Maintenance
How to keep a watch healthy for years: servicing, water-resistance testing, storage and winding.
A good watch lasts for decades when it is looked after. The oils in a mechanical watch dry out over time and the gaskets wear, so regular servicing protects both accuracy and water resistance.
The terms in this section explain how to store a watch, when to have it serviced and which accessories are actually worth it.
- Demagnetising
- Demagnetising is the process of clearing the magnetic field from the magnetised parts of a mechanical watch. When a watch suddenly begins running very fast, magnetism is often to blame. A small tool called a demagnetiser puts it right in seconds, cheaply.
- Gasket
- A gasket is a rubber ring fitted at the crown, caseback and crystal that keeps water and dust out. It compresses as the watch closes, sealing the gaps. Because rubber hardens and loses its spring with age, gaskets need periodic replacement.
- Pressure Test
- A pressure test confirms a watch's water resistance on a machine before you trust it in water. A dry test uses air pressure to detect case leaks, while a wet test submerges the watch under pressure. It is essential after any battery change or service.
- Regulation
- Regulation is the fine adjustment that brings a mechanical watch closer to true time. By moving the regulator lever, a watchmaker alters the effective length of the balance spring, which speeds up or slows the oscillation and reduces how many seconds the watch gains or loses each day.
- Servicing
- A service is a full overhaul where a watchmaker opens the watch, cleans the movement out, replaces worn gaskets and oils, then reseals and tests it. Mechanical watches need a service every few years and quartz manages far less often. It keeps both timekeeping and water resistance reliable.
- Watch Winder
- A watch winder is a motorised box that gently rotates an automatic watch to keep it wound and running while you are not wearing it. It is handy for a watch with a date, a perpetual calendar that is slow to reset, or a collection in rotation. Hand-wound and quartz watches do not need one, so for most owners it is largely a convenience rather than a requirement.