Manual or Automatic for short wearing

[burton]

Just wondered if a manual wind is better over an automatic for short time wearing

Working from home means I don’t really wear a watch while at the home desk but like to wear when going out of the home which is on the odd occasions or mainly weekends.

Due to this I wear my CW C65 Tridant no date version so just a quick set of the time and away, but was wondering which type other than quartz would be best if at all.

Thanks


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[Onelasttime]

You have to wind either up if you only pick it up occasionally so I can't see why it makes a difference?

But the auto can be swung around one's head to get it going, whereas a manual wind can't, so big difference actually. Duh!

[burton]

You have to wind either up if you only pick it up occasionally so I can't see why it makes a difference?

But is there any benefit to either or not?

Less wear or they wear the same?


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[gerrudd]

I have two occasional wear watches and both are no date, hand winders.

[witti]

Since you most probably start any of them by winding up the manual would be my choice.
Auto movements are not necessarily designed to withstand regular manual winding and it could lead to early wear and tear on certain models (ETA 2824?).
Can be a bit of a stretch from my side but for your wearing habits even the date function can be annoying IMO.

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[ColDaspin]

I guess one consideration might be that certain ETA automatic movements, plus presumably all their clones, are more susceptible to damage when hand wound. Easily circumvented by the 'Seiko shake' though, and perhaps barely relevant if you either hand wind them carefully or, as in your case, usage is pretty infrequent.

[Dsmith1974]

Since you can always manually wind an automatic watch, no, a manual watch isn’t any better. Of course, it isn’t any worse either.


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[Onelasttime]

You could always spend 80 quid on a cardboard watch winder with a 5 quid electric motor in it with 3 quids worth of electronics so your arm doesn't get tired.

Watchmakers think they are brilliant.

Where's the fun in that? My way gives your arms a workout.

[burton]

Thanks for the replies, I guess also power reserve would be one to consider too in this, so in between they are still ticking when then wearing again.

[verv]

Personally, in that situation id go for a no date manual.

[walkerwek1958]

I guess one consideration might be that certain ETA automatic movements, plus presumably all their clones, are more susceptible to damage when hand wound. Easily circumvented by the 'Seiko shake' though, and perhaps barely relevant if you either hand wind them carefully or, as in your case, usage is pretty infrequent.

Fully hand-winding ETA 2824 and 2836 movements on a daily basis will increase wear in the reversers and shorten their life. I’ve also seen problems with the winding wheel rubbing against the mainplate, ETA don’t stipulate that this point should be lubricated but its good practice to lubricate the back of the wheel with one a grease. This problem seems to result from wear in the mainplate caused by slight misalignment of the stem, or a bent stem; if the fit is sloppy the wheel will rock slightly and rub. As is often the case a minor problem can lead to major issues, if the stem is slightly too short the winding wheel and sliding pinion won’t engage fully and the Breguet teeth will chip on the tips, the quality of these parts is relatively poor and the damage easily.

If all’s well, with the keyless work aligned and lubricated correctly there shouldn’t be problems and hand- winding every few days shouldn't be an issue. The reversers will have a harder life, but that applies to many automatic designs, these parts are designed to rotate slowly as they transmit motion from the rotor to the mainspring, hand- winding causes them to spin rapidly which can’t help longevity, but I usually find they’re OK after cleaning and re- lubricating. As I’ve stated several times, any grittiness or stiffness in the hand- winding is a bad sign and MUST be sorted out, I’ve lost count of the number I’ve had to fix because the determined owner, aided by a large crown, has made the watch ‘have it’ in a determined attempt to wind the watch despite the obvious change in feel, in this age of soft- touch keypads mechanical sympathy is a quality many folks don’t have. Something has to give, usually the ratchet wheel teeth or the stem itself!

If a watch is worn sparingly there’s a case for having a non-date version, saves messing around setting the date, this is less of a problem with quickset dates but lack if lubrication will lead to wear on the date wheel teeth, they’re moving far faster over the jumper spring when setting this way.

One point to remember; if a watch is worn once/week for several hours it’ll still end up running for between 40 and 70 hrs depending on power reserve. I don’t advocate storing a watch with the movement hacked, my gut feeling is that the balance pivots and the escapement are more at risk from shock damage if the balance is held by a braking device, better to just let the watch run down.

As for watch- winders, I’m definitely in the ‘NO’ camp!

[Kingstepper]

I'd chose a watch piece I liked the look of rather than being constrained by choice of a manual or automatic - both will do the job satisfactorily.

Likely negative is that automatic watches pieces are generally thicker than hand wound.

[walkerwek1958]

I'd chose a watch piece I liked the look of rather than being constrained by choice of a manual or automatic - both will do the job satisfactorily.

Agree 100%! That’s the only criteria that really matters.