Winding your watch - Automatic Movement
At TBF Mods, our main movements are Seiko (TMI) movements. When you hear NH35 and NH36 you are referring to the automatic movements we mostly use for our watch builds. These movements are real workhorses and they are very reliable timepieces. Depending on the type of dial, where you have just the date, we will use the NH35 or NH36, but when you have a day/date window on your dial, we can only use the NH36 due to the day function on the movement. If you are purchasing a GMT, we use the Seiko (TMI) NH34 movement.
What all of these movements have in common, is the fact they are all automatic movements. The word “Automatic” is a tricky word. There is very conflicting where people read that to just shake the watch it will work as long as you are wearing, and in most cases, this will work, but the reason is because you have a power reserve which will last up to 41 hours when fully manually wound. So if you fully wind your watch manually, and leave it sit, it should last up to 41 hours. Wearing the watch helps you keep that power reserve due to the half moon shaped weight spins on the movement. This is also called “perpetual movement “. Think of it like a car’s automatic transmission verses a manual transmission. You don’t have to shift when driving your car, where you have to manually shift the gears when driving. Now, it works but you still need to have gas in order to operate the car. This same scenario applies with an automatic movement. You have to manually wind the movement a few times a week to keep the power reserve going. Taking your watch off depletes your power reserve. If you are stationary for a period of time while wearing, this will deplete your power reserve. For these reasons, it is highly recommended winding your watch 2 to 3 times a week.
In order to fully wind your watch, you unscrew the crown until the crown pops. This is the first position and where you wind 55 times “Clockwise”. If you pull the crown out gently to the second position, turning clockwise changes the day, and turning counter clockwise changes the date. Pulled all the way out is where you can change your time. One last thing, you cannot overwind your watch due to how it is built. So if you fully wind a few times a week it will not harm your watch movement.
One recommendation is to purchase a Watch Winder! We have watch winders for sale on our site and they work great, so when you take off your watch you put it in the watch winder until you wear it again. It is a great device that will help you keep your power reserve going on your watch. I use a few of them with my watches. I have taken a watch off the winder and put in my watch case and it lasted for over 24 hours. This was after winding, wearing a few days while taking off at night and placing in the winder for a week. If you have any questions with regards to this topic, please feel free to email me. Thanks! Gerard
