Chromatic Fugue
1903
to wind or not to wind a perpetual when not in use
UntiI I bought my 3940 in November, I'd never owned a watch that is difficult to reset after it winds down. Now that I've had my 3940 for a couple of months, it's time to give some wrist time to my other watches. I don't have a watch winder and don't intend to buy one. My question to this group is whether I should just wind the 3940 manually every day to keep it in sync with the calendar or whether I should instead let it wind down and go through the resetting process each time the 3940 comes back up on rotation. It's no hassle for me to wind it each night; the question is simply whether this is bad for the movement and whether I should just get used to resetting the watch using the correction buttons every few months (something I haven't actually tried doing yet). Curious to know what others do. Thanks!
Vintage
Collector seeks insights on a 1989 Patek Philippe 3940. Discussion covers deployant buckle, hallmarks, sapphire case back, and originality concerns.
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to wind or not to wind a perpetual when not in use
UntiI I bought my 3940 in November, I'd never owned a watch that is difficult to reset after it winds down. Now that I've had my 3940 for a couple of months, it's time to give some wrist time to my other watches. I don't have a watch winder and don't inte...
Perpetual
Honest, i do not own a perpetual. I use a watch winder. But i wil look for a perpetual, when i wish to buy an infinity date watch. I wil put a perpetual on a watch winder, if i had one. No problem to reset. ...
I personally would recommend to
let it stop and adjust it again when you want to use it. Winding it every day or putting it on an automatic winder is like wearing your watch steadily. And IMHO in this case you will need a service sooner. Just my 2c. Best Thomas P.S.: I have asked differ...
That’s The Whole Point Of A Perpetual Calendar!
The whole point of spending the large amount extra for the Perpetual Calendar complication is that you never have to correct it, even for Leap Years like this year. But you have to always have the watch running or else you will have to make corrections. S...
I fully agree.
And it is more wear to a watch setting it (strange enough) than letting it run. And watches are actually constructed to run continuously. “Wear” to a watch movement is mostly related to oil - at least more than parts.
For me a large part of our passion
is the actual winding of the watches. I wind my watches daily unless I am away on holiday. My perpetual calendar is on a winder and although I know a number of purists who do not use winders, I personally am partial to winders, particularly the Planet by ...
Superb post.
I have a Perpetual Chronograph 5270R. I wind it everyday. It keeps excellent time and I am not concerned about wear. When I travel I don’t usually take this piece so I let it run down. Then when I return I set it with a bamboo skewer (not the gold pusher)...
I agree with Sham.
I enjoy setting and winding my watch. It’s part of my connection with the watch. It gives me great pleasure to do this. This is one of the reasons I purchased a manual wind watch.
Sham, the Planet by Favre is a spectacle indeed.
Beautiful and functional. Even if you only stored your Patek on a Planet (without the winder spinning) it would be a magical way to display all sides of your timepiece. Indulgent, yes, but beautiful. Any chance you could share a photo?
Hi Robert
I am currently in Geneva and will share a photo of the planet with you when I return to Malaysia in 2 weeks time. I am actually planning to get a set of 3 planets as I have noticed that all my Pateks are automatic watches and to have them all working in a...
I have had my IWC Perpetual on a winder for 17 years
I wear it off and on; the rest of the time its on the Orbita winder with a couple other watches. It's too much hassle to mess with setting the day, date, month, year and especially with a screw-down crown. I fully agree that it's made to do this happily -...
Thanks everyone! Now, a 3940-specific question ...
Let’s say I wind the watch every day rather than putting it on a winder when not in use. Ordinarily I would wind a watch about 40 turns and not worry about overwinding it. But the manual for this watch, with its 240Q movement, warns that it should be woun...
40 is too much considering its an auto with micro rotor.
Just follow the manual and wear it 2 hours a day on your wrist. It can last for 24 28 hours at rest. 2 hours a day and it will keep on running. My experience and opinion. Geross 😊
There is no clutch in this movement allowing free separate manual wind.
Self-winding watches which can also be manually wound fully each day will say so. If not, the manufacturer says just a few winds as PP does. Something will break if you fully wind each day.
Don’t think so
You can wind the 3940 forever without causing (visible) damage. At least my two 3940 have no problem with manual winding on a daily basis. Wear might be slightly higher in the long run, though.
Do not manually wind the watch
it was designed to be wound through the rotor. PP recommends just up to 10 winds to get it started if it runs down. The watch winder is the way to go. The PC module is very thin and the thinly applied oils can dry out so it is best to keep it moving. It w...
This makes sense.
What do you recommend for manual wind Perpetual Chronographs? I try to wind every day but I do end up setting it multiple times after travel.
Much to think on here ...
Turns out I have the OEM winding box that the 3940 came with. I put the watch in the box when I left home for a few days but was disappointed to discover the watch had stopped the day after I left. I assumed something was wrong with the box, but I now won...