Calibre 3220 winding - Speedmaster Automatic (Reduced)

donut-chrono
Posts
39
Likes
61
I have been playing with timegraphers and have wound my watch "all the way up" a couple times for that.
I've noticed at at about 100 clockwise twists of the crown (maybe 50 complete turns?) it stops winding. Well, it at least hits a point of resistance. And of course I stop winding there!

However, I have read several places that automatic watches can be wound forever and would not reach a point the wider "stops". Mine at least does not appear to work that way, it stops. Or am I hitting some other point of resistance?

(Note the watch was recently serviced and performed this way before and after. I should have asked that expert when I picked the watch up, but I forgot!)
 
donut-chrono
Posts
39
Likes
61
Found this video... but I don't understand enough to know if it helps answer the question...
 
JimInOz
Posts
17,465
Likes
36,611
The mainspring in a manual wind watch is held at both ends, the inner by a hook on the arbor and the outer has a hook that engages in the wall of the mainspring barrel. When the watch is fully wound, the mainspring is held at both ends by the hooks and can be wound no further.

An automatic mainspring is held by the hook on the arbor, but the outer end is a smooth curved heavier spring called a bridle. It doesn't lock to the barrel but will slip when spring coils are wound around the arbor, lessening resistance at the outer coils. The barrel wall is lubricated with a grease that holds the bridle up to a certain load point, then breaks and allows the bridle to slip until the spring coils expand slightly and the grease brakes the bridle. thus the reason the grease that breaks is called braking grease.

In theory, an automatic can be wound indefinitely, the amount of resistance approaching full wind will depend on the strength of the spring/bridle, condition of the barrel wall and the type/amount of braking grease used.
 
donut-chrono
Posts
39
Likes
61
JimInOz JimInOz
The mainspring in a manual wind watch is held at both ends, the inner by a hook on the arbor and the outer has a hook that engages in the wall of the mainspring barrel. When the watch is fully wound, the mainspring is held at both ends by the hooks and can be wound no further.

An automatic mainspring is held by the hook on the arbor, but the outer end is a smooth curved heavier spring called a bridle. It doesn't lock to the barrel but will slip when spring coils are wound around the arbor, lessening resistance at the outer coils. The barrel wall is lubricated with a grease that holds the bridle up to a certain load point, then breaks and allows the bridle to slip until the spring coils expand slightly and the grease brakes the bridle. thus the reason the grease that breaks is called braking grease.

In theory, an automatic can be wound indefinitely, the amount of resistance approaching full wind will depend on the strength of the spring/bridle, condition of the barrel wall and the type/amount of braking grease used.
So maybe I am just feeling the coils fully bound up... and then I just stop winding. I do try to be gentle, as I normally wouldn't fully wind the watch, except for the occasional timegrapher test.
 
Archer
Posts
29,111
Likes
75,238
donut-chrono donut-chrono
So maybe I am just feeling the coils fully bound up... and then I just stop winding. I do try to be gentle, as I normally wouldn't fully wind the watch, except for the occasional timegrapher test.
There's no harm in winding it. You cannot over wind it.
 
Johnny_C
Posts
7
Likes
1
Well i got the Burgeon. £9. Brilliant. Would. Be better with a ratchet but not much of a bother. Its a pressure fit so you only need to press till it turns. It has a marker i gave it 40 turns and it was quite resistqnt so i stopped. It has a marker line so you can count the turns plus you're giving it 360 degree turns.
 
Sign up or log in to reply...