Taking a good care of your time piece is very essential if you want to maintain its accuracy and smooth look. Would you rather be wearing a new looking watch or a beaten up one with dirt in its engraved details? Of course you want the new looking option. In this article, I combined a list of things to help you protect your watch

I personally made the mistake of opening a pocket watch that I’ve bought of the Netherlands with a fruit cutting knife. I opened its screw and took off all its components with the same knife, and the watch never worked again. UNTIL I bought the right equipment to fix it, along with a course to do so.

So to help you avoid having your watch all messed up, here are some tips to maintain a healthy long life for your great watch that your grand kids can inherit with it’s gorgeous maintained looks.

  • Clean your watch with water and soap every month: Note that you should only do this with water-resistant watches. Washing your watch is very essential for keeping it clean from dust, rust and dirt. So how do you clean your watch from dust, rust and dirt? Easy. If it had a leather strap, take that away and wash it with warm water and put some soap in your hand, then gently rub the watch in circular motions until all the dust, rust and dirt goes away.
  • Avoid magnets: Believe it or not, putting a magnet near/on your watch could really damage its movement and accuracy. So lets just leave the explanation for scientists to explain magnetic fields for you.
  • Watch out for the crystal: Sure, a sapphire crystal shouldn’t break or get scratched so easily. That doesn’t mean you can go ahead and bang your watch against walls or hit it with a hammer to impress someone. And if your crystal was glass, replace it every time you see a big scratch or a small crack. Because scratches lead to cracks and cracks lead to broken glass.
  • Don’t open your watch without equipment: This should be very obvious, but its important so we have to mention it. You perhaps want to change the battery of your quartz watch, or just open it to see the movement and it has a snapback case, that doesn’t mean you can take a knife and try to open it. You might scratch the watch or even cut yourself if you weren’t using the correct equipment. So either leave it to a professional or get equipment and be very cautious.
  • Try to avoid water for leather straps: If your watch is a divers watch with a 30+ meters of depths water resistance, and doesn’t have a leather strap, sure go ahead in the water all you want. However, if your watch uses a leather strap, avoid water at all costs since it damages the leather and weakens it or even cause tears in it. If your watch is vintage, avoid water as well since watches lose their water resistance by time, especially if they have a cracked or replaced crystal.
  • Store it safely: When your watch isn’t on your wrist, it is essential to put it in a box or somewhere safe. It could either be the watch’s own box or if you’re a collector, get a box for as many watches as you have. Storing the watch in a box on a pillow will prevent it from getting scratched, whether it’s the crystal or anywhere on the watch. Always keep your watches safe.

Cleaning your watch is obviously important, and you should do it! Have you ever cleaned your watch? If so, how do you usually do it and how often?