3230 Manual Winding

[Clon3]

Hello,

On my very recently purchased 3230 no-date sub, I'm not sure if I feeling something unusual when manually winding it.

When manually winding the watch on generally topped up power reserve, it has this gritty winding feel, almost feels like a piece of sand will randomly cause a minor restriction after every 4-5 winds. No extra force is needing to overcome this randomness, but you can definitely feel/hear a difference in winding noise when this happens.

Also, occasionally during winding, there is also this "empty" feel between a wind. It kind feels like an empty threshold of the gears not "catching" for a 1/4 turn before catching the winding mechanism again. This is a very rare occasion, but I did hear something about the manual wind doesn't fully engage which creates this "open" feeling.

Not sure if this happens to other 32XX movements. I never really wound the watch much since my purchase since it's always on my wrist, but noticed this today. Otherwise, the watch winds fine and keeps great time. -1s/day.

Thanks.

[Dirt]

Stop winding back and forth.
You will have a better result if you only wind forward.

[Clon3]

What happens when I wind it back and forth? Just so I know how to segregate what result this actually causes. I'm guessing it's the "open" feel before it catches again?

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Clon3

What happens when I wind it back and forth? Just so I know how to segregate what result this actually causes. I'm guessing it's the "open" feel before it catches again?

Certain gears engage when manually winding forward and they move out of the way/disengage when winding backward. They're permanently disengaged because they swing out of the way when the watch is Automatically winding itself up whilst you are wearing it.
The skip/open feel you are experiencing is the gears coming into mesh again and they're not quite catching properly until they are able to fully engage.
From my perspective this can cause minor damage to the tips of the teeth of the gears and probably best avoided
Just try only winding forward and see how that works out for you. It's just a technique thing.
Alternately try not manual winding so much, after all it's primarily an Automatic winding movement and it should wind itself up while you are wearing it after it has started.
For example, my Rolex watches typically wind themselves up to full power after I have been wearing them for around 8 hours of normal(for me) wear throughout the day from a dead stopped condition.
Your usage pattern will likely vary but the principal is still the same provided you are active enough. As long as your watch is not stopping overnight on you or something you should be fine to let it do its own thing

May I ask, why are you manually winding your watch?
Is it stopping randomly or something?
Has your experience shown that it's an absolute requirement?

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Clon3

What happens when I wind it back and forth? Just so I know how to segregate what result this actually causes. I'm guessing it's the "open" feel before it catches again?

All modern day Rolex automatics only wind on the forward wind only, and to fully wind they need around 40 -60 full turns clockwise only, you cannot overwind the movement. All that happiness when mainspring is fully wound up it just slips in the spring-barrel just like it would on the wrist.

[Clon3]

Thanks Dirt and padi56.

Since I got it, I only had to manual wind it once when taking delivery at the AD, so I just figured to play around with the winding mechanism out of curiosity.

I just did a full power reserve test from a stopped watch and it was exceptionally good at 72 hours before stopping dead again. When winding from a dead PR, the winding was buttery smooth. It almost felt like I wasn't winding at all until ~40 full turns in when it got started getting tighter to wind and more of a gritty, random slipping feel. I'm guessing that means it's hitting full PR.

One thing I noticed was it took around ~20 full turns before the watch started moving again. In comparison, my ETA 2824-2 only needed ~5 full turns before it starts ticking. That watch only has a 38 power reserve, but the 3230 movement definitely caught me by surprise for how many turns was needed before it started moving.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Clon3

Thanks Dirt and padi56.

Since I got it, I only had to manual wind it once when taking delivery at the AD, so I just figured to play around with the winding mechanism out of curiosity.

I just did a full power reserve test from a stopped watch and it was exceptionally good at 72 hours before stopping dead again. When winding from a dead PR, the winding was buttery smooth. It almost felt like I wasn't winding at all until ~40 full turns in when it got started getting tighter to wind and more of a gritty, random slipping feel. I'm guessing that means it's hitting full PR.

One thing I noticed was it took around ~20 full turns before the watch started moving again. In comparison, my ETA 2824-2 only needed ~5 full turns before it starts ticking. That watch only has a 38 power reserve, but the 3230 movement definitely caught me by surprise for how many turns was needed before it started moving.

All seems normal to me Clon3.

The PR is good, my 14060 is around 44.

As has been said the clicks when winding is the spring slipping in the barrel when fully wound and the number of full turns before the movement starts up depends on the position the escapement was in when the movement stopped.

Enjoy wearing it.
.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Clon3

Thanks Dirt and padi56.

Since I got it, I only had to manual wind it once when taking delivery at the AD, so I just figured to play around with the winding mechanism out of curiosity.

I just did a full power reserve test from a stopped watch and it was exceptionally good at 72 hours before stopping dead again. When winding from a dead PR, the winding was buttery smooth. It almost felt like I wasn't winding at all until ~40 full turns in when it got started getting tighter to wind and more of a gritty, random slipping feel. I'm guessing that means it's hitting full PR.

One thing I noticed was it took around ~20 full turns before the watch started moving again. In comparison, my ETA 2824-2 only needed ~5 full turns before it starts ticking. That watch only has a 38 power reserve, but the 3230 movement definitely caught me by surprise for how many turns was needed before it started moving.

Some movement designs seem to need more winds to start of their own accord.
Any of my Rolex movements can start after a few turns up to around 20. It's no big deal. I usually put 6-10 into them before they start up but that's about it before I give them a slight jiggle and off they'll go

We have 3 Rolex watches in our household, with 2 of them(31xx) buttery smooth to wind from a start to full wind, the other gets a little graunchy near full wind(maybe 3/4 of the way) but it's inconsequential and it's a different movement anyway(22xx)
It's all good.
Enjoy that future classic of yours

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Clon3

Thanks Dirt and padi56.

Since I got it, I only had to manual wind it once when taking delivery at the AD, so I just figured to play around with the winding mechanism out of curiosity.

I just did a full power reserve test from a stopped watch and it was exceptionally good at 72 hours before stopping dead again. When winding from a dead PR, the winding was buttery smooth. It almost felt like I wasn't winding at all until ~40 full turns in when it got started getting tighter to wind and more of a gritty, random slipping feel. I'm guessing that means it's hitting full PR.

One thing I noticed was it took around ~20 full turns before the watch started moving again. In comparison, my ETA 2824-2 only needed ~5 full turns before it starts ticking. That watch only has a 38 power reserve, but the 3230 movement definitely caught me by surprise for how many turns was needed before it started moving.

Sometimes even after say a wind of 20 turns they may need just a gentle swirl to get them ticking, again quite normal on all the 3 series movements.

[Clon3]

Thanks guys!

[OG1982]

If you feel that ‘gritty’ feeling it simply means your watch is already fully wound. I have the same watch and mine also does this, my previous generation Exp II did it too. Quite normal.


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