When our watches break down and need to be repaired, it usually costs a considerable amount of money and takes a relatively long time to repair. For this reason, we have always emphasized the importance of avoiding damage to our watches as much as possible in our daily lives.

Of course, in addition to behaviors such as intentional dropping and hitting,TUDOR Black Bay M7941A1A0RU-0003 we are going to discuss today five hidden situations in daily life that can lead to watch damage in an unintentional state.

1. Adjusting the date, day of the week or other complications/functions at the wrong time

The vast majority of watch calendar malfunctions are caused by operational errors, mainly due to the conflict between manual quick adjustments and mechanical operations. We know that mechanical watches rely on the gear train inside the center of the watch to mesh, and when the time on the watch is between 10:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m., the toggle head in the calendar mechanism is right in the gap between the teeth of the calendar ring.TUDOR Ranger M79950-0001 If the calendar is adjusted with a quick-dial during this time, the rotation of the calendar ring will be impeded by the toggle head, resulting in damage to the gear train parts. For this reason, the calendar should not be adjusted during this period of time, as this will result in misalignment of the calendar.

The most common result is that the dates in the calendar window are not aligned, and there may also be broken parts debris floating down the center of the machine.

A simple rule of thumb before adjusting complications is to place the hour hand in the lower half of the dial, preferably at 5, 6 and 7 o'clock. This ensures that the mechanical watch is out of the "dangerous time zone" or waits for this time before making adjustments. 2.

2. Always press back or tighten the crown after winding or adjusting the time.

The screw-down crown on a watch, commonly found on dive and sports watch models, helps increase the water resistance rating by securing the crown crown crown stem snugly in a sealing gasket. Watches with screw-in crowns must be properly screwed back in after winding or setting the time. This ensures a watertight seal in the watch case.

If the crown is forgotten to be returned to its original position, or if it is slightly out of place when screwed back in, the crown's handle and the crown's threads may allow the intrusion of moist air and liquids and cause permanent damage to the core.

For your own mechanical watch, the first thing to be clear about is whether it is a push or screw-in crown. Some watch enthusiasts may have more than one watch, and formal watches usually have pressed crowns. When wearing a formal watch after getting used to it, and occasionally wearing a screw-in sports watch, you may habitually press it to end it after setting the time, resulting in water ingress when you wash your hands slightly. Therefore, we must return the crown to its place in the way the watch is designed.

Remember, however, that the crown must not be screwed in too tightly, either by screwing it in or unscrewing it. You need to stop the operation when the crown cannot be unscrewed. Otherwise, frequent over-tightening of the crown may result in deformation of the crown center.

In addition, it is forbidden to operate the crown under water. Of course, we also want to remind everyone to pay attention to our watches can't be operated for a long time in a humid environment or forget to return the crown. Like friends in the south may be aware of the rainy season back to the south, if the crown is not returned to the position for a long time, resulting in the intrusion of moist air, and then later encountered heat will be formed inside the case of water vapor, which will inevitably cause damage to the core and the dial, the pointer.

In addition, watches with multiple push-button handles such as chronographs should never be operated under water. We have previously encountered an accident in which a watch enthusiast wearing a chronograph pressed the chronograph handle to record the dive time during a dive, which eventually led to the watch entering water. Most chronographs are at least somewhat water resistant. There is no problem with a chronograph pushbutton being waterproof in its normal position, but when the pushbutton is pushed into the case, it can prop open the seal and allow water intrusion, which can cause serious water damage to the watch. Because the parts of the watch's core are small and metal, they can rust easily and the dial and hands can become cause oxidized discoloration. This can be a very expensive repair item.

Therefore, do not use your chronograph underwater! In addition, some watches have screw-in chronograph pushers. If your watch has this feature, make sure they are homed as well.

There are also recessed pushbuttons that require a pin-and-stick tool to operate for usual operation, like annual and perpetual calendars and moon phases. Probably many of us watch collectors don't even know they exist. These case buttons control the adjustment of complications such as the date, day of the week, month, leap year and moon phase. Again, we have to be careful not to operate them under water.

3. Magnetization of watches

In this day and age, magnetic fields are everywhere. Our cell phones, radios, stereo systems, refrigerator doors and even tablet cases and certain handbags, to name a few, are magnetized. Magnetization of watches is a common phenomenon because we live in an environment where there are magnetic fields everywhere, so watches are often magnetized by entering these fields.

The magnetic fields that exist in our daily lives do not pose a real threat to our human lives, but they can affect the timekeeping of our mechanical watches. In a mechanical watch, the most obvious sign of a magnetized escapement is that the magnetism causes the frequency of the oscillation of the balance wheel to change, which in turn alters the speed of the gear train, causing the watch to run out of time. When magnetized, the watch may stop or speed up. The daily error is tens of seconds for mild symptoms and tens of minutes for severe ones. When a watch is magnetized, its magnetism will not recede on its own, and it will require demagnetization repairs to return it to normal.

When this happens, it may cause the watch's escapement to move very erratically or, in rare cases, to jam. A common malfunction is that the balance spring will stick together instead of rotating freely when it is magnetized, resulting in accelerated or stopped movement.

Be careful where you place your watch in general. As far away as possible from electronic devices with magnets, such as refrigerator doors, automatic mahjong machines, stereos, and magnetic clasps on bags, to name a few. One of our users previously shared with us that he always thought that the magnetic force of commonly used electronic devices like cell phones and iPads was not that strong. But one day he realized that his mechanical watch had been magnetized after all, and after careful investigation, he found that his iPad case with a magnetized magnet clasp might be the root cause of the accident.

4. The attack of chemical substances in daily life on watches

In our life, we will come into contact with a variety of chemical substances, such as high acid with corrosive disinfectant, aqueous alkali and industrial salt. Common alcohol, paint, cosmetics, sprays, pesticides, and water solvents of medicines may cause damage to the appearance of watches. For example, perfume may cause rust spots on the appearance of the metal case; make-up remover may accelerate the aging away of the watch's rubber strap, and so on. Strongly acidic chemicals can also cause the plating of our watches to delaminate, as many watches are plated for the sake of a smooth case surface.

5. Watches are afraid of severe vibrations and shocks

Try not to wear your watch when participating in strenuous activities or sports. Because of the small parts of the mechanical watch's core, there is a limit to preventing shocks by relying only on the shock absorber's shockproof performance. The super strong impact will cause the dislocation or breakage of the center parts. In addition, the hairspring in the mechanical watch is extremely susceptible to deformation and damage by violent vibration, and although the quartz watch does not have the pendulum tip, hairspring and other fragile parts, the large impact will also cause damage to the electronic components, affecting the use of the watch. The appearance of the material can also be damaged by external forces, such as fragile ceramics, glass mirrors and so on. Although these materials are hard and wear-resistant, they can break under sudden fall or impact.

In short, in our daily life, we should pay attention to avoiding the above five hidden situations causing damage to our watches. Only by using and maintaining the watch correctly can we prolong its service life and keep it in good working condition.