Producers urge that mechanical watches should be serviced every 3 to five years whether it seems required or not. The grounds for it is that over time, the oil that keeps the numerous watch components lubricated can depreciate hence escalating the friction among movement's pieces. This will cause the watch to be not as accurate as well as cause abrasion. When the watch is serviced, the watch is taken apart and the movement components are chemically cleansed. Components are checked and worn parts are changed. The mechanism is then reassembled, lubricated and regulated. With mechanical watches, especially automatic timepieces, being increasingly more reasonably priced now and taking into account the price of getting a mechanical watch serviced, it might not be worth the expense to repair an affordable mechanical timepiece.
The recommendation is that mechanised timepieces be wound on a daily basis even whether it is not used. A mechanised timepiece works better when fully wound up than when it is wound down. Daily winding will also avert the movement's lubricants from congealing. When winding a manual wind watch, you ought to sense the tension and evaluate whether the main spring is full wound. It will take some practice to figure this out if you are new to owning a mechanical watch. While it is unusual that the main spring will break from 1-winding, it could be possible and does occur sometimes. Automatic timepieces do not have this problem.
How to care for quartz timepieces
A quartz timepiece does not typically require much repair as it contains far fewer pieces than a mechanised watch. More than likely the only kind of upkeep you will ever be required to do is charge the battery. A silver oxide battery will need to be replaced bi-annually. A lithium battery can last 10 years or more.
Quartz watches are inherently more correct than mechanised watches. Regardless of whether you have a mechanical watch or a quartz timepiece, if it is a water resistant watch, after the watch case it opened, the water resistance of the watch is compromised as the gaskets that seal the water off are dislodged from their position. Therefore it is important to inspect the gaskets to make certain they are not dried or cracked. If you'd like to retain the water resistance of the watch, you should take your watch to a repair shop outfitted with water resistant testing equipments. Note that the water resistance of a timepiece will decline over time even if the timepiece is never opened due to the natural aging of the gaskets.