How to Care for and Maintain Luxury Wristwatches
Luxury Wristwatches are not just a tool for checking the time but rather they are very good ways of showing your status, your dress sense and your sophistication. Therefore they have very high value. Because of their very high quality and long duration many people assume that they require very little maintenance. How wrong they are.
So many people have used their precious timepieces in some very inappropriate ways and have paid dearly for it by inadvertently damaging these precious timepieces.
And come to think of it taking care of these timepieces is very easy and will not take much time or effort. Below are some of the things you should do to ensure that your precious timepieces remain in excellent condition and will perhaps last for several decades:
- Take off your wristwatch if you are in a situation in which you will be working around substances that you know will be harmful to your watch, such as chemicals or steam.
- If you want to go to the shower for a bath do not go with your wristwatch, this is because any of the chemicals that you use in the shower like shampoo, soaps etc. could very well damage your wristwatch.
- If you go for scuba diving then you should keep it in mind that not all expensive watches are suitable for scuba diving- even if they are water resistant. If the water resistance is below 20M then the watch may be used for ordinary household activities that involves water but not for scuba diving. You should use a watch for scuba diving only when the water resistance is well above the 20M mark.
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You should take your watch for servicing every 2-5 years. This rule is especially true for mechanical watches whether you wear them or not, this is because mechanical watches have oils that lubricate the inner parts and this oil dries up over time.
For watches that are not waterproof which means that their cases are not sealed dirt collects inside the casing and within the parts which will also have the same effect as the oil drying out.
Again my advice is PERIODIC SERVICING.
- Sometimes you might be tempted to, but whatever you do, make sure that you do not touch (even slightly) the wheels or bridges of your watch with your fingers. It could almost surely lead to rust and also do not ever use your mouth to blow air inside the movement, moisture (your saliva) can be introduced and no matter how minute the amount it will lead to rust. You should know the rest.
- Some watches are magnetized and some are De-magnetized. If your watch is magnetized do not ever take it near a magnetic source or the time will become very erratic and may even stop working entirely.
If your watch is magnetized you need to De-magnetize it by going to a reputable jeweler or watchmaker. This will make the watch immune from any damaging effect when it comes close to a magnetic source, this protection can be very important.
- Mechanical watches use watch winders and it is an easy and convenient way to wind your mechanical wristwatches, but be careful! Winding your watch too often will quickly wear out it’s mechanical parts.
Do not just jump to wind your watch at every given opportunity, you might be shortening the long life span of that your valuable and expensive timepiece.
- When manually winding your watch do not rush it but do so slowly and continuously, you will feel it resisting when it is fully wound. When you feel the resistance leave it alone, you could damage your watch if you persist.
Do not forget to take the watch off your wrist before you wind it.
- Use fresh water to thoroughly rinse your watch after swimming in the pool and after swimming in the sea to wash off the chlorine from the pool and salt from the sea.
- Some watch crystals are made of acrylic or mineral crystals which make them easy to scratch making them to have blurry screens. Avoid having the crystals coming in contact with surfaces and don’t place them upside down in any situation or place heavy objects on them.
Watches that have sapphire crystals are usually scratch resistant but do not have them come in contact with diamond jeweleries because diamond can easily scratch them and sapphire crystals will break off easily when it is hit by a hard object.
You can use polish on the crystals to give it a very clean look.