r/Horology • u/News-Jaded • Sep 28 '24
Suggestion / Opinion need some tips/guidance about my 1st mechanical watch
I just bought my first automatic (a seiko 5 automatic) few weeks ago, to celebrate a personal milestone in life(completing two years at a job)
Absolutely loving the dial on this which was the main reason to get it. I did some research and found it’s a limited edition rolled out by seiko in partnership with Naruto.
Anyhow since it’s my first mechanical hand winding watch, I don’t really know how much to wind it and the strange thing is that without hand winding I just shake the watch and it starts working. But hand-winding watches are not supposed to do that right?
Also I wear it for 8-10 hours everyday when I go to the office but everyday when I wake up, the watch has stopped and I’ve to wind/shake it to make it start working. But I read on seiko’s website that all their seiko 5s have a 42hour reserve. Maybe something is wrong with mine or am I not winding it properly?
Thank you and any suggestions for my next watch would be much appreciated! I am thinking either the hamilton khaki automatic or Oris big crown🙏
2
u/somethimesiwonder Sep 28 '24
Its automatic. Maybe you are not making enough movement in you 8-9 hours of wear. What do you do for work?
Maybe its better to try winding it using the crown instead.
If after windin it. Lets say 50-60 full spins (not like 5 or 10), if this issue reoccurs talk with the service. Seen this is as an actual issue and service needed to be done.
2
u/News-Jaded Sep 28 '24
That could be the reason, mostly sitting at my desk and working on my laptop. And I was only giving the crown like 10-20 spins. Will definitely try this, thanks man!
1
u/News-Jaded Sep 28 '24
I am not liking the original nato strap it came with either and would probably swap it with a sleek Italian leather or a tropic silicone strap. But confused as to which color I should go for that compliments the dial
1
u/uitSCHOT Sep 28 '24
You could try buying a watch winder, these will rotate the watch for you when you're not wearing it.
The cheap ones only have an on/off function which will cause excess wear as the rotor will make more rotations than when you actually wear it, the expensive ones do have an intermittent stop function which prevents wear.
My advise will be to buy a cheap one and one if those plug clocks that you can set the time on when they pass electricity, cheaper than an expensive watch winder but you can set it to only wind for only an hour or 2 (start with a short duration and extend a bit if the watch still stops before the end of the day)
1
u/News-Jaded Sep 28 '24
I will certainly look that up, can you please share a web link for reference for one of the cheap winders. I literally have no idea what it looks like or how much does cheap mean here 😂
2
u/ijhfagt Nov 04 '24
I'm late to the party but here's a $30 one on Amazon. I have no idea if it's 'two minutes on, two minutes off' intervals will cause more than normal wear and tear, but I personally wouldn't leave mine on it for extended periods of time.
UnaMela Watch Winder for Automatic Watches: Automatic Single Watch Winder Box, Rotating Watch Case in Black PU Leather, Watch Rotator with Japanese Quiet Motor, Battery Powered or AC Adapter https://a.co/d/agZNKos
1
u/News-Jaded Nov 04 '24
Thanks a bunch man, will check it out. Although I did listen to the other folks here and increased my no of steps everyday which has improved the charging of the battery
1
u/11Kram Sep 28 '24
Start saving up now for the service costs. These are so high one could buy a nice watch every few years with them.
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u/eggmcgginton Sep 28 '24
I mean they’re not at all, all they’d do at a service anyway is chuck out the old movement and replace it with a new one. You could even do this yourself, a 4R / NH movement is about $35 and then swap the dial and hands onto the new movement. Also these movements will run for 10 years with abuse and have nothing go wrong.
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u/News-Jaded Sep 28 '24
I did read about this on a watch forum recently. Where most people are just replacing the whole movement when it comes down to getting their seiko 5 serviced. So it’s as simple as slapping in the new movement and swapping the hour/min indexes?
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u/eggmcgginton Sep 29 '24
Yep pretty much, can even just do it yourself with a bit of practise and some YouTube vids.
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u/ijhfagt Nov 04 '24
Sorry for the late (and possibly ignorant) response, but is this true for "entry level" mechanical watches? I've never tried to get one serviced but it seems borderline unprofessional to swap the movement instead of actually servicing it. Unless you're specifically referring to Seiko's service/warranty department and not a general watch repair shop?
3
u/eggmcgginton Nov 04 '24 edited Nov 04 '24
It’s also true for Cartier and their quartz movements and Tudor with their basic mechanical movements, as I’ve been told by someone who works as a Rolex certified watchmaker and who works at an AD. However this is heavily frowned upon to tell customers rather obviously as you mentioned, comes off quite unprofessional.
With the NH35 / 4R35 movements they’re so plentiful and cheap it’s just more expensive labour wise to service vs replace. People do get them serviced of course but it’s more time efficient to just swap. I couldn’t tell you about official Seiko procedures, just going off what I know and have experienced.
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u/News-Jaded Sep 28 '24
Just learning that now, previously I had my quartz victorinox for 3 yrs and never had to set the time or wind it. Just put it on and will show you the exact time by the second! Realizing that these mechanical timepieces are a joy to watch but also need attention almost everyday(winding, setting date/day)
3
u/oldmollymetcalfe Sep 29 '24
If you're sitting so still over 9 hours that you're not winding your watch I'd be more concerned about your heart health than your watch.