How Much Movement Is Needed To Wind An Automatic Watch?

How long does it take to wind an automatic watch automatically? What about manually? Using Zeppelin's LZ-129 automatic watch with a power reserve meter, we tackle 3 experiments:
1. How much power is added to an automatic watch through regular daily activities?
2. How much power is added during high-movement activities?
3. How many winds of the crown before your watch is fully wound?
Is this highly scientific? NO! But I hope this information is useful for people who were always curious about how much they were winding their automatic watch bu just simply wearing it.
Music: www.bensound.com
Time stamps:
0:00 Intro
1:04 Winding through regular use
3:09 Winding through high-intensity movement
4:06 Manually winding with the crown
5:42 Fine print/Disclaimer
6:16 Final results

[@mr22guy]

I always wondered about this. It inspired me to do my own experiment - on a 7S26. From completely dead, 10 seconds of shaking the watch (the "seiko shuffle") and then setting it down allowed it to run for 1 hour, 39 minutes, ~35 seconds. So 40 hours of power can be charged with about 4 minutes of shaking.

[@the1010watchclub]

Love it! That’s commitment. Definitely better than the unidirectional rotor

[@whoknows8678]

No, not exactly. Winding force isn't linear. Ever wound up a toy, music box, etc? It always gets harder to wind the more wound the spring is. Same for automatic watches. That last 1/4 or so of power reserve will definitely take longer to build than when the mainspring is more unwound down at the bottom of the reserve.

[@the1010watchclub]

Interesting point

[@liuyutang2115]

hey, just saying, not really! i left my seiko 5 (snkl23j1) with a 7S26 movt dead, vigorous shaking for near a min only allow it to run for two rounds on the second hand.....the hairspring ran super slowly, but after an intense workout (dance) for near 30 min, the watch ran normally for 3h

[@Thiago-Meyer]

Italians can get to full charge with only 30 minutes of talking.

[@Alias_Anybody]

In my experience, an NH35 (42h power reserve, one of the most common movements currently) needs approximately 35 winds from zero to full, and around 20/day if you want to keep it running when it's just lying around. The automatic winding is very efficient though, I feel like 45 minutes of (casual but determined) walking per day fills up more than 24h power reserve.

[@the1010watchclub]

thanks for the info 👍 the bi-directional winding rotor on the NH series is great

[@whoknows8678]

Also, the mainspring gets harder to wind as the power reserve goes up and it gets closer and closer to fully wound. That means getting into a higher power reserve status takes even more time.

[@daley3]

Hey man, this is really informative. Plus 1 to your subscribers.

[@the1010watchclub]

Thank you! Welcome to the channel

[@GBirkol]

Thank you for the video, I was looking for this answer that how much movement to wind it automaticly in daily life. This video gives idea to me

[@the1010watchclub]

🤘🏼

[@mr22guy]

You have 999 subscribers! Great video as always - keep it up!

[@the1010watchclub]

Thank you!! We just tipped over 1K!

[@mr22guy]

@@the1010watchclub 🥳

[@davidreid1805]

Very informative video thanks ,

[@steven3379]

I need to try this with my Seiko 6r21... Thanks good stuff!

[@the1010watchclub]

You should! Let me know what you find out

[@jazzman5598]

Good on you for voting!

[@the1010watchclub]

🇺🇸

[@melody3741]

Keep in mind that the spring is a spring. The tighter, you wind, it, the more force it is going to require to wind it. So, with automatic watches, they tend to win, super smoothly, and quickly in the first third of their wine, and then the rest of it is a lot harder and if it’s an automatic will take longer. The weight just is it not able to put out enough for us to make the same large changes that you would get at low reserve

[@hiren1615]

Informative, good job

[@PpaStrmpf]

Thought I've read SII movements need 50ish turns when fully unwinded. The new Orient caliber the F6b22 needs also about 32 winds for a full reserve. Nice to see pracitce example papers are anyway only guidance. I do normally wind until I feel that it got some resistance so I guess it's full then.

[@inutheextraterrestrial8872]

Amazing video

[@gs8287]

That's a lovely watch! Great video.

[@the1010watchclub]

Thank you!

[@bulldogms]

This is a cool video. Stuff I have wondered about.

[@lucafwn]

I assume the font in the thumbnail is a reference to Iron Maiden's "Powerslave", isn't it? Very interesting video. I often manually wind my autos, I was curious to know how much winding is enough. Your experiment provides a useful rough estimate.

[@the1010watchclub]

🤘 🤘 thank you!

[@ralph7569]

thanks for this one!

[@timrosenthal46]

Love those Zeppelin watches ..

