Stick... is the man.

Very cool!!!! That’s good stuff right there.

Lots of excellent info in this thread so far. One very important point I forgot to mention is the danger zone on automatic watches. No it isn’t where Tom Cruise flys jets for the USN.

The danger zone of watch setting is between the hours of 9pm and 3am. It can vary depending on the movement but it is typically between those hours. During this time the gears are in movement to switch the date. If the date window is misaligned, you may begin to see the date change early or even after midnight rather than right when the watch hits 12am.

What does this mean? It means the quick set or first position/click you feel as you pull the crown out to adjust the day/date could be damaged if you try to adjust it during the hours where it is moving over to the next day.

What do I do to make sure I don’t change my watch during the danger zone? I always pull the crown out fully (two clicks on most Seiko and Tissot divers) you can check this because the second hand will stop on watches with hacking. I then will advance the time forward so I can figure out if the watch is in the am or pm. I will then set the time to between 5-6 o’clock it doesn’t matter if it’s am or pm at this time for the quick set. Then I advance the day and date to the day before today. I then pull the crown fully and advance the time to the current time. This method sounds complicated at first but it really isn’t. It’s just a technique I use to make sure I don’t get into the habit of using the quickset without having already adjusted the watch out of the danger zone.

I killed the quickset on a vintage Seiko before I knew about the danger zone. Hopefully someone here can benefit from my hard learned lesson.

Thanks for the tip! Valuable info. I wonder if stuff like this is included in user manuals. If not, seems like it should be. I'm not sure how an average person would ever know this unless documented.

Is this only applicable for automatic mech watches? Or applies to quartz watches too? If latter, I wonder if this may be the cause of some of my watches failing in the past.

Copied for future reference

Yeah, it’s unique to automatic watches. I don’t believe quartz watches have the same issue. Depending on the brand or the person selling the watch the warning about the danger zone can be either buried in the instruction manual or attached to the watch via a sticker or tag to make sure it gets your attention or included in a card on top of the watch when you open the box.

There is a micro brand I adore called Helm and they include a little card with warnings about what not to do with your watch. They warn you about the danger zone, tell you not to shower with an automatic watch (I think this is overhyped but still good advice) and how to best care for your new (and hard as hell to get) Helm. They give you reasons why showering with an automatic watch could harm the watch to the point that some liken the little warning card and that section of it to being read the riot act.

Helm is interesting, those guys took Rolex’s business model of under producing to meet demand and ran with it. You will often see their watch for sale at a higher price used than new, this is incredibly rare with micro brands. Why? Because you can’t just buy a new one from Hell, they sell out in minutes when watch fans get the email notification that some will be available.

Just wanted to add that if the OP wants to gain a great deal of useful knowledge, check out Long Island Watch's You Tube series "Watch and Learn." These are a series of instructional videos that cover the ins and outs of watches. There's even an episode on the "danger zone."

I've had a Seiko Diver 150 since May 1978.

I've also had what is now called an Arnie since May of 1985.

Both still keep as near as I can tell perfect time - to me that means that when I reset it after not wearing it for a while and the Summer/Fall time change occurs, there might be a three or four few seconds difference.

Not ANY of my clockwork watches are anything like as accurate.

Interesting. Thanks! I've been showing and swimming with all my watches. So, I'll have to learn more about what not to do with an auto. No showers is not intuitive.

I'll look for the watch/learn video. Thx. Seems like I have much to learn.

OTOH, if you want a watch that will likely last longer than the Rockies, I suggest you take a look at the quartz offerings from Marathon. I figure that it they are good enough for the US and Canuckian SAR guys, then it would probably be good enough for me.

I used my J-SAR last year to put down a crippled cow when the vet couldn't turn out.

Just kidding, but it's sure one big hunk of a timepiece.

I have a Hamilton quartz that I set sometime last year. I have an automatic version of the same watch and it finds its way onto my wrist every week or so. The soulless and boring quartz is still keeping stupid good time, I checked it a few days ago when I found it laying forgotten and neglected under a pile of nato straps. Quartz keeps stupid good time but provides me no joy of ownership.

My uncle’s Seiko SKX is probably the definitive argument against any battery powered watch. That watch has provided nearly two decades of timekeeping without any service and with fantastic accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
I have a Hamilton quartz that I set sometime last year. I have an automatic version of the same watch and it finds its way onto my wrist every week or so. The soulless and boring quartz is still keeping stupid good time, I checked it a few days ago when I found it laying forgotten and neglected under a pile of nato straps. Quartz keeps stupid good time but provides me no joy of ownership.

My uncle’s Seiko SKX is probably the definitive argument against any battery powered watch. That watch has provided nearly two decades of timekeeping without any service and with fantastic accuracy.

My Seiko Black Monster has been going strong now for over 17 years with no service! Accuracy though is subjective. It is okay but not nearly as good as some of my quartz watches.

quote:

Originally posted by Ogie:
My Seiko Black Monster

Get some pics and post 'em over here!

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

quote:

Originally posted by Ogie:
My Seiko Black Monster

Get some pics and post 'em over here!

Sorry, I don't do pics.