First automatic watch - what to do?

[Moominho]

Hi all,

I'm sure this sounds stupid. I've just bought my first watch, an Omega master co-axial Seamaster Aqua Terra.

I haven't worn it yet, as I bought it from duty free at Heathrow and they couldn't remove any links, so I'll take it to an Omega boutique when I get back to England.

So my question is, is there anything different you need to do when you wear an automatic watch?

For example, I was told by the lady at the counter that if the watch stops, I should wind it to get it going, rather than shake it, as that can damage the mechanism. I wasn't aware of this. Is there anything else which is obvious but I'm not aware of?

My most expensive watch before this was a £15 Casio, so I admit I'm a bit naive.

Cheers

[marcosgt]

Winding or shaking 'very gently' is probably fine to get it going.

If you wear it every day, most of the day, it shouldn't stop though.

I usually give my autos about 20 winds and then put them on (I have a few watches, so rarely wear one for more than a few days), but usually lifting them out of the box is enough to start them running.

M.

Edited by marcosgt on Wednesday 8th March 16:49

[Moominho]

Thank you

[CardShark]

As above, I really can't see any issue in give it a gentle shake to get it going, though you'll still have to unscrew the crown to reset the time/date anyway so you might as well give it a wind then. On the subject of resetting the time and date, have a read of the manual to see when it's safe to adjust the date. The general rule is to not change the date when the time is anywhere (approx) between say 9pm-2am as that's when the movement itself will be in the process of advancing the date wheel, manually doing this when the movement is already trying to do it may result in damage. The best thing to do is, when the watch has stopped, advance the hands past 12 to see if the watch is in its AM or PM phase (the date will advance at 12 going from PM into AM) and then change the date, if need be, after that.

Smart looking watch the AT, which colour/size combo did you go for?

[7184c]

As above the main thing to be wary of is changing the date after 10pm. It will probably be fine and have a quickset function - where it snap changes at midnight but better to be safe than sorry. I know a number of people with breitlings who have screwed them up this way, costing a service to repair, I think someone on here recently did the same.

[Wills2]

Just wear it, give it a bit of a wind if you don't use it for a day or two, never had an issue with automatic watch.

[Moominho]

CardShark said:

Smart looking watch the AT, which colour/size combo did you go for?

I got the 41.5mm with the blue face. I was planning to get the 39.5 in the summer as I have girly wrists, but just went into duty free to try it on. Went into the lounge afterwards and man-maths persuaded me that it was a good deal, as there was 20% off and it was allegedly (according to the lady selling) going up by 5% the next day. I then went back and she was on her break, In the meantime I tried on the larger size and fell in love.

[funinhounslow]

Yes there was a 5% rise in Omegas just the other day so the sales lady was being truthful. Congratulations on the watch btw, they're wonderful.

[NDA]

Moominho said:

So my question is, is there anything different you need to do when you wear an automatic watch?

Nothing at all.

Assuming you wear it every day, then just ignore it and it will wind itself naturally. I take mine off at night and it will run for probably 48 hours without being moved.

As someone else posted, if it has a date function, don't change this between 10pm and 2am.