New Owner - Few Basic Questions

[puma1552]

Did a search but found kind of sparse information, hopefully these questions help not only myself but other people as well. Just bought my first Rolex, a reference 126200 36mm Datejust with the 3235 movement and have a few questions:

1) I wear my watch a little loose, such that it's common for me to moderately flick my wrist back and forth a few times to reposition it here and there. I know these have Paraflex shock absorbers, but is this ok to do without harming the watch, or do I need to be very gentle in doing so?

2) When the watch is totally dead, do you always wind it fully (~40 turns) or do you tend to just do ~25 turns (per the Rolex guide for initial start) and then wear it and let wearing it wind it the rest of the way? Basically, best practice as far as full wind vs. partial wind?

3) If you know you're near the end of the power reserve, but it's still ticking and perhaps you'll wear it for a couple hours here and there over the next day or two such that you know it's probably "sputtering" along just maintaining at the low end of the power reserve, do you ever just go ahead and wind it fully? In other words, do you ever wind a watch that is running?

4) Do we have a good understanding of just how much winding is accomplished with wearing, e.g. does it actually take very little movement to wind it back up quite a bit, or does it take quite a bit of wrist movement to wind it up an appreciable amount?

5) How many seals for water resistance are there at the crown? Guessing this is movement specific as opposed to model specific, but not sure.

Thanks.

[Jack T]

Others more knowledgeable than me will weigh in, but I don’t think a little wangle of the wrist to reposition will be harmful, at least I hope not, I do it all the time!!

I tend to wind it 48 turns of the crown from a dead stop (I always do such things in multiples of 4; yes, a bit OCD)
I’ve always wondered if the watch will wind itself fully from a partial wind during a full day’s wear, or if it just maintains the level you stopped at. Someone here may confirm.

And I will often give the watch a wind regardless of where it is on the power reserve curve.

The seals, I think they may vary between two and three depending on if it’s a diver, a DJ or another sports watch. There are two or three indicators on the crown itself.

Enjoy your watch, a DateJust is such a versatile piece.

[JC316]

Originally Posted by puma1552

Did a search but found kind of sparse information, hopefully these questions help not only myself but other people as well. Just bought my first Rolex, a reference 126200 36mm Datejust with the 3235 movement and have a few questions:

1) I wear my watch a little loose, such that it's common for me to moderately flick my wrist back and forth a few times to reposition it here and there. I know these have Paraflex shock absorbers, but is this ok to do without harming the watch, or do I need to be very gentle in doing so?

2) When the watch is totally dead, do you always wind it fully (~40 turns) or do you tend to just do ~25 turns (per the Rolex guide for initial start) and then wear it and let wearing it wind it the rest of the way? Basically, best practice as far as full wind vs. partial wind?

3) If you know you're near the end of the power reserve, but it's still ticking and perhaps you'll wear it for a couple hours here and there over the next day or two such that you know it's probably "sputtering" along just maintaining at the low end of the power reserve, do you ever just go ahead and wind it fully? In other words, do you ever wind a watch that is running?

4) Do we have a good understanding of just how much winding is accomplished with wearing, e.g. does it actually take very little movement to wind it back up quite a bit, or does it take quite a bit of wrist movement to wind it up an appreciable amount?

5) How many seals for water resistance are there at the crown? Guessing this is movement specific as opposed to model specific, but not sure.

Thanks.

1. Yes, it's fine. Enjoy it!

2. No need to wind it fully unless that's what you want to do. 25 minimum, though.

3. No, I personally do not. It's up to you.

4. As long as you're not sitting on the couch all day, it will get the winds it needs to keep going.

5. I believe it's 2, but someone will chime in if I'm wrong.

[Tools]

1. Wear it so it is comfortable to you. Paraflex is a Rolex term as almost all modern watches have some sort of shock resistant system, but this system is for hard knocks to keep from breaking delicate parts, it is not a floating shock absorber like a car would have.

2. You should always wind a totally dead watch before you put it on. How much is up to you, but I usually wind it all the way. How do you know that your wearing it will wind it fully?

3. A watch is most accurate in the upper curve of its power wind. Letting it sputter along will yield poor performance.

4. It takes about 650 winds of the internal rotor just to keep a watch static (power used equals power in), anything less and the watch will run down, more and the watch will add reserve. Most folks do not put enough power reserve daily to wind-it-up, but put in enough to keep it wound with around 20 to 30 hours of reserve.

5. The crown is overengineered and crown type specific, not movement specific. A Triploc crown has 3 o-rings around the stem, 1 around the tube visible under the threads, and one inside the crown to seal against the top of the tube - hence, Trip-loc: stem, tube, crown seals.

