# Pulling Out Crown To Store Watches?



## Paul Raposo (May 15, 2007)

Talking about my Omega 1430, I was told by a fellow quartz collector, that I damaged the movement by not pulling out the crown and stopping the movement while it was in storage.

Now, I was told years ago never to do this, because according to the watchmaker, that would be like winding a mechanical watch, and then turning the hands backward until the second hand stops, and leaving the movement like that. This was not recommended because it can damage the quartz movement.

Any opinions on this method of storage? I have a few Omega quartz watches, I don't pull the crowns on any of them. Really, it defeats the purpose of having a quartz watch.

Any thoughts?


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## South Pender (Jul 2, 2008)

Paul Raposo said:


> Talking about my Omega 1430, I was told by a fellow quartz collector, that I damaged the movement by not pulling out the crown and stopping the movement while it was in storage.
> 
> Now, I was told years ago never to do this, because according to the watchmaker, that would be like winding a mechanical watch, and then turning the hands backward until the second hand stops, and leaving the movement like that. This was not recommended because it can damage the quartz movement.
> 
> ...


I suspect that it is better not to pull out the crown in storage. I asked Seiko Japan about this, albeit in connection with a Spring Drive watch, and they advised _against_ pulling out the crown. Whether this is true of a purely quartz watch, I'm not sure (I never do this personally), but someone on the forum could, I'm sure, give you a rationale for either doing this or (more likely) not doing it.


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## Paul Raposo (May 15, 2007)

South Pender said:


> I suspect that it is better not to pull out the crown in storage but someone on the forum could, I'm sure, give you a rationale for either doing this or (more likely) not doing it.


Thanks for the input, South Pender.

I've been searching for info about this, and the consensus does seem to be don't do it/don't bother.

The feeling is, it will save battery life. But as some posters on other message boards have pointed out; keeping the crown pulled out could expose the movement to dust, and moisture. Not allowing the movement to run, could allow the oils to dry. Not to mention losing the ability to put on a watch, without having to set it.

BTW--how you liking your Spring Drive? I've never seen one in the flesh, but it's a fascinating mechanism.


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## Catalin (Jan 2, 2009)

South Pender said:


> I suspect that it is better not to pull out the crown in storage. I asked Seiko Japan about this, albeit in connection with a Spring Drive watch, and they advised _against_ pulling out the crown. Whether this is true of a purely quartz watch, I'm not sure (I never do this personally), but someone on the forum could, I'm sure, give you a rationale for either doing this or (more likely) not doing it.


On mechanical watches and Spring Drive models pulling the crown out will mechanically block the watch, and with a wound mainspring that would be clearly suboptimal.

On certain quartz models it is however possible to lower the power consumption in that mode - but that is quite rare and anyway you would NOT want to leave a watch with a battery inside 'forever' - so the ideal approach would be to just remove the battery (immediately or after it gets empty) and place the watch in storage without a battery...


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## South Pender (Jul 2, 2008)

Paul Raposo said:


> BTW--how you liking your Spring Drive? I've never seen one in the flesh, but it's a fascinating mechanism.


Hey Paul, I really like the watch. I got it directly from Japan through Katsu Higuchi.


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## South Pender (Jul 2, 2008)

Catalin said:


> On mechanical watches and Spring Drive models pulling the crown out will mechanically block the watch, and with a wound mainspring that would be clearly suboptimal


Good point. Seiko told me to let the mainspring on my SD run down completely, but, even with that, they suggested not pulling the crown out--not that I'm sure what it would accomplish with a run-down mechanical or SD watch. Although this is really off-topic, I guess, they advised against putting a SD on a winder when not in use. They counseled winding it up to, say, half-capacity every 6 months or so and just letting it run down.


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## junlon (Dec 30, 2007)

Some observation. If you go to Target, you will see a bunch of new quartz watches with crowns pulled out, and with some plastic stabs between crowns and cases.
These quartz watches are usually low-end watches and probably less reliablable than Seiko quartz. However, the watch manufactureres do not seem to worry about damaging the watches with crowns pulled-out for a while. 
If pulling out the crown does not damage the low-end watch, it is probably OK to do it on a more expensive watch.


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## RPF (Feb 28, 2008)

junlon said:


> Some observation. If you go to Target, you will see a bunch of new quartz watches with crowns pulled out, and with some plastic stabs between crowns and cases.
> These quartz watches are usually low-end watches and probably less reliablable than Seiko quartz. However, the watch manufactureres do not seem to worry about damaging the watches with crowns pulled-out for a while.
> If pulling out the crown does not damage the low-end watch, it is probably OK to do it on a more expensive watch.


Simply put, it depends on the design of the movement.

On many movements, pulling out the crown locks the gear. The circuitry still fires but does not overcome the locked gearing.

On others, pulling out the crown throws a switch that reduces the circuit power, similar to say, the idle mode in an Iphone vs. making a call/surfing.

