How to set the time and date on a watch without breaking it: the video guide

Chapters

1. 0:00Setting it without breaking anything
2. 0:25The crown steps
3. 0:44A watchmaker's trick
4. 1:04The date: 9 pm to 3 am
5. 1:20The day-before method
6. 1:38Date changing at noon
7. 1:49The screw-down crown
8. 2:20Chronograph and digital
9. 2:41When the clocks change

Transcript

Pull, turn, push back in. Setting a watch looks very simple. And yet that's exactly when most small breakages happen. A date tooth torn off in the middle of the night, a crown not screwed back properly, a date that changes at noon. The crown pulls out in steps, and each step has its own job. Pushed in, that's how you wear it. First step: the date. Second step: the time. On a watch without a date, a single step out is all it takes to set the time. A watchmaker's trick: go a little past the time you want, then come back moving forwards. The play in the gears is taken up. On many watches, the seconds hand stops with the crown pulled out: push it back in on the beat of a clock, and you're right to the second. Now, the most important rule: never correct the date between nine in the evening and three in the morning. During those hours, the mechanism is already busy changing the date. Forcing it means breaking a tooth. Not sure whether it's showing morning or evening? Set the hands to half past six. Set the date to the day before, then move the hands forward until the date changes: it's midnight. Carry on to the current time, adding twelve hours if it's the afternoon. Your date changes at noon? It's not a fault: the watch is twelve hours out. One full turn of the dial, and it's fixed. A crown that won't pull out is probably screwed down. Never force it. Unscrew it towards you until it springs free, then pull it out to the usual steps. To close it, push it against the case and screw while keeping the pressure on, until it stops, without forcing. A crown that isn't screwed back properly isn't water resistant at all. And the warranty never covers water resistance. A chronograph hand no longer returns to zero? It's not a fault: crown pulled out, a pusher brings it back step by step. A digital watch almost always follows the same logic: one button to enter, one to change field, one to change the value. When the clocks change, set your watch in the morning, never during the night: the hands would be right in the forbidden zone. Discover a whole selection of watches at Montres Outlet.