A Twin-lock does not have the o-ring seal on the tube (hence twin), and uses 2 o-rings on the stem.

Contrary to watch-lore, the crown/tube is not the most likely spot your watch may leak, there are also seals at the case back and under the crystal that have no redundant features.

[KatGirl]

Originally Posted by Tools

1. Wear it so it is comfortable to you. Paraflex is a Rolex term as almost all modern watches have some sort of shock resistant system, but this system is for hard knocks to keep from breaking delicate parts, it is not a floating shock absorber like a car would have.

2. You should always wind a totally dead watch before you put it on. How much is up to you, but I usually wind it all the way. How do you know that your wearing it will wind it fully?

3. A watch is most accurate in the upper curve of its power wind. Letting it sputter along will yield poor performance.

4. It takes about 650 winds of the internal rotor just to keep a watch static (power used equals power in), anything less and the watch will run down, more and the watch will add reserve. Most folks do not put enough power reserve daily to wind-it-up, but put in enough to keep it wound with around 20 to 30 hours of reserve.

5. The crown is overengineered and crown type specific, not movement specific. A Triploc crown has 3 o-rings around the stem, 1 around the tube visible under the threads, and one inside the crown to seal against the top of the tube - hence, Trip-loc: stem, tube, crown seals.

A Twin-lock does not have the o-ring seal on the tube (hence twin), and uses 2 o-rings on the stem.

Contrary to watch-lore, the crown/tube is not the most likely spot your watch may leak, there are also seals at the case back and under the crystal that have no redundant features.

Above is good info.
I have a brand new OP. I wind mine about 50 or 60 full turns of the crown. As long as you are a normally active person, the watch is self winding, as you go about your day. When I put mine back on, after leaving it for 2 days, it is still keeping time, as advertised. These are robust watches. I have already smacked it hard, into something, accidentally, and it’s fine. You don’t need to baby it. Wear and enjoy!

Kat


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[Robf52]

Originally Posted by KatGirl

Above is good info.
I have a brand new OP. I wind mine about 50 or 60 full turns of the crown. As long as you are a normally active person, the watch is self winding, as you go about your day. When I put mine back on, after leaving it for 2 days, it is still keeping time, as advertised. These are robust watches. I have already smacked it hard, into something, accidentally, and it’s fine. You don’t need to baby it. Wear and enjoy!

Exactly! Wear and enjoy!

[Rolexken]

Just wear the watch !!! I find these questions ridiculous when I am of the age where I grew up in the pre quartz age and did everything a young boy does wearing a cheap Timex or ingersoll watch. Modern Rolex watches can take everything you can do no problems.

[puma1552]

Originally Posted by Rolexken

Just wear the watch !!! I find these questions ridiculous when I am of the age where I grew up in the pre quartz age and did everything a young boy does wearing a cheap Timex or ingersoll watch. Modern Rolex watches can take everything you can do no problems.

I don't think it's "ridiculous" to seek to understand best practices for a complicated, very expensive product. Is it robust? Sure. Will it last a long time regardless? Sure. But neither of those negate the willingness to better learn and understand the expensive mechanical device on my wrist and the best practices to care for it. FYI, I've been wearing a dastardly quartz watch on my wrist day in, day out, for the last 17 years, so yeah, I'd like to learn a bit about my Rolex because I bought it to enjoy and understand, not to flex on Instagram.

To the others, thank you very much - I think my questions have been answered sufficiently. Hope this helps someone else looking to learn when they get their first Rolex as well.

[Normunds]

Originally Posted by puma1552

I don't think it's "ridiculous" to seek to understand best practices for a complicated, very expensive product. Is it robust? Sure. Will it last a long time regardless? Sure. But neither of those negate the willingness to better learn and understand the expensive mechanical device on my wrist and the best practices to care for it. FYI, I've been wearing a dastardly quartz watch on my wrist day in, day out, for the last 17 years, so yeah, I'd like to learn a bit about my Rolex because I bought it to enjoy and understand, not to flex on Instagram.

To the others, thank you very much - I think my questions have been answered sufficiently. Hope this helps someone else looking to learn when they get their first Rolex as well.

It’s just a wristwatch. Made in millions per year. It doesn’t have magical powers. You don’t wear Rolex watch any differently than seiko, tissot or lange.

[2thdock]

Helped me. Thanks. Enjoy your new watch!I know I am.

[S’portEye]

Nothing wrong with the questions. Relax and enjoy your new watch!

[fskywalker]

Originally Posted by puma1552

I don't think it's "ridiculous" to seek to understand best practices for a complicated, very expensive product. Is it robust? Sure. Will it last a long time regardless? Sure. But neither of those negate the willingness to better learn and understand the expensive mechanical device on my wrist and the best practices to care for it. FYI, I've been wearing a dastardly quartz watch on my wrist day in, day out, for the last 17 years, so yeah, I'd like to learn a bit about my Rolex because I bought it to enjoy and understand, not to flex on Instagram.

