Important Tips on Caring for your Luxury Watch.

This gorgeous Art Deco Concord La Scala shimmering with diamonds makes a marvelous piece of jewelry; however unlike jewelry which needs an occasional shine and tender care, your luxury watch needs some serious maintenance. In this aspect a luxury watch with all its intricate workings You will increase your Luxury Watches longevity and maintain its condition providing you with a new watch, every day.

A Watch is comprised of many different parts that need to be cared for in different ways. The part of the watch that bares most of the brunt of everyday wear and tear is the Watch Crystal (the transparent cover on your watch face) and requires care. The Sapphire Crystal is an extremely hard material - 9 on the Moh Scale and is scratch resistant to most materials. Click here to learn more about Sapphire crystal.

Caring for your Watch Crystal
1. Wrap your Luxury watch in a soft cloth before placing it on a hard surface such as your granite kitchen counter.

2. Whenever possible, store your Luxury Watch in its original box.

3. Do not store your Luxury Watch with your other jewelry. Diamonds are harder than Sapphire Crystal and can scratch the surface.

4. Avoid wearing your Watch during high risk activity such as moving heavy equipment or Sports such as Rock Climbing. (Some Sports Watches are crafted for this type of activity. Make sure your Watch is designed for those activities.)

5. Avoid wearing other jewelry on the same wrist as the constant rubbing may cause abrasions to your Watch.

6. Avoid inadvertently scraping you watch against corridor walls or on furniture. Some man made materials used to make simulated stone surfaces for furniture and walls comprise of incorporated silicon carbide which is a very hard material and can scratch most Watch Crystals.

Although your watch is Sapphire Crystal, thereby making it Scratch Resistance, it is not Scratch Proof. (Read my post entitled "What makes my Watch Scratch Resistant?" to completely understand the concept.)

Caring for your Watch Bracelet:

Whether your Watch Bracelet is stainless steel, gold, gold-plated, platinum, titanium, Tungsten Carbide or a combination, the same precautions must be taken as Caring for your Watch Crystal. (above) .

Caring for your Leather Watch Bands:

1. Do not expose your Leather Strap to water. Water causes the leather to become brittle, crack, and eventually break.

2. Do not expose your Watch strap to perfumes and other chemicals; this may degrade the leather.

The length of your watches lifespan is determined by your care, personal wearing habits, and the climate in which you live.


Caring for your Quartz Watch and battery.

1. Do not pull out the stem/crown of your Watch in order to save your Watch battery. You will be harming your watch by exposing its movement to dust and moisture which may cause the Watch movement to malfunction. In addition, pulling out the Watch stem/crown will not save your battery life, it merely disengages the hands from the movement. The movement still runs depleting the battery power.

2.Your Watch Battery is probably a 1.55 volt silver oxide battery. It will probably last 2-5 years depending on the brand, type of watch and movement. Do not attempt to change your watch battery yourself, especially if your Watch is water resistant. Opening the back of the Watch by an unauthorized individual may void the warranty of your watch. This task must be performed by an Authorized Service Center for your Watch Brand or an accomplished watchmaker who will change the battery by performing a detailed process of 27 intricate steps. Listed below are the main steps involved:

• Measurement of the lower working voltage



• Timing test on quartz timer



• Replacement of gaskets and crown if worn down, thereby hampering the watches water resistance.



• Checking proper fit of case back and gasket seat



• Testing the water-resistant models to ensure seal has been reestablished

• Finally cleaning the case and metal bracelet

Quartz watches are powered by the battery and therefore do not need to be wound.

Caring for the movements of your Watch.

1. A loose, chipped or cracked crystal must be replaced immediately to prevent dust from entering the watch movement. Dust is a Watches nightmare. Even a tiny speck of dust can stop your Watch.

2. In the event a watch is only worn on rare occasions, store your Watch in its original box in a dry area to protect it from dust.

3. Regular maintenance is the key for the longevity of your watch. A mechanical movement needs to be serviced every 3-5 years, and a quartz movement at every battery change. Water resistance seals and gaskets can become worn resulting in small open spaces which will allow air, dust and moisture to enter.

Caring for Water Resistancy of your Watch.

1. Do not submerge your Watch in Water even though it states it is water resistant. Watches that are Water Resistance to 30 meters can only withstand minor splashes. No Watch is Water Proof. Some Watches like the Tag Heuer Aquaracer Calibre S. (shown) are Water Resistant to 200 meters; however, although it can used for extreme Water Sports, it is cannot be used for diving.

2. Service your Watch once every 2-3 years to ensure that your watch remains water resistance. Seals and Gaskets may crack and need to be replaced. Water Resistance is not permanent.

3. Do not shower, bathe or swim while wearing your watch. Other agents such as chlorine, steam, soap, mildew, salt water and perfume, may enter the watch. If not cleaned immediately, these agents will over time corrode the gaskets and the seals thereby effecting the watches water resistance as well as allowing dust to enter, damaging the movements of your watch.


