How To Take Care of Your Luxury Watches

In order to keep your watch in good working order, certain common sense steps should be observed and followed.

For one, watches do not like to be exposed to hot temperatures for any length of time. By that we mean, during summer months, it is not wise to leave your watch in your car or glove compartment when outside temperatures are in the 90’s plus. The hot temperature inside your car will dry the oils in the jewels of the movement and a service to the mechanism of your watch may be needed to ensure proper running condition.

Likewise, if you are out sun tanning by the pool or on the beach, do not expose your watch to direct sunshine for hours as this will also heat up the watch and dry the oils inside the case. This advice applies to quartz watches (battery powered) and mechanical—both manual and self-winding watches.

Typically a battery powered watch is a low maintenance accurate timepiece driven by the energy of the battery. Normally, this type of wristwatch requires a change of battery every two years. However, if your battery operated watch is 10 years or older and still keeping good time, It is not a bad idea to have the mechanism disassembled, cleaned, reassembled, oiled, and all the gaskets and washers replaced. Quartz battery operated watches have fewer moving parts and require less frequent interval service than a mechanical wristwatch.

On the other hand, a mechanical self-winding or manual winding watch must be disassembled and cleaned every 5 or so years. This type of watch has many more moving parts: wheels, jewels, hairspring, pallet fork, escape wheel, first, second and third wheel, minute wheel, reversing wheels, oscillating weight to name a few. With all the friction moving and turning inside the watch, the oils in the jewels coagulate and the wheels will not turn as freely. Indicators that tell you your watch needs service is: not keeping accurate time, slowing and losing time and eventually stopping.