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Good evening everyone!
This column talks about mechanical watches from an engineer's point of view. This is the 30th installment.
"How to properly wind a mainspring"
I will talk about this topic.
Winding the mainspring is an essential task for mechanical watches. Mechanical watches can be broadly divided into two types, "hand-wound" and "automatic-winding," and in this article we will explain the points that must be taken into consideration when winding the mainspring.
Power source for mechanical watches
First, let me give you a brief introduction to how a mechanical watch works.
The power source of all mechanical watches is the "mainspring." The watch works by using the power of the wound spring as it unwinds. In other words, the mainspring is an essential part of all mechanical watches.
For example, there is a toy doll that continues to walk for a short time when you wind up the spring. This is powered by the energy generated by the unwinding of the spring. However, since there is no mechanism to control the force with which the spring unwinds, it will quickly unwind and stop.
Mechanical watches are equipped with a "regulating mechanism" that adjusts the unwinding force of the mainspring so that it remains at a constant interval after the mainspring is wound, and this mechanism oscillates at regular intervals like a pendulum to keep accurate time. The unwinding power of the mainspring, adjusted in this way, is transmitted to the gear train mechanism, which moves the hour, minute, and second hands.
The difference between manual and automatic winding
So what is an automatic watch? It is a watch in which the mainspring is automatically wound by the movement of the wearer's arm. The movement of an automatic watch is equipped with a weight called a rotor, and when the wearer moves their arm, the rotor rotates under the force of gravity, winding the mainspring.
If you wear it every day, it won't stop, and you won't need to wind it up with the crown. This is a big advantage for those who find winding it by hand a hassle.
However, if you do a lot of desk work and don't move your arm much, or if you wear multiple watches, you may need to wind your watch manually as an auxiliary measure.
The idea is that an automatic winding mechanism has been added to a hand-wound watch, so the basic structure remains the same.
Recommended hand winding method
We previously introduced the correct way to wind a hand-wound watch on our YouTube channel "COMMIT TV," where we recommended "keeping your finger on the crown and slowly moving it back and forth to wind the watch."
This method has the advantage of naturally resulting in a slow, careful winding process, but it is somewhat less efficient.
Therefore, this time we would like to introduce the recommended method of winding various mechanical watches, regardless of whether they are hand-wound or automatic, which is to "wind slowly in one direction."
Benefits of winding in one direction
・Power is transmitted efficiently to the mainspring
The mainspring is designed to only be wound in one direction (usually when the crown is turned to the 12 o'clock position), and will spin freely even if the crown is turned in the opposite direction. When winding in both directions, unnecessary movement is generated until the idling gears re-engage, which can result in poor winding efficiency.
・Winding slowly will not put strain on the internal parts.
If you wind the spool too quickly, you risk putting stress on the internal parts, especially the core and the hooks, and causing them to break. However, if you take your time and do the operation carefully, you will not put stress on the internal parts.
In particular, automatic watches are designed so that when you wind them manually, the gears of the automatic winding mechanism also rotate, so repeatedly winding the watch too quickly or overwinding it can lead to an earlier overhaul period. Please be especially careful to wind the watch slowly and carefully.
The idea is to gently release your finger from the crown, making sure that the spring is absorbing the repulsive force of the wound spring as it tries to unwind.
summary
What did you think?
Even if you simply wind it by hand, you can reduce the strain on your watch by imagining the movement of the internal parts as you wind it, so I hope you will find this information useful. I think the content of this article is easier to understand as a video rather than as text, so I hope to introduce it on "COMMIT TV" soon.
We hope that this article has been useful to you and has piqued your interest in luxury watches! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly and we will answer them thoroughly. We look forward to your visit and inquiries.
Look forward to the next one! See you next time!
