OT - Rolex on a winder when not wearing/servicing?

[rinconryder]

I have a GMT master II from 2005 that I love. I wore it daily for a long time but then switched over to my Garmin as more of my daily. Two questions:

1) Should I keep it on a watch winder when not being worn or is it okay to just let it sit and then wind it when I want to wear it?

2) I have never had it serviced. It loses time slowly but nothing that really bothers me - maybe a couple of minutes a month and I just adjust that when I fiddle with the date at the end of the month. How often should they be serviced?

Thank you.

Wes

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by rinconryder

I have a GMT master II from 2005 that I love. I wore it daily for a long time but then switched over to my Garmin as more of my daily. Two questions:

1) Should I keep it on a watch winder when not being worn or is it okay to just let it sit and then wind it when I want to wear it?

2) I have never had it serviced. It loses time slowly but nothing that really bothers me - maybe a couple of minutes a month and I just adjust that when I fiddle with the date at the end of the month. How often should they be serviced?

Thank you.

Wes

I have a GMT Master from 1978 and a 'watch guy' told me to just wind it, set it before you wear it. It doesn't hurt it to have it wind down.

He also said get it serviced if there is a problem, like starts to lose(or gain) a lot of time. Rolex spec says -4/+6sec per day...My 'winding' felt goofy so I had it serviced. I tried to have a local Rolex person do it(or so he said he was a 'Rolex person')...3 trips back(accuracy was all over the place..+10, -14, -20)...so got my money back and at the suggestion of a local Rolex dealer, they sent it to Rolex Service center in Dallas.

$1300...

Now it's about +2sec per day...which is what it's been for 44 years.

[Louis]

Re: the winder

I wouldn't bother. I have quite a few autos and used to keep several on winders, but finally decided that it wasn't worth the trouble or the wear and tear. Now I have them in boxes, and cycle through them, wearing each one for five days straight during the work week. (I switch over to quartz for the weekend.)

On Monday morning I take one out, set the day and date for the day before, then set the time, going through midnight as required to get the day/date correct. At the start if the hands had stopped between 9:00 and 3:00 I advance the time a bit before setting the day/date so I know that I'm not changing that too close to midnight. Sounds complicated, but it really isn't.

Bottom line, it's simpler to just set each one when I start to wear it.

Lately I've been adding a few no-date hand-winders to the collection. Those are even simpler to deal with, and it's a fun ritual every morning if that's what I happen to be wearing that week.

It just so happens that this weekend I'm wearing my Seiko Kinetic diver - the best, or worst, of both worlds, depending on how you look at it. It "winds" like an auto, but uses a quartz movement. It can't be kept on a winder because they don't provide enough G's to move the rotor fast enough to generate the require power, so you either have to wear it or use an induction charger. Luckily the battery's been updated and is better that what it came with in '95, so it can hold a charge for over a month and isn't as high-maintenance as they used to be on the original batteries.

Good luck.

[rinconryder]

Thank you. This is what I suspected as it has been fine for 15+ years but I just wanted to double check with the forum. I ask more non-bike questions here than bike questions these days!

[pjm]

Your watch is probably due for a service. There are lubricants that they use that will eventually dry out or gum up. I enjoy watch repair videos on the YouTube. This guy has excellent camera work and narration.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2iuf09zRrBM

[tomato coupe]

As I recall, it's kind of a pain to reset the time and date on a GMT Master, so a winder is pretty useful if you don't wear it all the time.

[AngryScientist]

I wouldnt service an auto unless something was wrong with it. The most vulnerable time in a watche's life is when the case is open; best chance for contamination. If it ain't broke - dont fix it.

Caveat: If your use includes going under water, I would have the watch tested for water tightness every couple years to make sure the seals are still doing their job. Rolex tool watches employ their terrific triple lock crown, but it is still prudent to test for tightness every few years if you submerge them.

On the winder, I have a nice wolf. It's totally silent and pretty cool. Keeps at least one of my autos ready to wear any time, which increases the liklihood I will wear them. I say they are worth it.

[aingeru]

I make a living assembling ang fixing watches, so here is my 2 cents:
-as pjm said your watch is most than probably needing a service.
wear your watch for a few days and take it to a watchmaker and tell them to control the amplitude of the balance dial up or dowm on the timing machine.
in a fully wound watch amplitude should be AT LEAST 270°. the fact that your watch is so accurate after so long says nothing about the condition of the movement. Those rolexes are very well constructed movements and are notorious for their excellent isochronismus.(this doesnt apply to their latest caliber the 32XX series, those are trouble...)
-my opinion is you dont need a watch winder. Keep the watch in a drwaer and wind it up generously before wearing it.

[IJWS]

I have almost the same question as the OP but for my JLC moonphase. It was my wedding watch and I had this idea of keeping it going from that day... Well I already screwed that up. I realized that if you "set" the time and catch up over a few days the moonphase tracks. It seems wrong to me. I am tempted to get a winder just to keep the watch going but that also sounds like a chance for excessive wear and tear. Long story short, I have no idea. I'll be following this thread with a vested interest!!!

[goonster]

A watchmaker on youtube put it like this:

If you keep a watch in a drawer for 30 years, it will unharmed, and essentially in the same condition as the day it went in.

If you keep a watch on a winder for 30 years, it will have 30 years of movement wear.

The benefit of the winder is in not having the set the watch, but the expense of the winder is really only justified if the act of setting is especially onerous, e.g. perpetual calendar, or if you have an emotional investment in keeping the watch running continuously.

This watchmaker also claimed that modern synthetic lubricants no longer degrade or "dry out", so that a service interval driven by the need to replace old lubricants is no longer a "thing."

[Steve in SLO]

My understanding is that goonster’s post is correct.
The watchmaker who taught me how to service watches many years ago, ran an authorized Rolex service shop (and in fact was a racing buddy of Paul Newman’s and serviced his Daytona), was a Master Omega technician, did factory repairs for Breguet and JLC, and was past president of the British Horological Society ,so pretty good chops. He also stated that synthetic oils took a very long time to degrade and that lots of time keeping with his criteria for servicing a Rolex and Omega. He didn’t advertise this, and was happy taking the clients money every five years even though their watches were keeping perfect time.
He dismissed Winders except for triple calendar/perpetual models that were worn relatively frequently.
His best advice to me was wind it slowly and stop winding when you start to feel resistance, not all the way.