Knowing how to set your watch may seem like common knowledge, but when you first get into watches, knowing how to set it can be met with some difficulty. For mechanical watches, it may be a bit tricky at first, but, just like a bike, when you learn it once, you won’t ever forget it. Not all watches are made the same, but we figured we would give you a general guide to help assist you. Just follow these simple steps:
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- Shake your watch: Automatic watches require consistent movement for them to be powered. So if you’re picking up the watch after a brief hiatus, you might need to shake it to get the balance moving.
- Unscrew the crown: The crown is the command center for the entire watch. It’s your one-stop-spot to accessing all of the inner mechanics. The only way to access its capabilities is to unscrew it which will allow you to manually wind, and adjust.
- Pull back the crown: Pulling the crown back will dictate which part of the watch you want to change. For watches with dates, you pull back the crown once to change the day, then you pull back a second time after that initial step to move the hour hands.
- If there is a date, make sure you’re you know when it is AM or PM: With a date watch, move the hands around 1 full rotation to the 12 marker to determine whether or not your watch is stuck in AM or PM. This will make sure that your watch does not jump to the incorrect date.
- Have the right time in front of you: It might seem unnecessary to have this rule here, but you need to know the right time to set your watch. Use your phone or a laptop to provide this. For a little watch ‘hack’, you can stop the seconds hand directly at 12 o’clock, allowing you to get a precise setting against the official NIST time.
- Move the hands accordingly: Once you have the accurate time in front of you and have determined that your watch is in the appropriate time period, you can set your watch to the right time! It’s generally a good idea to move the hands clockwise to set.
