Caring for Your Watch
When looking to sell your watch, its condition plays a big role. The better shape your watch is in, the more likely you are to find potential buyers and obtain a good price. You can drastically extend the life expectancy of your timepiece by following a few simple care tips.
Download this checklist as a PDF
Protect your watch from jolts
It may sound redundant, but don't let your watch fall when putting it on or taking it off. It happens more often than you'd think and is a much more common occurrence than people are usually willing to let on. Similar to water, jolts can cause significant damage that requires expensive repairs. A fold-over clasp is a secure alternative to a pin buckle and a good investment.
Don't do any extreme sports with your watch on! A one-meter fall onto a hard surface is enough to damage a watch. Wearing your watch while participating in sports like mountain biking or skiing results in constant, violent shaking of the movement, causing damage even without falling. Don't leave your watch in high temperatures. Outside influences accelerate the aging process and affect how your watch functions.
Know its water resistance
A watch's water resistance should be regarded with caution for various reasons. The damage to a watch caused by water can be significant. In the worst case, important components of the movement rust. The resulting repairs needed to fix it are extremely time-consuming and expensive. Yet, there's still a prevalent misconception about what "water resistant" means when it comes to watches.
In reality, you shouldn't dive down 100 meters wearing a watch that is considered "water resistant to 100 m". This only means that the watch withstood the same levels of pressure found at depths of 100 m under laboratory conditions. When you move a watch – for example, underwater while swimming – the pressure increases. You can go swimming and snorkeling with a watch that is "water resistant to 100 m", but for proper diving, you will need a watch with a water resistance of at least 200 m (20 bar).
Another important point to remember is that a watch's impermeability – like all its other technical characteristics – is dependent on how well its components function. Depending on how old the watch is, how often you wear it, exposure to heat and cold, and jolts, a watch's water resistance can last shorter or longer than expected.
Therefore, you should have your watch's water resistance regularly tested by a watchmaker, ideally once a year.
Set your watch properly
You should never set a watch with a date display or other calendar function between 11 PM and 3 AM because the mechanism could become damaged. The date begins to switch a bit before midnight and is finished a few hours after.
To be safe, you should always wind your watch clockwise to set it and not counterclockwise. Never try to set the date back. The date and calendar functions of most watches are made so that they can only be moved forward.
Take care of your leather straps
Leather is a natural material that can be damaged by water, soap, and sweat. Don't wear your watch with a leather strap when sleeping, showering, or swimming. How much a strap ages depends on how much it's used, but when used daily, they usually last about a year. After that, they should be replaced in the interest of hygiene.
Avoid magnetic fields
We're exposed to magnetic fields every day when we use computer screens and other electronic devices. Strong magnetic fields can magnetize your watch and cause deviations from the correct time. Therefore, you should remove your watch during x-rays, while going through airport security, etc., and avoid placing it on speakers or other similar devices.
Have your watch regularly serviced
If you wear your watch every day, it's being used 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A watch is composed of numerous tiny, sensitive pieces that fit together perfectly and over time experience wear and tear. To avoid any problems, you should have your watch serviced by a professional watchmaker every five years.
Store your watch properly
Never carry your watch loosely in a purse or bag, where it can be shaken or scratched by objects with sharp edges. Upholstered boxes that secure your watch inside them are the best option for storage. Vintage watches, in particular, are more sensitive than modern timepieces with sapphire glass, etc. Make sure that your watch doesn't spend long periods of time in unfavorable conditions like bright sunlight or very dusty or humid environments.
When selling your watch, its condition plays a major role:
the better shape your watch is in, the greater the likelihood is of finding potential buyers and obtaining a good price.