Basic Care for Manual Winding Watches

If you own a manual winding mechanical watch, you really want to know that it is a delicate timepiece. Unlike its automatic winding counterparts (which are designed for continuous winding for as long as they are worn on the wrist), they usually do not come with a slip clutch mechanism that allows winding beyond a full wound without damage. So wind it gently, feel the resistance on the crown as the tension builds up, and be watchful of the 'hard-stop' indicating a full wound. Failure to observe this might damage the winding gear trains and/or break the spring within the barrel assembly.

A typical spring and barrel assembly
that powers all mechanical watches

Red arrows indicating 
broken sections of the spring

Some of these mechanism of vintage collection is not even contained in a water resistance case! They are dust proof at best. Expect perspiration to seep in as moisture, especially on hot and humid days. If your precious timepiece belong to those era, do limit it for occasional use at ballroom. After all, they are meant as heirloom, not really for boardroom, and definitely not for the bathroom.

Even with all due care considered, it is advisable to service a mechanical time piece every 3 to 5 years with the authorized dealer or any reputable workshop (e.g. www.horolab.com in Singapore); as seals hardens, lubrication degrades/dries up and dust invades, they ran the risk of water seepage, component wear and inaccuracy at the very least. If you speculate that something is already broken within, do not despair, the watch makers can probably replace or repair any renown movement to its original glory.

Without getting too much into the technicalities, I hope you'll find my simple sharing useful. It is my wish that non of you have to go through the heart wrenching experience of seeing a treasured timepiece demise like my first love...

A Celebration of Friendship

There is just this thing about watches. As an inanimate object with the sole purpose of telling the passing of time, many of us actually use it consciously or subconsciously as a tool to freeze time; a moment in time that is worth capturing, a celebration of an event that is worth celebrating. It is often put to fulfill the purpose that a photo alone is inadequate. 

I know of 3 ladies, colleagues and ex-colleagues of mine, who share sisterly love that touches the heart. They used to be in the same working team many years back, but due to job movement, personal pursues and changing circumstances, all went on separate ways. 1 of them left the company, and 1 of them got married and settled in another country. Though distance separates them, it did not deter them from constantly keeping in touch (as in physically in touch, and not electronically) with each others' life. Be it for joy or grief, laughter or despair, they have always avail themselves for each other and their families. I couldn't and wouldn't be able to give detailed encounter of what goes behind their friendship, but from those occasional Facebook post I've seen, I can definitely tell that they have been though thick and thin, and their ties run beyond skin deep.

I believe it was 1 of their birthdays recently, one of them must have suggested a memento to capture the essence of their bonding.

What could be better than 3 identical watches? A perfect color combination that signifies their time through the wilderness and found friendship in gold.

First love that lasted 3 years

Perhaps I was a natural left hander at birth, I put the watch on my right wrist the first few times I wore it. It was (and probably still is to some) an Asian culture that we must write and eat with our right hand; I was being forced to wear the watch on my left wrist. It was uneasy for me initially, but I got used to it after a while, and my relationship with the mickey mouse watch lasted for 3 years.

It wasn't because I fell out of love with it after the "pain" I was put through wearing it, nor have I forgotten the love of my father sent ticking in it. I loved it dearly for a good 3 years, wearing it as often as I can, until it stopped moving. As a 7 year old, I didn't know a mechanical manual winding piece, without a slip mechanism protecting the main spring would actually be damaged by winding beyond full tension. As a 7 year old, I wouldn't have guessed the difference between dust proof, waterproof and water resistance too. There isn't internet nor Google back then! My heart sunk when its heartbeat stopped, no matter how hard I tried defibrillating it with my eager thumb and index finger twists, the ticking sound never did revive. Seeing no signs of recovery, I ran to my father who later certified its passing. I can see the sadness in his eyes, not because of the lost of a physical item that he spent a fortune on, but the tear he witnessed welling in the eyes of his beloved son...

The Big Bang

I love to tell stories. Whenever I have the opportunity, I’ll share my experiences, my opinion about things, or simply chatter on and on about my passions. My audiences are limited to my lunch kakis at work, close friends at gatherings, and my family. Maybe they are sick of my stories, hoping that I can stop blabbering by diverting my attention to someone (or something) else; I am recently being encouraged to write a blog; a place where I can talk even when there is no audience. What a brilliant idea! Yes, I love to tell stories, but typing stories? That takes too much time and effort, so I thought.

So what makes me take the first step of writing? Love, the love of sharing, and the love for people. Through sharing, I hope I can make someone’s life better by not having to go through the mistakes I’ve made. Through sharing, I hope readers can have another perspective of things. Through sharing, I hope others will be inspired to start sharing. Because, it is through sharing that relationships grow, and it is through sharing, that mankind evolves to who we are today.

Being an engineer by training and profession, I favor things that are a little more organized and systematic. I’m not inclined to talking gibberish and random sharing. Been thinking if I want a platform to share my life experiences, something I find pure joy in, what would that be? Watches!

You may wonder how watches can be a good platform to share life experiences. A timepiece, no matter what complication goes into it, is just a piece of equipment that does nothing more than telling time, and at best, derivatives of it. Follow me closely, you might be convinced how intertwined they are with love, life, and perhaps, everything about life in general.

I’m obsessed with watches, and for the longest time, I didn’t wonder why so. Maybe because of my technical inclination, the ‘engine’ within constantly intrigues me. But it is not just about the gear trains, as I love the digital pieces dearly as well. Those LCD and/or stepping hands motion with static electronics within doesn’t bored me at all. There are just things about watches that send butterflies into my stomach. If it is not about the mechanics, not just about their design, innovations and materials, then what is it that I’m so in love with them all my life? As I dig deeper into my early life, recalling the first watch I every received, I probably know why.

I came from a very humble family. My father works at a hardware store, while my mom is a stay home housewife. We stayed in a 2-room flat where luxury is a meal as a family at hawker centers. Most of the time, it is humble home cook food. Though there were not many luxuries in life, my parents never failed to provide for my sisters and I with everything we needed, especially in the areas of education and nutrition. I still remember my father; a 90lb gentleman back then, made a bet with his colleagues to finish 30 rice cakes (水果, and they were huge back then). My father surprised all and bagged the S$10 winnings. He used the entire sum to buy my sister a toy doll.

Seeing little children celebrating their birthdays at MacDonald's, I get my first taste of it only when I reached secondary school, and that is because I didn’t have to pay for it. One of my friends posed a challenge on me; whoever finishes a burger first will pay for all the food. The catch is, I was to eat a BIG mac, while he eats a cheeseburger. I didn’t have the money to pay, I have to win. I finished the BIG mac before my friend finishes half his cheeseburger. Guess I got the genes from my father, and I’m sure you get a flavor of my humble beginning.

I don’t remember the occasion exactly, but I remember vividly what happened that weekend. My parents, after our lunch at People’s Park Complex Food Center, brought my sisters and I to this watch shop on the 3^rd floor called ‘Ho Seng Cheong Clock and Watches Store’, which is still in existence today!

Besides the family owned business having the same surname as myself, what makes me remember this shop is because my father bought me my first watch there. It was a mechanical manual winding ‘mickey mouse’ watch with mickey’s hands as hour and minute hands.

Imagine the joy of a 4 year old having the 1^st watch of his life; with his favorite cartoon character on the dial, it was the happiest moment as far back as I can remember. With 3 watches, each for my sisters and I costing more than a third of my father’s pay cheque back then, it’s not cheap in my family’s context. More than the desired physical item I got; the love I felt as a child was immeasurable. That moment, that very moment, perhaps is when I started my love for watches; a journey on watches of love…