The ones with the pulled out crown on display belong to the second group. These watches are safe to store with their crown pulled out. One example is Ronda movements found on for e.g. Victorinox Divemaster and Marathon TSAR.

As for the first group, extended storage with the crown pulled out may result in jammed movements/calendar problems etc, esp. older movements. Long term storage without movement tend to cause lubricants to harden etc.

The rule of thumb I follow is: If the manual explicitly mentions it, I pull it out. If it doesn't, I don't.

Re: Paul's Omega, it's an old watch, so it's only natural for things to break. Life follows an exponential law of attrition. I don't think the watch was harmed in storage.

Once again, I'd suggest a clean and lube, perhaps also changing the stepper with a cannibalized ETA. Shouldn't cost much, provided you find a willing watchmaker.

Most don't like to work on quartz. They'll mostly tell you quartz is trash. Mechanical is king!


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## Catalin (Jan 2, 2009)

junlon said:


> Some observation. If you go to Target, you will see a bunch of new quartz watches with crowns pulled out, and with some plastic stabs between crowns and cases.
> These quartz watches are usually low-end watches and probably less reliablable than Seiko quartz. However, the watch manufactureres do not seem to worry about damaging the watches with crowns pulled-out for a while.
> If pulling out the crown does not damage the low-end watch, it is probably OK to do it on a more expensive watch.


On certain older models it might be a problem, it depends on the precise model.

And note that the Target thing is most likely related to keeping the costs down for them - if the manufacturer describes that as a power-cutting measure it could even double battery life, which would be very relevant to a large store with many battery watches in stock - once the battery is dead their costs become relevant !


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## Eeeb (Jul 12, 2007)

In my experience almost all quartz watches have power cutoffs when the stem is pulled. The exceptions tend to be early vintage models.


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## artec (Oct 31, 2006)

South Pender said:


> Good point. Seiko told me to let the mainspring on my SD run down completely, but, even with that, they suggested not pulling the crown out--not that I'm sure what it would accomplish with a run-down mechanical or SD watch. Although this is really off-topic, I guess, they advised against putting a SD on a winder when not in use. They counseled winding it up to, say, half-capacity every 6 months or so and just letting it run down.


I don't know about your SD, South Pender, but mine has a screw-down crown and if you pull the crown out, you obviously have to leave it with the crown un-screwed, which I would think would invite the ingress of dust and minor livestock. At this point, I can't imagine leaving it off my wrist for long enough even to consider "storing" it but I guess one never knows.

It's still a touch under one second fast since February 11th this year!


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## South Pender (Jul 2, 2008)

artec said:


> I don't know about your SD, South Pender, but mine has a screw-down crown and if you pull the crown out, you obviously have to leave it with the crown un-screwed, which I would think would invite the ingress of dust and minor livestock. At this point, I can't imagine leaving it off my wrist for long enough even to consider "storing" it but I guess one never knows.
> 
> It's still a touch under one second fast since February 11th this year!


Fantastic, Artec! This is truly exceptional and rivals the very best HEQs. You must live right....;-)


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## enricodepaoli (Feb 24, 2008)

so.. what would the bottom line be ? crown out to store quartz watches or not ? will it save battery ? will it expose the movement to moisture and dust ? tks


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## Catalin (Jan 2, 2009)

enricodepaoli said:


> so.. what would the bottom line be ? crown out to store quartz watches or not ? will it save battery ? will it expose the movement to moisture and dust ? tks


I am not seriously doing that on quartz with silver-oxide batteries (the gain is not huge) nor on models with perpetual calendars.

However I am doing it for 6 months/year to a watch with a lithium battery and very high power consumption (since it moves the seconds hand in very small steps which look mechanical-like) - which also happens that I only wear during summers - but I am storing the watch in place with very very little dust and humidity (with silica-gel in the box).


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## larsy (May 16, 2008)

Bottom Line:
If it says in the manual that it reduces power consumption if the crown is pulled, you can do it (e.g. Datasheet Caliber 715Li - RONDA AG).
If you live in a very humid place you may not want to do it though so as to decrease the probability of humidity entering the watch.

However, I advise keeping track of when you put a battery in a watch and how long it's supposed to last. Because if you leave a battery in anything too long
it will start to leak at some point, and that could be fatal its surroundings.


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## enricodepaoli (Feb 24, 2008)

larsy said:


> Bottom Line:
> If it says in the manual that it reduces power consumption if the crown is pulled, you can do it (e.g. Datasheet Caliber 715Li - RONDA AG).
> If you live in a very humid place you may not want to do it though so as to decrease the probability of humidity entering the watch.
> 
> ...


GREAT answer. Thank you! Now... battery won't leak while good an running, right ? Just once it is left drained in the watch... correct ?


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## larsy (May 16, 2008)

Correct 

(Of course there's a very remote possibility it could happen during the lifetime of the battery, but it really shouldn't.
And I'm sure you've seen what a mess batteries forgotten in a walkman, remote control, etc. can make.
And some batteries are advertised as leak-proof, they don't leak or take a long time until they do.)


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