Shipping a High End Mechanical Watch

[Arcam]

I will be shipping a mechanical watch next week (within the same country) via courier (fully covered with insurance) and I would like opinions on whether the movement should be run down and stopped (hacked), left wound and stopped (hacked) or just left fully wound and running, it should arrive before the power reserve runs out.

Thanks

Eddie

[wild84]

I will be shipping a mechanical watch next week (within the same country) via courier (fully covered with insurance) and I would like opinions on whether the movement should be run down and stopped (hacked), left wound and stopped (hacked) or just left fully wound and running, it should arrive before the power reserve runs out.

Thanks

Eddie

Haha, I wonder who this watch is going to... :)

Well never thought about this, but all watches I got shipped to until now had the crown pushed in and were mostly not running when I received them as they got unwound while shipping. So I guess it should be fine just leaving it as is. But maybe there is some people here that have more knowledge about it.

Guess pulling out the crown makes the movement more tense and therfore maybe more prone to shock damage. (It's only a wild theory ;) )

[walkerwek1958]

I always send them out fully wound, I think it’s nicer for the owner to open the package and see his watch telling the correct time. I’ve never considered whether there’s a ‘safest’ way to send it. On this basis, my gut feeling is to send it fully unwound and not running, simply because there’s no energy going through the balance. I could be wrong, possibly the motion of the balance and the energy in the hairspring renders it less vulnerable to damage/ distortion caused by a hard knock? If anyone has a clear answer to this I’m keen to hear it, having the movement hacked sounds wrong because the balance can’t move and that may impair the ability of the hairspring to withstand shock?

Key factor is to pack and pad the watch thoroughly, avoiding shock is important. Bubblewrap is your friend!

Paul

[Tony]

Fully wind it. Certainly don't ship it with the crown out.

[tertius]

I always send them out fully wound, I think it’s nicer for the owner to open the package and see his watch telling the correct time. I’ve never considered whether there’s a ‘safest’ way to send it. On this basis, my gut feeling is to send it fully unwound and not running, simply because there’s no energy going through the balance. I could be wrong, possibly the motion of the balance and the energy in the hairspring renders it less vulnerable to damage/ distortion caused by a hard knock? If anyone has a clear answer to this I’m keen to hear it, having the movement hacked sounds wrong because the balance can’t move and that may impair the ability of the hairspring to withstand shock?

Key factor is to pack and pad the watch thoroughly, avoiding shock is important. Bubblewrap is your friend!

Paul

This - I love it when I open a watch and it’s telling the right time it’s so serendipitous somehow.

[Stringer]

Whilst the question of which is the safest method is interesting technically, I ultimately don’t think it matters – if the watch is properly & comprehensively packed (and I tend to go OTT on that aspect), then even allowing for rough shipping/handling it’s arguable that the watch is still better protected than it ever is whilst worn daily on the wrist, when it can be banged & dropped quite easily.

For my part, pushing the crown fully-in (and screwing it down, if a feature) can only ever be better from the perspective of water resistance and also stem protection in the event of impact, so for that reason alone I wouldn’t leave it ‘hacked’.

Hacking also usually involves interference in physically braking the balance wheel, which is something that some high-end manufacturers don’t include in their watches for that very reason, so again whilst I don’t think hacking will necessarily cause damage, I don’t think it will assist much either.

Even if totally run-down prior to shipping, chances are an automatic might gain some small power reserve in handling anyway, via the auto-winding feature.

Ultimately it’s a watch, the parts are meant to move. I also think it’s a nice touch when a watch arrives showing the correct time.

[Arcam]

This - I love it when I open a watch and it’s telling the right time it’s so serendipitous somehow.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This was my original plan, thanks for all the answers so far, I just wanted to make sure I am not missing a trick.

[PJ S]

I always send them out fully wound, I think it’s nicer for the owner to open the package and see his watch telling the correct time. I’ve never considered whether there’s a ‘safest’ way to send it. On this basis, my gut feeling is to send it fully unwound and not running, simply because there’s no energy going through the balance. I could be wrong, possibly the motion of the balance and the energy in the hairspring renders it less vulnerable to damage/ distortion caused by a hard knock? If anyone has a clear answer to this I’m keen to hear it, having the movement hacked sounds wrong because the balance can’t move and that may impair the ability of the hairspring to withstand shock?

Key factor is to pack and pad the watch thoroughly, avoiding shock is important. Bubblewrap is your friend!

Paul

Won’t make the slightest bit of difference for an automatic. All the jostling around in the vans and depots will ensure the rotor gets plenty of chances to spin and wind up the mainspring.
I personally wouldn’t post it hacked, as that puts that mechanism under prolonged load and prone to shocks and vibration, which it was never designed to contend with.

Just wind it, set the time and date, then pack it thoroughly – that’s all you can do, and is probably more than what the manufacturers themselves bother to do.

[Arcam]

Thanks for all the comments, I went with fully wound and running coupled with good packaging. It was delivered in fine fettle.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[hafle]

This - I love it when I open a watch and it’s telling the right time it’s so serendipitous somehow.

And then open time.is and realise it's already 20 seconds slow :D