How hard is it to wind a pocket watch?

[Katy]

I'm thinking of getting my boyfriend a pocket watch for Valentine's Day. It would be a new one, and I can't decide if I should get one that he has to wind every day or not. I think it would be kind of cool and authentic in a way, if it's not that difficult. I'm not a watch connoisseur, so I don't know much about this at all. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[mrfixit]

winding is not hard, however there are many types that are authentic looking, with modern movements, battery powered quartz. very accurate, also inertial winding. I would prefer not to wind mine.

 

[keni]

get one which has a stopwatch facility then he can use it for lap times etc. If you get one with a battery rather than wind-up it will last a year and be more reliable.

 

[BenH]

It's a habit thing.

I wear a wind-up pocket watch every day. Winding it is part of my normal routine every morning. It takes about a minute to do. Most watches will run about 35 hours on a full wind(although one of mine, an old "safety barrel" Waltham will run about 50), so it will keep running even if you forget and wind later in the day. It is good, though, to wind at about the same time every day to allow for the best time keeping.

Someone else mentioned overwinding. This is NOT an issue.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS OVERWINDING.

A watch should be wound until the crown is tight, and won't turn any more with a reasonable amount of force. Unless you use pliers to force the crown, you can't overwind a watch. A watch which is wound up and not running(commonly called "overwound" by those uninformed) has other problems. It could be dirty and in need of a cleaning, or there could be something more serious like a broken pivot on the balance staff or a broken roller jewel. Any of these requires a visit to a watchmaker, but are most certainly not caused by winding too tight.

At one time, dropping a mechanical watch, or any other mechanical impact, was a significant concern as it almost always resulted in a broken balance staff. All modern mechanical watches use shock protection on the balance, which greatly reduces the chance of a broken balance staff. It can still happen, though, especially with a hard enough knock.