doug sinclair
09-13-2000, 12:49 AM
Guido,
In all my years of repairing (50) and collecting (20) watches, I have only ever seen one watch that had a stop-work mechanism on the rotor, and that was a Gruen. That was many years ago and I do not remember what caliber the movement was. Generally though, you might say that automatic-wind watches are fitted with a clutch on the mainspring which allows the rotor (weight) to keep on going through the motions without harming the watch after the mainspring becomes fully wound.
As to your other question re: does your watch require servicing because the rotor stops after a while- only an examination of the watch would reveal that. However, if the watch performs to your expectations and its performance standard is close to what it would have been when it was new, there can't be anything too serious wrong with it. And, if it runs for up to about 40-48 hours when removed from the wrist or winder, the automatic winding seems to work ok. Some of the full-rotor Eta calibers from the '50s had auto-wind systems that were a tad sluggish even when new, but I suspect we are talking a modern watch in the case of yours.
Regards,
Doug S.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
083914
------------------
In all my years of repairing (50) and collecting (20) watches, I have only ever seen one watch that had a stop-work mechanism on the rotor, and that was a Gruen. That was many years ago and I do not remember what caliber the movement was. Generally though, you might say that automatic-wind watches are fitted with a clutch on the mainspring which allows the rotor (weight) to keep on going through the motions without harming the watch after the mainspring becomes fully wound.
As to your other question re: does your watch require servicing because the rotor stops after a while- only an examination of the watch would reveal that. However, if the watch performs to your expectations and its performance standard is close to what it would have been when it was new, there can't be anything too serious wrong with it. And, if it runs for up to about 40-48 hours when removed from the wrist or winder, the automatic winding seems to work ok. Some of the full-rotor Eta calibers from the '50s had auto-wind systems that were a tad sluggish even when new, but I suspect we are talking a modern watch in the case of yours.
Regards,
Doug S.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
083914
------------------