To the others, thank you very much - I think my questions have been answered sufficiently. Hope this helps someone else looking to learn when they get their first Rolex as well.

IMHO there are no ridiculous questions OP, we’re all here to learn from others and share our wisdom when he can!

Originally Posted by Tools

1. Wear it so it is comfortable to you. Paraflex is a Rolex term as almost all modern watches have some sort of shock resistant system, but this system is for hard knocks to keep from breaking delicate parts, it is not a floating shock absorber like a car would have.

2. You should always wind a totally dead watch before you put it on. How much is up to you, but I usually wind it all the way. How do you know that your wearing it will wind it fully?

3. A watch is most accurate in the upper curve of its power wind. Letting it sputter along will yield poor performance.

4. It takes about 650 winds of the internal rotor just to keep a watch static (power used equals power in), anything less and the watch will run down, more and the watch will add reserve. Most folks do not put enough power reserve daily to wind-it-up, but put in enough to keep it wound with around 20 to 30 hours of reserve.

5. The crown is overengineered and crown type specific, not movement specific. A Triploc crown has 3 o-rings around the stem, 1 around the tube visible under the threads, and one inside the crown to seal against the top of the tube - hence, Trip-loc: stem, tube, crown seals.

A Twin-lock does not have the o-ring seal on the tube (hence twin), and uses 2 o-rings on the stem.

Contrary to watch-lore, the crown/tube is not the most likely spot your watch may leak, there are also seals at the case back and under the crystal that have no redundant features.

Thanks for sharing!


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[puma1552]

Originally Posted by Jack T

The seals, I think they may vary between two and three depending on if it’s a diver, a DJ or another sports watch. There are two or three indicators on the crown itself.

I found a quick article discussing this:

https://www.bobswatches.com/rolex-bl...ifference.html

"The Twinlock winding crown is now used on a number of Rolex watches and is marked with two dots under the coronet on gold models, one dot for platinum models, and a bar on steel models. However, these markings are only relevant to current Rolex models. Older Rolex models had a bar for yellow gold as well as steel models and two dots for white gold ones."

Very cool, I have a steel watch with a bar under the coronet on the crown, so I have a Twinlock. Had no idea whatsoever that the bar under the coronet had a functional meaning.

[jbglx]

How many times wind the crown when the watch is "totally dead", ... until it ticks again .

[bluestreak]

Originally Posted by Normunds

It’s just a wristwatch. Made in millions per year. It doesn’t have magical powers. You don’t wear Rolex watch any differently than seiko, tissot or lange.

But these questions would still apply to a Seiko, Tissot or Lange.
One of the coolest parts of a mechanical watch is its ability to keep time with no electronic components. It only makes sense to want to understand the inner workings of the watch.

It’s amazing how little intellectual curiosity some folks have.

There’s always somebody who feels the need to pee in someone’s cornflakes.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by jbglx

How many times wind the crown when the watch is "totally dead", ... until it ticks again .

I find it varies. Some of my 32xx take about 20 turns. My 3130 takes about 15.

My 321 Omega starts after just a few, but it’s a manual wind

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Tools

1. Wear it so it is comfortable to you. Paraflex is a Rolex term as almost all modern watches have some sort of shock resistant system, but this system is for hard knocks to keep from breaking delicate parts, it is not a floating shock absorber like a car would have.

2. You should always wind a totally dead watch before you put it on. How much is up to you, but I usually wind it all the way. How do you know that your wearing it will wind it fully?

3. A watch is most accurate in the upper curve of its power wind. Letting it sputter along will yield poor performance.

4. It takes about 650 winds of the internal rotor just to keep a watch static (power used equals power in), anything less and the watch will run down, more and the watch will add reserve. Most folks do not put enough power reserve daily to wind-it-up, but put in enough to keep it wound with around 20 to 30 hours of reserve.

5. The crown is overengineered and crown type specific, not movement specific. A Triploc crown has 3 o-rings around the stem, 1 around the tube visible under the threads, and one inside the crown to seal against the top of the tube - hence, Trip-loc: stem, tube, crown seals.

A Twin-lock does not have the o-ring seal on the tube (hence twin), and uses 2 o-rings on the stem.

Contrary to watch-lore, the crown/tube is not the most likely spot your watch may leak, there are also seals at the case back and under the crystal that have no redundant features.

Have to agree with Larry and will add you cannot overwind as when mainspring is fully wound its just slips in the spring barrel just like it would do on the wrist.