First Timers' Guide to Luxury Watches: How To Maintain Your Timepiece

A good timepiece is not only an accessory that accentuates your style, but also a statement of elegance and a measure of your legacy. Make your precious timepiece last more than one generation when you take proper care of it. Keeping your watch in pristine condition can be hard work, but hopefully with these three handy points, it does not have to be.

Protecting it from the elements

Your watch is a delicate and intricate piece of art - treat it as such. It is incredibly important to protect your timepiece from the ‘elements’ - dust, skin oils, sunlight, accidental bumps might not seem like much damage, but all of which will result in general deterioration of your watch. Regular care goes a long way to making sure that your watch remains in pristine condition.

A general rule of thumb would be to always keep your watch in a covered watch case, where not only dust cannot settle into the band’s buckle and crevices, but it is also useful to prevent any accidental bumps or scratches along the way. This also helps limit the amount of sunlight exposed, which could otherwise cause colour fading.

Skin oils is also something that can cause watches with leather bracelets especially to smell and deteriorate before their time. Apart from washing your hands before putting your watch to reduce the amount of natural skin oils in contact, using a damp microfibre cloth with lukewarm water and oil-free soap to clean the bracelet would help as well.

Finally, prevent scratches to the face by regularly buffing the glass with a lens cleansing towelette or a clean microfibre cloth.

Winding your watch with care

For watches with a mechanical functionality, it is never a good idea to wind your watch while it is still on your wrist as it leads to unwanted pressure to the winding stem. Instead, wind it before putting it on and stop as soon as you feel resistance. Doing this daily will allow your watch to record time more precisely.

For an automatic watch, this is less of an issue since it is based on arm movement. One note to point out, however, would be to avoid wearing automatic watches when playing sports requiring continuous arm movement since as tennis or swimming as this interferes with the automatic winding mechanisms intended for regular arm movement.

Servicing your watch

Although you are taking all precautions when it comes to caring for your timepiece, it is still important that your watch is cared by experts once every 4-5 years to catch any potential issues along the way, regardless of warranty length. This is because only the professionals will be able to dismantle the internal features. The watch servicing process will mainly encompass a thorough cleansing where your watch will be fully disassembled, and it will be oiled and polished to perfection by the time you get it back.

Your luxury piece is likely to be with you for years to come, so take the necessary steps today to ensure that your watch ages gracefully.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are solely the opinions of the writer and does not reflect the view of Kee Hing Hung Pte Ltd.