Watch care | winton.watch

Looking After Your Winton Watch

Your Winton Watch is assembled from High Quality components and should give you many years of reliable service, but will benefit from some attention every so often.

The movement

All Winton Watches are automatic mechanical watches, rather than ‘quartz’ movements, which are powered by a battery. Automatic movements, if looked after, can last a lifetime and don’t have the environmental impact of replacing batteries. As with all mechanical items, some simple tasks can help maintain the movement:

The primary way to maintain your Winton Watch is by wearing it. Like a regularly driving a car, wearing your watch regularly keeps all of the mechanical parts and gears inside well lubricated by the oils. If you do not wear your watch for a while, you should give it a shake and wear it for a day or two, every single month.

If you have a number of watches, then a watch winder can also automatically simulate daily wear by keeping the watch in motion and the parts inside will constantly be lubricated, but cheap watch winders can actually overwind your watch and damage your watch. We expect to introduce our own line of watch winders in the future.

Cleaning your watch

The best way to clean a watch is with a simple solution of soap and water:

Fill a bowl with warm water and some mild detergent or dish soap.
Dip a soft-bristled toothbrush and gently brush around your watch - make sure to clean around the crystal and all around the watch case, especially the back, where lots of dirt and grime are likely to build up.
If you have a diving watch or watch with a trusted water resistance rating over 50m (all Winton Watches have a rating of at least 100m), you can fill the bowl itself with some warm water and washing up liquid, and drop the entire watch in, leaving it for an hour or two before washing it off with some warm water from the tap. You want to be sure your watch is fully water resistant before attempting this, or risk damaging it through water leakage, if your case or crystal has any damage this should be repaired before submerging.
Metal bracelets can also be cleaned using this same method; however, certain types of straps, including leather, can be damaged this way, so please always be mindful.
Regular cleaning will make sure the dirt and oils from your skin will not get inside your watch, causing rust or corrosion of the parts.

Servicing

There is no exact time frame when any particular mechanical watch needs to be serviced. Some watch companies will often suggest you get a service every four or five years, but that’s not always necessary. The only times you absolutely need to get a mechanical watch serviced are if you either damage the watch or when it starts losing accuracy. There are other obvious signs of a watch needing a service, such as a watch part physically breaking.

When Should You Get Your Automatic Watch Serviced?

How often you need to get your watch serviced will depend on a lot of things, like how often you wear it, if you wear it during any physical activities, if you’ve ever dropped it, etc.

Regardless, over time, the oils in a watch will dry up, causing friction in the metal parts. This will make the crown of your watch stiffen up and become harder to turn than it once was. A watch will eventually need a service once it gets to this point, as continuing to move the hands will grind the machined parts against each other and wear them down. Additionally, gaskets dry out over time which can effect the water resistance, a routine service can mitigate this.

Winton Servicing

We believe in supporting independent jewellers and watch repairers. As such, no Winton Watches require 'Winton only' tools to carry out routine servicing and repairs, so this can be carried out by any qualified watch repairer or jeweller.

If you wish for your Winton Watch to be serviced by Winton, please email hello@winton.watch for a quote. We should highlight that the turnaround time is likely to be longer than using your local independent workshop.