to ensure that your watch remains water-resistant and to prevent snapping the crown stem. 

And there we have it, how to wind a mechanical watch.