Hello, I was watching shopnbc and heard salesman describing winding the mainspring for automatic prodiver which I attempted as described. Screwed myself out of a working watch (lol)! Can I fix myself? Screws in and out but cant set time or date! Thank you! Loved the watch while it worked! [email protected] Larry I

An automatic watch receives it power from the mainspring, which is wound by hand (most watches) and from movement of the arm which causes the Oscillating Weight to spin around and wind the mainspring. The problem is that it takes many, many rotations of the weight to put enough winds on the mainspring to keep it going. If you have not worn the watch for 24 hours you need to put initial winds on the mainspring, either by turning the crown or by swinging the watch around 30-40 times. If the watch is in good mechanical condition, once you put the initial winds on it, you can put it on your wrist and it should run overnight if taken off. Most older Seiko watches cannot be wound by hand.

When you wind it manually (forward or clockwise) it winds the mainspring. Only need to watch it 5 or 6 times if it's completely stopped you wearing it will do the rest. If you going to get a automatic winder get one that will wind in both directions. It will give a few revolutions clockwise and then we'll go reverse counterclockwise.
Hope this answers your questions thank you.

If you have had it for a good while, it probably needs a cleaning. And a little lube to keep it ticking.

There's a misconception that mechanical watches can be "overwound." Mainsprings in old watches can indeed set in place and freeze up if they are wound tightly and not permitted to unwind, but the steel used in modern mainsprings used in the past 50 years or so is an alloy that's much less likely to bind up compared to 19th century pocket watches. In addition, the winding mechanism in an automatic (aka, self-winding) watch is designed to slip once the spring has been fully wound so that the rotor and winding parts aren't damaged by suddenly binding up. In a manual wind watch, once the mainspring is fully wound, it's simply not possible to wind the watch further unless the mainspring snaps or comes loose from its anchoring--in which case, you'd be able to wind the watch forever without ever storing power in the mainspring to drive the movement. While it is possible for a watchmaker to open your watch and release tension on the mainspring, it's overwhelmingly likely that something entirely different is keeping your watch from ticking and keeping time.

Mechanical watches generally stop running for two reasons: (1) lack of power to the movement; or (2) something in the movement that is preventing the movement from running. If your mainspring is fully wound, you have power to drive the movement. It's time to think about what could be causing #2.

Problems in the movement are usually caused by dust or dirt that preventing a delicate movement part from working properly (e.g., dirt at the pivots can freeze up a gear, stopping a movement). However, it's also possible to have a mechanical failure, such as a bent tooth on a gear in the train. A further possibility is so-called "overbanking," which some believe is the origin of the myth of overwinding. A mechanical watch's balance assembly drives a tiny little forked lever back and forth to control the escapement and the rate at which the watch keeps time. If the watch receives a physical shock or if the parts are worn, it's possible for this tiny lever to get bumped out of its tiny pivot and jammed in place. When that happens, the watch will stop, even though a superficial check will seem to indicate that the balance is still moving freely. At the same time, because the watch isn't ticking, the mainspring isn't unwinding, and so the watch cannot be wound further.

In my experience, watches usually stop running due to dirt at the pivots or on one or more gear teeth. I generally see overbanking in older watches or mechanical watches that have been less precisely made and not routinely cleaned over their working lives--though I have seen it also occur in a few newer watches that were dropped. Better designed watches--and I would include Omega in this category--have escapement levers with built-in guards to make it more difficult for them to overbank.

As for how dirt gets into a watch that's supposed to be water-resistant and generally sealed against exactly that problem--well, as odd as it sounds, watches "breathe," and this process draws in dust and dirt over time. Worn against the body, a watch warms up and expands the air inside it, pushing some of it out of the case; upon cooling, some air is drawn back into the case. This process is obviously reduced in watches designed with a significant degree of water resistance (aka 50 meters or more), but the process is accelerated when you pull the stem out to set the time or even wind the watch via the stem--there's some degree of air gap between the stem and the stem tube, or else it wouldn't be possible to turn the stem. This microscopic dust--in minute quantities--mixes with the lubricating oils inside a mechanical watch and increase the friction in some of the key pivots. Over time, the combination of naturally solidifying oils that are thickening and a minute amount of dust can turn lubricating oil into glue. The watch cleaning process flushes the old oil and accumulated dirt from the pivot bushings so that fresh, uncontaminated oil can be used to re-lubricate these key gear axles.

Bottom line: if your mechanical watch has stopped working, it's much more likely that something is interrupting the intricate gears in the watch movement rather than a problem with the mainspring. A competent watchmaker or watch repair technician should be able to identify the problem relatively quickly and give you a definitive answer as to the true cause of--and cost to fix--your watch.

Not possible. The assumption that a watch is fully wound and then doesn't run is because the watch is over wound is invalid. The correct assumption is the watch has been fully wound and the watch has a problem. Could be anything. Automatic winding watches have a mainspring that slips or acts as a clutch when fully wound to avoid breaking from continuous winding.

Almost all automatic wristwatches made today have an 18-24 hour "power reserve" when fully wound. A 24 hour reserve is actually very, very good. I can't think of a modern self-winding wristwatch that has a 48-hour power reserve because that would require a super-long or much larger mainspring than would fit in a modern watch movement / case. There may be some hand-crafted or super-premium watches that can do this, but only a very select few.
Manual wind railroad pocket watches, which were some of the finest and most accurate mechanical watch movements ever made, generally had a 40-hour power reserve. That extra capacity was created by using a large mainspring to store the extra energy. These mainsprings could be used because of the much larger size of these watches, compared to modern wristwatches.
If you are concerned about keeping your watch ticking, even when you're not wearing it, you might want to look at a "watch winder"--basically, a small watch case that rotates the watch for you, keeping the automatic winding rotor moving and the watch ticking. In addition, sitting at a computer all day will wind your watch much less than walking and otherwise moving around. Even though you're wearing your watch, if you're not moving, you're not winding it.

I will assume this is an automatic. In which case it sounds like the mainspring has broken. You will need to get a qualified watchmaker to fix that. There can be other reasons (blocked wheels etc) but this is the most common to cause the symptom you describe.

mcdevito75 here, BMW watch, nice watch, Actually there are 2 ways to start winding an automatic or self wind watch. Since you feel no resistance in the winder (crown) which if you did, would mean the automatic mechanism is attached by gear to the mainspring and winding the crown (stem) would start the winding process. Without any resistance winding the crown, your automatic mechanism is free-lance as a way of saying, in your watch which simply means your BMW watch winds solely on wrist / arm motion. First, make sure you hear the automatic mechanism moveing inside the watch when you move the watch in almost any direction, now simply hold the watch in your hand and with a rocking motion, say from 12--to 6 rock your hand back and forth for about 30 seconds. You can also make circular motions with the watch in your hand for 30 seconds, any motion that will cause the automatic movement in your watch to move will, start the winding process. After you see you watch has started, simply wear your watch to keep it wound.

mcdevito75 here, Best Bet, online to shopnbc.com to Invicta watches, or give Invicta a call , info at the website at ShpNBC.com

crowbar040, you may have a problem with your mainspring click, which is supposed to keep the spring coiled as it winds. What might be happening is it is sticking and coming undone instead of winding. Or you could have a bad gear in your automatic.