Manual winding an ETA 2824-2?

[Hugh]

I have a Marcello C with an ETA 2824-2 movenent. Is it harmful to the
movement if I wind it by rotating the crown? I have read on a watch
forum that this is not good for the watch. Is there any basis for this?

Thanks for any information.

Hugh

[dAz]

as the other fella said, I have seen examples of very badly worn winding
systems in the eta's because the owner insisted on handwinding the watch
fully every day.

it is really only meant to wind the movement up a few turns to get it
started if the watch has not been worn for a while

dAz

[Frank Adam]

On Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:33:41 -0400, shiva das <sh...@nataraja.invalid>
wrote:

>I have no independent knowledge of this, but as I understand it, a
>manual-wind watch is designed to handle being wound once or more a day.
>So the "keyless" (winding) mechanism is stronger to be able to withstand
>that kind of use.
>
>Self-wind watches have a more delicate mechanism designed to primarily
>be wound by the oscillating weight. Winding a self-wind watch in and of
>itself shouldn't harm it, but it's probably best only to wind it when it
>is completely run down.
>
>If I've gotten any of this wrong, my apologies.
>
You've got it fairly correct, but "delicate" is not the right word.
The reversers are actually quite tough, comsidering what they have to
put up with when being wound by the crown.

The auto wheels act a bit like a car clutch, so when the watch is
being wound by hand it's like as if you deliberately slipped the
clutch on your car for a few blocks with 5-6,000 revs on the engine.
Just as that will severely effect the service life of the clutch, the
same goes for the reversers.

Sometimes i wonder if we were to look at the auto wheels with a
microscope, would they also give out minute puffs of white smoke ? :)

--

Regards, Frank

[Hugh]

So from what you say, Frank, it's better not to wind my watch with the
crown. Thanks.

Hugh

[Frank Adam]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 09:09:41 -0400, Hugh wrote:

>So from what you say, Frank, it's better not to wind my watch with the
>crown. Thanks.
>

Ok, let's not get paranoid about this. The winding feature is there to
be used.
The idea is to wind the watch 2-3 turns of the crown(or until the
second hand starts to move) then wear the watch to build up the
remaining spring strength. This is more user friendly than having to
wave your Seiko around in a circular motion for a minute, although
Seiko's method does provide the clue as to how an automatic watch
should be used.. ie: Get it going, then wear it.

Just keep in mind that with each wind the spring gets tighter and the
resistance on the reversing wheel(s) gets higher. At low spring
strength there won't be much problem. The main issue is with those
people who wind their automatic watches fully as if they were a manual
watch, then find that their next service will include 1 or 2 $30-40
reversing wheels.

Hope this makes it all clearer.

--

Regards, Frank