How to Avoid Watch Damage

Watches are an essential part of many people’s life. They are useful, classic, and a great statement in any outfit. The last thing anyone wants is a damaged watch. If your watch can’t tell the time properly or fully breaks, it becomes useless. Especially for those who may own expensive watches, or own a watch of sentimental value, knowing how to avoid watch damage is essential.

 But what are the steps you can take to ensure your watch is protected? And what dangers should you be looking out for as a watch owner? The answers are simple…

How to Avoid Watch Damage

 Keep the Watch Away From Water

 Some watches are water-resistant, but most aren’t. If water gets into a watch, it can cause all kinds of problems. For example, water can wear down the small parts inside and cause them to expand if rust begins to grow. Water can also ruin the strap if it is leather or other water damageable materials.

 If your watch sustains water damage, you have a few options. You can leave it to dry and hope for the best or take it to a professional to repair.

 However, to avoid water damage in the first place, take certain precautions, like taking your watch off before washing your hands or the dishes, taking it off before you go to the pool or the seal, and, under no circumstances, wear it in the shower.

 Store Your Watch Properly

 When you aren’t wearing your watch, you need to keep it stored properly to ensure its safety. The best thing you can do is to store the watch in the box it came in. As an extra help, you should also keep the proof of purchase in the box, just in case it includes a free service from the watch manufacturer.

 The box the watch arrived in will have been specifically designed to keep the box safe, so you know it will be safe from damage when storing the watch in there. However, a watch shouldn’t be stored on its side, as it may incur scratches. Therefore, be careful putting the watch away, even if it is inside the box. It should be kept watch face up, even if you are putting it away long-term.

 When you aren’t wearing your watch, just storing it, it can help the watches’ health to put it on a Watch Winder. This is only for watches that have automatic movement. Watch Winders will keep your watch running, even if you aren’t wearing it all the time.

Regulate its Temperature

 An easy way to get watch damage is by storing it incorrectly. Watches can become damaged when exposed to extreme heat or extreme cold, so keeping your watch in a properly temperature place is essential. The danger is that, when exposed to extreme temperatures, damage can be incurred to the movement and gaskets. Plus, if your watch moves from one extreme temperature to another, parts of the watch can expand and contract, causing damage as water vapor can enter parts of the watch that need to be kept dry. Extreme heat can dry out the lubricant or cause friction on the gears of your watch.

 To combat this, keep your watch at room temperature. If you find yourself unavoidably going into a location with extreme temperature, take your watch to be serviced to check your gaskets have a tight seal. This should protect your watch from these dangers.

Keep the Watch Away from Magnets

 Magnets and magnetic fields are dangerous for watches. They can cause damage by causing the escapement to act erratically. The escapement keeps proper timing in a watch by regulating oscillations. If your watch sustains this damage, it won’t be able to keep time correctly – destroying the sole purpose of the watch.

 Don’t leave your watch on a speaker, radio, or other electrical devices to avoid this damage. This includes phones and tablets.

 Some watches are specifically designed to be safe around magnetic fields. These watches should have a Gauss rating. Look out for the rating to know it is safe.

 Never Open Your Watch Yourself

 You may think you can open your own watch without problems, but you should avoid doing this at all costs. A watch should only ever be opened by a watchmaker. When you open your watch, you are inviting in dust, dirt, and other problematic particles that can get into your watch and stop it from working properly. The other risk is that you may be voiding your warranty. The best thing to do is to keep the case closed.

Watch Damage: What to Do if It Happens

If your watch becomes damaged, you can try and fix it yourself or seek a professional watch repair. To try and trouble shoot the issues yourself, you can check our aticles on how to fix common problems with the 3 most popular movements:

• Automatic watch troubleshooting
• Mechanical watch troubleshooting
• Quartz watch troubleshooting

Authorized vs Unauthorized Repairs

If you have watch damage, you can consider a repair at a local shop or an authorized service center for your brand. A local repair often constitutes as an unauthorized repair according to most manufacturer warranties. The only place to get an authorized repair is at a place deemed by the brand to be a service center.

There a trained technician can inspect the timepeice, assess the damage, and determine if the warranty covers it. This process invloves proving your purchase date of the watch and mailing the watch to them.

If your warranty is already expired you can take the watch to a local repair shop, since the issues won’t be covered anyway. For a high end luxury watch, you may want to call your authorized service center anyway to do the work. They are trained on your model of watch and will guarantee their repairs for a set timeperiod once it is complete.

How to Avoid Watch Damage – Conclusion

If you own a high end timepiece then it’s critical to protect it and avoid watch damage. If you want the watch to hold it’s value then you need to consider servicing it regularly and keeping up the routine care. Even a quartz watch that sits in a box could take on damage if the battery is left in and it leaks. So when it come to ways to avoid watch damage, it’s not just about being careful, but about preventative maintenance.