Some FAQ
If you’re new to owning an Omega Constellation watch or are in the process of buying one, be sure to keep these tips in mind so your watch will last several lifetimes.
How does a person wind a watch without over winding it? Manual winding watches usually will let you know when they’ve been wound by offering a resistance at the crown of the watch. Don’t wind the watch more after you feel the watch resisting. If you wind it too tight, you can severely damage the inside of the watch. As for automatic watches, they work differently. Since automatic watches wind themselves, they still need to protect themselves of over winding too. Automatic watches are installed with a gear that helps stop the winding when the spring has been fully wound. This makes it impossible to over wind an automatic watch.
Mechanical watches usually take about 20-30 turns of the crown to wind fully from being completely run down.
Also which way do you have the turn the crown to wind the watch? Just about every watch winds by turning the crown clockwise. In other words, if you’re looking at the watch, rotating the upper face of the crown upwards toward the 12 is winding the watch clockwise.
Also how does a person operate the screw down crown? Several water resistant watches have screw down crowns. The crown of the watch, which is the knob on the side that’s used to wind the watch and set the watch, screws into place like a miniature cap to make sure the part of the watch is water resistant. To open the crown up, you need to turn the crown counterclockwise to unscrew it. This usually takes about 4 to 5 turns. Then to close it up, push it in while turning it clockwise. There’s no need to screw it really tight, it’s the threading that helps with the water resistance. Over tightening will do nothing but stripping the seal. Once the crown has been unscrewed and placed in the neutral position, the crown will then operate like any other watches.
Also is it ok to leave the chronograph function running? It’s ok for most mechanical chronographs. People prefer doing this to keep the large second hand running. There is no proof that this causes any wear and tear to the watch. Also it doesn’t make much difference to the power of the mechanical watches. Omega claims that their watches will lose less than 2 percent of power reserve if the chronograph keeps running.
The quartz chronographs are ok. Some of them may limit their duration of the watch, and some quartz watches may disable the chronograph functions to help conserve the battery when the battery is running low.