How to Maintain Your Valuable Watches

Watch is a time piece and as the same time an accessory, to reflect our taste, personality, style and that is more or less like the shoe of a Japanese, whereby we can tell how is his society status…
A good leather shoes require maintenance, as for your watch that is more or less your identification, Icon, or trade mark of you…
In order to keep your watch running smoothly, accurately quietly.. Reliably; you have to pay some attention to the maintenance…
Well, some one told me watch does not need maintenance at all as they are made of scratch proof material, they are water proof., and shock proof by the intrinsic Incabloc or whatever design of shock absorbent mechanism…
Well that may be wrong as we have to pay attention on preventive maintenance in order to prolong the life and to reduce any damages of the watch.
This is my experience on watch maintenance.
Watch Winder
Many people told me that the watch has to be in operation condition perpetually, as the mechansim will be smooth when they are using frequently. Well, as for a Mechanical watch, the life time, the wearing of the spindle, bearing are directly proportional to the length of active state of the watch. I do not suggest to keep the watch in moving condition all the time by means of the Auto watch winder... as more it runs, more it wears more and more the lubricant will be tend to be thickened and dried out.. And the watch will go SLOW after certain period of time.
Even if you have a watch that you do not want to use for a period of time, you should take it out and let it run on the Auto Watch Winder for a couple of days. This will ensure the lubricant is in Liquidous condition , rather than in Solidified condition.
A Proper watch winder is a good tool to keep an automatic watch in running condition, as it has in a programme to move the rotor in Clockwise and then anticlockwise direction. It would not exert too much pressure on the rotary s it utilize the Gravity attraction to keep the rotor moving, some people does like to SWING the watch by hand vigorously. That may exert too much pressure on the tiny bearings around the rotator and that don’t do well to the watch at all. Beside, a proper watch winder should be magnetic leak proof...


Accuracy monitoring for proper lubrication condition
I had an AP which I bout it 25 years ago, it is so precise and accurate, it gains a few second a week. And after so may years it still gains a few second a week. That is an indication on the viscosity of the lubrication., as time goes by, the lubrication oil inside the watch will tend to dry out and that will create extra friction to the wheels and gears. The Watch will go SLOW... So a new watch should be adjusted a bit gain few seconds every day. It will go slower very two to three year hence we can estimate that this watch will lose time after another 5 years. That mean the lubrication oil is becoming thicker, the friction is becoming higher. And the micro metal wear off debris is accumulating.. It is time for you to send it to the watch service centre for Proper Overhaul. Back to my AP I have never put it to the AP service centre as it is still very accurate... still. Normally we recommend sending your watch to the Service centre every 5 to 7 year for inspection and or overhaul.
Regular cleaning
The Rolex hand book advises you to use soap and Luke warm water to clean your watch say every month as
The watch will tend to accumulate a lot of dirt, dust, sweat, skin tissues, fibre, germs...etc at the pins; lock, shoulder area., It is advise to first lock up the watch tighter crown and use Luke warm water and soap to leather., then rinse it under running water.. The dry it in some kind of soft cotton cloth. Normal I clean my Rolex every three days as I Sweat a lot. Do not use strong detergent, dish cleaner, alcohol, Acetone, or anything corrosive to clean your watch, only mild soap is allowed.
Waterproof and water resistant.
Do not think that your deep-Sea is absolute water tight., well, all depends on the condition of the o-ring on the crystal and the bottom cover plate.. We suggest that every time your have dived with your submariner. Try to use tap water to rinse the blime and salty mineral on your watch As even stainless steel can react with the salt. It will have some corrision on your case and gold. Send your water to the service centre for water proof check every two years if you are frequently diver, I normally send it to the service centre every 5 years.
Magnetization
Do not place your watch near by a loudspeaker, your hand phone bag as it has strong magnetic to hold the flapper, Unless your watch is Rolex Milgraus or IWC Engineer II, they are built to resist strong magnetic field interference, or your watch will be affected and will affect oats accuracy. Once if you find your watch is magnetized, go to the watch smith for demagnetization. It take a few second to do the job, following by an accuracy checker to take measurement on the time keep capability.
Lost of Lustre
The Gold will tend to lose its luster on curtain people skin as it normal will react with the secretion from your body, it will be passivated and lose the shining luster… There is a kind of jewellery cloth (Silbo Polishing cloth for jewelry) that can retain the shinnny lustre of the watch… Do not use abrasive Brasso, or some people use tooth paste to clean your watch tooth paste has some tiny abrasive substance can damage the gold watch.


Inspection on your watch very month
Check the pins, tiny screw lock on the strap very month as it tend to get loosed, if that happened your watch may drop accidentally, that will be total loss. Try to put some Screw Loctite or a tiny drop of AA fast glue at the screw thread of your screw to prevent it to get loosened. AA fast glue can be dissolved by Debonder in case you want to loose the screw and it will not cause any damages on the screw threads.
Protect your watch
I had a Rolex Crystal being crashed by a thick and heavy Stainless watch somewhere while I was walking..
I have seen also a Role Date Day crystal was being cracked when that botched man hits his with on the MTR exit gate. Immediately send to Rolex Centre for Inspection and repair.
Floggy Crystal
When your watch enter a warmer room from a outside, if you can see the crystal is frosted. That is 100% indicated that the watch is leaking and water vapor could enter the watch. You should immediately take it to the service centre for checking as if water is the watch’s enemy.
Heat
If you leave your watch at high temperature or nearby an oven or under hot sun for prolong time, the lubrication oil may be forced to dry out.. Although the Lubication oil was animal oil (whale) it will also be able to dry under high temperature it will shorten the time for your next Overhaul.
Shock proof
Only a few watch in the world can last for strong impact such as your watch is on your right hand while you are playing Golf,, The impact of the Golf club on the Golf will transmit the vibration onto the watch, that is not good to the watch… Note that most of the player is wearing on the left hand while he uses his right hand for golf!


Last but not least, try to take care on your time piece as this is an master piece of the Swiss watch master. If you take care of it properly, a good Swiss mechanical watch should work perfectly for a few hundred years!
HK Snob