Is it possible to overwind a rolex

Should you not wear your automatic winding for a day or more, depending on the model, your watch may not be running when you go to pick it up next. Just because most Rolex watches are self-winding, that does not mean that they cannot also be manually wound, so in this article we are going to take a look at how to wind your Rolex watch.

One of the biggest drawbacks to automatic watches is that they will stop if they do not receive enough wear each day. Power reserves can differ from one movement to the next, with some modern calibers able to achieve multiple days of autonomy.

However the vast majority of the traditional mechanical movements you are likely to encounter including all Rolex models have power reserves that range between 48 and 72 hours. For an individual who only wears their watch during the work week, a watch with a hour power reserve will not still be running by Monday morning after it gets taken off on Friday evening, and so it will need to be restarted and reset at the beginning of each week. For that reason, many mechanical watch owners like to keep their watches running assuming that the watches are worn daily as a means to eliminate the inconvenience of resetting them on Monday morning.

Other than wearing the watch during the weekend, there really are only two ways to ensure that a watch with a standard hour power reserve will still be running by Monday morning. The first option is to use an automatic watch winder. These small watch boxes use electric motors to periodically rotate the watch and ensure it receives a sufficient amount of motion throughout the day.

However, for all those that do not want the additional hastile of using a winder, the only way to keep the watch running through the weekend would be to manually wind it at some point. In the past, certain Rolex watches were powered by traditional hand-wind movements, and some models even featured battery-powered quartz movements. Consequently, anytime you see a Rolex watch with the words Oyster Perpetual on the dial, there is a pretty good chance that you are dealing with an automatic watch with a screw-down crown and case-back.

If your watch is a Rolex Oyster Perpetual model, then read on for the complete instructions for how to wind your Rolex. The instructions below are for how to wind a Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch. This means that the watch in question is of the self-winding variety, and that it features a screw-down crown. Should your watch either have a non-screw-down crown or a hand-wind-only movement, then be sure to read the additional sections below these instructions for additional details that pertain to the winding process for your specific Rolex watch.

The first thing you will need to do before you can wind your watch or set the time or date is to unscrew the winding crown from the side of the case. Keep rotating the crown until it is entirely free from the threads and pops out to its natural position.

The important part here is to not pull out the crown at all like you would to set the time, it should be in its natural position, still all the way inward, just free from the threads that secure it to the side of the case. When the crown is in this position and ready for manual winding, the watch will stay running assuming that it was running before. Additionally, rotating the crown in either direction will not adjust the time nor the date or any other features, if applicable.

From here, start rotating the winding crown away from you and towards the 12 o'clock location clockwise. Additionally, should you notice that the watch stops running or that the date or time changes when you turn the crown, this means that you are not in the proper position for manual winding, and that the crown accidentally got pulled out to one of its other positions when it was unscrewed.

If this is the case, lightly press the crown inward towards the watch, and it should return to its proper winding position. Keep turning the winding crown until you hit approximately 40 rotations. At this point, the watch will be fully wound; however you will still be able to turn the winding crown just as you did before. Once the mainspring is fully wound, a type of slip gear engages that prevents additional tension from being supplied to the mainspring.

This mechanism exists as a safeguard to prevent watches from automatically overwinding themselves; however it also ensures that you do not inadvertently damage your watch should you choose to hand-wind it. However, if you watch has a manual-wind only movement, make sure you read the additional sections below to ensure that you do not accidentally damage it during the winding process. At this point, your watch should now be running again, even if it was stopped when you first started the winding process.

As the outer end is affixed, the wearer can feel the spring as it starts to tighten, letting them know that the watch is fully wound. Relying on this feedback becomes a problem when we are no longer looking at a manual watch. Creating an automatic movement means that we must be able to cope with constant winding and movement. In an automatic movement, such as the one found in a Rolex Submariner , the spring can be wound either through twisting the crown or the movement of the wrist.

However, given the uncontrollable nature of wrist movement, a solution had to be found to address the potential that the spring would be overwound. To solve this problem, a mechanism was created to allow an overwound spring to dispose of some tension without breaking the part. This led to the creation of a bridle, or small piece of metal pointing in the direction of the spring tension.

The model below shows where the spring bridle would press into the notch in the barrel wall under normal tension.

You can write anything off, but you have to ask yourself if you feel lucky with the audit. Doctors tend to use mechanical watches. Many people want to have the complete set of a Rolex watch, as when sold new, and the papers is actually the only thing you cannot replace. Overwinding the watch manually is impossible as well. When the mainspring is fully wound, turning the crown of the watch will have no drastic effects on its functionality.

Winding a watch backward can be harmful to the internal components of the watch. A movement of a watch is made to go forwards. Watches are made with a disengagement setting that disconnects the winding stem from the winding mechanism when wound backward to prevent damages.

You should be able to feel that the crown turns in the anticlockwise direction more easily, and feel and hear the little clicks as the ratchet works. When you feel that the crown stops turning in the winding direction as easily, the spring is fully wound so just let go. Before being worn for the first time, or if it has stopped, a Rolex watch must be wound manually in order to function correctly and precisely.

To wind the watch manually, unscrew the winding crown completely, then turn it several times clockwise. Turning in the other direction has no effect.

Nowadays, all Rolex watches are mechanical and use either automatic self-winding movements or in some cases, a manual wind movement. For Rolex watches, you will want to choose a setting around TPD with bidirectional motion.