How I like to start my automatic watches.

Just a quick sharing before I head out about how I like to start up my automatic watches.

I used to wind up the automatic watches, or give them a good 3-5 minute shake, before I head out. This is to make sure that I don't run into the trouble of the watch running out of power and stopping.

This is borne of the impression that the automatic rotors of vintage watches don't charge up the watch as well as their modern day counterparts. I've come to realize that isn't quite the case for a number of vintage watches.

The automatic rotor of a well-maintained vintage can be as good as a modern rotor when it comes to charging up the mainspring of a watch.

So with this new-found trust, I now simply pick a watch I want to wear for the day, and (if it's automatic) just strap it on and go. By the time i wear the car to work, the watch would already be properly charged up and I then adjust the time.

Side story: I wore the IWC Pilot Mark XVIII out a few days ago and the movement started moving a lot later than what my vintages would.

All in all, I'm beginning to reach a stage where I'm trying to meddle less and less with the manual functions of the watch. I've written a post about how some collectors would just forgo adjusting the time altogether.

I already don't give a damn about the day, date, month or 24hr... maybe it's time to explore taking the next step eh.