There is no substitute for good watch habits. Take care of your Watch and it will keep on ticking.

What makes my luxury watch scratch resistant?

A good question! There is nothing more unsightly than a luxury watch with a huge scratch across the face. Luckily most luxury watch crystals (the transparent cover that protects the watch face) are synthetic sapphire. Sapphire is an impressive No. 9 on the Mohs scale of Hardness. This scale is the preferred method used to rank Gemstones and other minerals according to their hardness. The scale is graded from 1 to 10; 1 being the softest (talc) and 10 being the hardest (diamond)
A fingernail is 2.5 and pure gold, silver and aluminum ranges is a mere 2.5; glass is between 5.5 and 6.5 and emerald is 7.5. Both Ruby and Sapphire tie at No. 9.
The rule of the thumb is that any higher digit on the scale can scratch any lower digit. A diamond can scratch just about anything, whereas talc can be scratched by anything.

Sapphire crystal is therefore one of the hardest materials on the earth, and as a result scratch resistant to any material lower on the Mohs scale. Being a whopping 9 means that the crystal is quite protected .However, before you go about testing the watch yourself, remember that since sapphire crystal is so hard, it is also brittle, and can shatter or chip more easily than some of the other watch crystals like Plexiglas or mineral glass. In addition some man made materials used to make simulated stone surfaces for furniture and walls comprise of incorporated silicon carbide. This material ranges between 9 and 10. The watch wearer should be careful not to scrape the watch against this type of wall or furniture, as this could result in a scratch of the watch crystal.

Although your watch is scratch resistant , it does not mean that the watch crystal is necessary sapphire crystal. Some watch crystals are coated with a hard substance that makes them scratch resistant.

As with any luxury watch, good maintenace and care is part of the longevity of your watch. So if you looking to buy a:

TAG Heuer - Cartier - Movado - Ebel - Concord - Breitling - Audemars Piguet - Corum - IWC - Longines - Omega - Vacheron Constantin

... remember this post.

The power behind your Mechanical Luxury Watch.

• A mechanical watch has one source of power - YOU! What powers you? Coffee perhaps? You may have just rolled out of bed, rubbed your eyes and felt the bedside table in fumbling motions for your luxury watch. You wind it without much thought, but in doing so, you have unleashed a series of remarkable movements that provide the power to your luxury watch.

In turning the knob, you wind the mainspring - the power source in mechanical watches. The mainspring is a spiral spring of metal ribbon coiled around an arbor (the central axle); the inner end of the mainspring is attached to the arbor with small hooks or tabs, and the outer end to the barrel ( a cylindrical box). The mainspring is wound by turning the arbor, but drives the watch movement by the barrel. This ensures that the watch is still being powered during winding. The arbor has a ratchet attached to it, with a click so that the force of the spring will not turn the arbor backwards, and thus unwinding it. Once the arbor is wound it no longer moves. The pull of the stored energy of the mainspring turns the barrel. The barrel has a ring of gear teeth around it. The ring of teeth interlocks with the center wheel pinion and drives the wheel train. In most watches the barrel rotates once every eight hours, thus the 40 hour spring needs five turns to fully unwind.


Some useful facts pertaining to the mainspring of your Luxury Mechanical Watch.

• The Mainspring is wound around the arbor with great force. Disassembling the mainspring without the "know how" could cause the mainspring to suddenly release, causing injury. The mainspring should be 'let down' gently first by holding the winding knob and pulling the click back. This allows the spring to unwind slowly. In general ,the disassembling of any luxury watch, should be done by a watch professional.
• Older watches, such as those made before the 1960, had mainsprings that broke quite frequently. This was due to the constant stress cycles endured by the metal, causing the metal to weaken and then snap. The stress was the strongest directly around the arbor, where there was no space between the coils, this point could quite easily be reached, while winding. Although, metallurgy has improved, broken mainsprings although rare can occur.
  
• Some watches will no longer work when fully wound. This led to many theories of over winding. Over winding is a myth and does not validate the reason for fully wound watches to stop. Winding a watch all the way, does not damage the watch; however, over time the watch movements collect dust and the oil dries up. The dust and oil causes enough friction so the smooth running of the mainspring is hampered, leaving little force for the mainspring to turn until the end of its running period. If the owner continues to wind the watch, without servicing the watch, the friction reaches the flat part of the torque curve and the watch will stop, even though the watch is fully wound.
• Mainsprings can become tired or deformed, and lose some of there force. This will cause the running time between winding to be decreased. At this point your watch needs to be serviced, and your mainspring replaced if necessary.
  
• Power reserve indicator: Some high end watches like the Audemars Piguet Arnold All Stars has an extra dial on the face indicating the amount of power left in the mainspring. Most dials interpret this into amount of remaining hours. A differential gear is crafted within this watch which determines how far the arbor has been turned compared to the barrel.