Back and Forward, Forward and Back

Here's a question/comment regarding resetting the time when switching from daylight saving to standard time or vice versa.

It has been my recent experience that the method of correcting for the change has an effect on daily rate, as follows: moving my Mark XVI Pilot an hour FORWARD in the spring results in a consistent daily gain of just over one and a half seconds during the entire ensuing six-month period, while moving it an hour BACK in the fall narrows the gain consistently to six- to eight-tenths of a second for that entire ensuing six-month period.

(In fall, I used to wind my watch forward a full twenty-three hours, instead of moving it back one hour, because I had always heard that winding a watch backward can damage the movement. Dubious on this point, I emailed Frau Mechtilde Bamberger at IWC in Schaffhausen (Frau Bamberger had previously been most helpful in responding to a question of mine) on the subject of back-winding versus forward-winding. Her reply: there is no risk of damage in back-winding my watch.)

Needless to say, any daily rate of less than two seconds is phenomenal. The discrepancy described above, however, puzzles me just a bit.

Bottom line: I hope there are, in fact, no possible negative consequences to backward watch winding.

Cheers to all,

Donald

Hi Donald,
Mechtilde is correct,there is no risk of damage in back-winding your watch.
Her reply is specific to your watch and Cannot be taken as a rule for all watches. Some watches with more complicated calendar mechanisms or alarms or repeaters, for example, can be badly damaged by turning the hands backwards.
The small change in your daily rate through adjusting for daylight saving is unusual as the motion work(dial-side wheels carrying the hands) is disconnected from the movement when setting the time.
A likely reason for the difference could be that by turning the hands quickly you have changed the coefficient of friction between wheels and their posts or between each others teeth. This could happen by movement of the oil or slight polishing of the points of friction.
Leo

This is a very interesting topic. Thanks for the post. I always wondered about moving hands backward. Never do it, just to be safe.

Dear Leo:

Thanks for your response. Interesting further development: since my Mark XVI was reset a couple of Sundays ago to account for the end of daylight saving, it has been running consistently at plus half a second per day, gaining a total of seven seconds. It will, technically, be due for its first service a year from now, but if that rate remains, I do not think I can bear to send it in!

Let's hear it for the 30110 movement!

By the way, Frau Bamberger is an excellent resource within IWC for technical and other questions. If and when I ever make the factory tour, she is one person besides Kurt Klaus whom I definitely want to meet.

Cheers!

Donald

Donald, for your info Leo is the head of servicing in the UK for IWC JLC and other Richemont brands excluding ALS which are serviced at the factory. His previous experience includes working at one of London's alpha shops and servicing various watches including for the UK royals,(plus some of mine!)

Dear Greg:

Thanks for letting me know about Leo's IWC affiliation. It makes me doubly grateful that he took time to reply.

Cheers!

Donald