Fashion

What You Should Pay Attention To When Caring For Your Mechanical Watch

Below are a few tips on protecting your watch such as ones in NGG for example and what care you should give it. Following these is always worthwhile because an inspection by the watchmaker or manufacturer can be expensive.

Cleaning

If possible, clean your watch only with a microfiber cloth and without any cleaning agents. These can penetrate cracks and damage the seals. Areas that are difficult to access, such as the lugs, can be cleaned with a soft toothbrush. Never place a watch in an ultrasonic bath. At best, a link bracelet can be cleaned in such a way if it is separated from the watch.

Magnetism

It is arguably one of the most insidious enemies of the mechanical watch, as it cannot be seen or felt. In every mechanical watch, a fine balance wheel sets the beat, the pendulum movement maintained by a wafer-thin, spiral-shaped metal spring. The alloys of these metal springs have been refined more and more in recent years so that they are less and less impressed by magnets.

A completely new material, silicon, should finally end the problem. However, watches that were built before these developments are far from obsolete. It is simply a matter of protecting them from magnetism as much as possible. Unfortunately, the use of magnets has increased significantly in recent times. They are used as bag fasteners and are found on tablet covers and in loudspeakers – things that we surround ourselves with every day.

The spiral spring described can itself become magnetic through the action of a magnet. Then the coils stick together, and the spring can no longer oscillate over its entire length. You can usually tell that a watch has been magnetized because it suddenly runs much too fast but otherwise usually works.

In this case, ask your watchmaker to first demagnetize the watch before having him service it straight away. It only takes a few seconds and costs a fraction.

Maintenance

Every watch needs to be serviced. Manufacturers recommend that mechanical watches be serviced every five years, as both the oil used in the bearings and the seals are subject to aging processes and must be replaced. As a rule, however, such a miniaturized marvel works much longer. In our opinion, a service is only announced when the watch is leaking, or the rate values ​​are unsatisfactory. But remember that a mechanical watch will never be as accurate as your cell phone or a quartz watch.

If the watch does need to be serviced, it should be noted that some manufacturers are happy to replace anything that no longer looks fresh or polish scratched cases so that they look like new again. So anyone who has grown fond of the color of the slightly faded dial or associates an important memory with the scratch on the case should point out that these parts should not be renewed. Certain vintage watches even lose their value if the dial or case is no longer original.

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