Seven tips on taking care of mechanical watches, by www.good-stuffs.com

1) Water resistance

Many people think watches with waterproof 3ATM, 5ATM can be submerged or washed in water, wrong! Its real meaning is waterproof in daily living, in other words “do not try to make your watch wet.” Only screw-on crown designed for diving with at least 100M waterproof can be submerged into water. Professional diver watches should have over 200M waterproof. Any watch without the screw-on crown, should not be put into water, no matter how expensive it is. If you take a close look at the crown, there is always a gap or air leak between the external case and handle. You are taking the risk of water leak that may cause serious damage whenever you wash it careless into water. The proper care is to wipe dirt with a dry soft cloth.

2) Temperature

Do not wear your watch in sauna. In a sauna chamber the temperature is much higher than the external environment. The big temperature change will cause pre-mature aging of waterproof gasket. Even if you wear a diver watch, the waterproof gasket may age and lose its waterproof property prematurely.

3) Dust

If you are living in a dusty environment, pro-longed exposure to dusty air makes tiny dust particles enter into the watch through tiny gaps on the case. The accumulation of dust in the movement will try up oil, so it will be undoubtedly harmful to the movement. Of course, the daily exposure to dusty environment is rare as the vast majority of us are living in a clean and tidy environment. It is recommended to have a piece of soft cloth like the one cleaning up your glass lenses, to wipe out any dirt found on your watch.

4) Shock. The mechanical movement is actually very “fragile,” especially when it is under strong vibration. Some people wear expensive watches to go golfing. Tremendous G force occurs at each powerful swing. While it is not a problem for human bones and muscles, but it exerts significant pressure on your watch. Many big name brand watches are swung to service shops by the enthusiastic owners on golf course.

5) Wear. There will always have wears and scratches on either stainless steel or precious metal cases. To make your watches “look like new,” handle with care, do not contact hard and abrasive objects.

6) Magnetic field. Do not store watches under strong magnetic influence, for example in the vicinity of a loudspeaker. A magnetized watch will have a noticeable error in time keeping. Once this happens, take it to a qualified shop to have the watch de-magnetized.

7) Maintenance. Do watches need scheduled maintenance? The answer is yes. Almost all new mechanical watches need professional care after 4-5 years of continued use. Mechanical wears and tears increase when oil tries up. A professional maintenance such as cleaning and oiling is absolutely necessary.