[@the1010watchclub]

Same! Just had a stager compliment it the other day too

[@locobenno9435]

good video, thanks for doing that, I've always been curious about how much winding is enough across different calibers. Hey I don't suppose you could do this with an SKX007 or something with a 7S26 caliber? I'd be very interested to see how to get that movement fully wound or if it's even possible, cheers

[@the1010watchclub]

Good idea, I have one or ten watches with a 7s26 in the back at the moment, they multiply like rabbits!

[@locobenno9435]

@@the1010watchclub I have one, the SKX, and even though I've pimped it out with a great bracelet and love the looks, I'm rarely reaching for it unless I'm planning on wearing it on consecutive days....that never happens ;-) It'd be cool to know what the best techniques are for getting that sucker's power reserve up to it's supposed 40 hours, or if that's even possible, cheers

[@JXEIO]

wow thanks for this video man I learned a lot

[@the1010watchclub]

Thanks for watching!

[@dalstar925]

Look at that Spector in the background though 😍

[@the1010watchclub]

🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@markkulyas2418]

Thanks, I wonder why my watch wasn't winding when I spun the auto Winder. I didn't know it was omnidirectional.

[@bulldogms]

Nice watch!

[@the1010watchclub]

One of my favorites!

[@siddhunkarthik]

😍👍🏻nice informative video🤤

[@the1010watchclub]

Thanks for watching!

[@bulldogms]

Hamilton Khaki Mechanical 34 with the ETA 2801-1 manual movement is about 31 turns to full power as well... Interesting.

[@the1010watchclub]

🤔

[@solstar4778]

Does vigorously shaking the watch wind the watch faster to full reserve of power than winding ?

[@the1010watchclub]

My guess would be that winding is the fastest way

[@solstar4778]

@@the1010watchclub - Oh! When I do that the winding stops like it fully wound but if I immidately shake it a few times I may continue winding toward full wind !

[@haipham6542]

When the PR is full and we still wear the watch on the wrist, Does the rotor stop rotating or still rotate and break the mainspring?

[@JasperJanssen]

It still rotates, but it doesn’t break the mainspring. Automatic watches connect the spring to the barrel using an application of braking grease rather than a fixed connection. So it just moves the barrel around the spring.

[@arafatjahangir5309]

Thanks for the video. Is there any way to find out if the rotor is unidirectional or bidirectional by looking at the glass back of the movement?

[@the1010watchclub]

Only by identifying what the movement is and looking it up. Also you can try spinning the rotor. If it spins super-fast in one direction, it’s uni-directional.

[@Konic_and_Snuckles]

You wore your watch below the wrist bone. I wonder if the results would be different for those, like me, who wear theirs above the wrist bone.

[@the1010watchclub]

Time for another experiment!

[@metallusmelandril7380]

York that d with you ür led hand That gives a fast charge

[@bulldogms]

A bidirectional experiment would be cool too.

[@bmw128racer]

My Orient watch manual says 30 manual winds will get the watch to maximum power.

[@user-sg3cg9kd2z]

Shaking the sieko automatic watch does wind mainspring?

[@the1010watchclub]

Yes as long as it’s automatic

[@jennyomalley7634]

I put mine in with the washing as I'm old and not very active, but now it doesn't work at all , so much for waterproof, tut.

[@Yoko.Kurama]

Is it normal to be able to manually wind automatic watches?

[@the1010watchclub]

Yes, the majority of automatic watches (especially above $300) have a hand-winding capability

[@Cougar139tweak]

I posted a video like this 6 years ago, was always hoping someone would take the time to go deeper (With much better production value), Awesome job bro! I assumed from my own experimentation much like yours (1:49) after you get past 15 or so the spring has more and more tension it has to work against, so it "charges" slower. It usually takes a couple of days wearing or lots of manual labour throughout the day to get fully charged. I think this is why people complain about lower then advertised Power Reserve complaints from watches. Also don't forget High beat will use more then a lower BPS movement so 15 on yours is probably like 20 on my Orient "Seiko shuffle" test (Power reserve indicator) Orient Polaris GMT kzbin.info/www/bejne/a326nJ-HqsZ7kLM

[@zohaibbhatti7818]

what a coincidence i just watched your video before coming. to this one

[@solstar4778]

Who sell this in USA ?

[@the1010watchclub]

I found this one on eBay but Long Island Watch sells the brand too

[@renemarquezrodriguez941]

42 movements to fully wind it

[@jimmybritt9537]

Ride a Harley Davidson and it will always be topped off 👍👍🇺🇸

[@the1010watchclub]

😂

[@alexjohnson1411]

32 not 31

[@peasantrobot]

You did 32 turns... nice bait :) !