Watch Maintenance

You finally got the watch you always wanted. Maybe it's gold with all kinds of extras and just makes you feel fuzzy inside or is just plain cool. Now you have to worry about taking care of it. Well don't get all bothered about it Junior, we're going to give you some tips so your ticker keeps on ticking.

Your watch is like a small child. Okay, not really, but there are some things you will have to do if you want to keep your timepiece running the way it should be running. If you fail to do that your watch becomes nothing more than a time bomb. Okay, maybe it doesn't but it is just a matter of time (no pun intended) before you watch breaks or becomes a piece of junk.

Keeping clear of the wet stuff is a good idea. I mean water, particularly salt water, but all water is a good policy. Even water resistance watches can become damaged with repeated or prolonged exposure. Even water resistant watches can become damaged. They are not water proof after all.

If you expose your watch to saltwater, make sure to rinse it off and set it out to dry. Salt water is harder on a watch and can damage it more easily than fresh water. Avoid wearing your watch during any activity involving water or steam. Why anyone would wear their nice luxury time piece into a sauna is beyond me, so maybe you should show off somewhere else.

Here's an odd tip, but it really does make sense; do not change the date on your watch within three hours of midnight. This has nothing to do with Gremlins who you are not supposed to feed after midnight, but with the gears inside the watch. The watch at this point is gearing up (get it?) to change the date internally during this time and you changing the date yourself interferes with this. Any other time is a fine time to change the date.

Wind your automatic watch by hand once or twice a week. This keeps the oils moving in the right direction. It is also important because it will keep the gears nice and slick. Non-slick flooring is great, non-slick gears will put you behind schedule.

Mechanical watches require the same thing more children do; consistency. It is a good idea to wind your watch every morning. The internal mechanism of the mechanical complexities makes it so that they need to be wound on a regular basis, but not a lot. The irony is that people who do not want to be late and are habitual watch winders (two or three times a day) tend to wear out their watches and then complain that their "piece of junk" will not work. If they had wound the watch just once in the morning they could have saved themselves a lot of hassle.

Schedule regular time, about once every two years, with a watch maker. They will examine your watch and give her a tune up. This is very important because even if your watch is running perfectly fine, it still needs to be checked internally for rust, oiled and cleaned. Doing so will help ensure that you keep on getting a good time. Wow, that was my worst pun yet.

Zeeman Haus enjoys writing articles online on a variety of subjects. You can check out his latest website on Mens Diamond Watches which provides reviews on top Brands Like Bulova, Akribos, Invicta, Citizen & more.