IW 371417 Potuguese automatic watch. Suggestion

Hi gents,
two weeks ago, for my 40th birthday, I purchased a second hand IW 371417 Potuguese automatic watch made in 2004. I've dreamt to own this watch for years and now I'm very very happy to own that, it's a real beauty!!!
By the way I've a couple of questions for you experts:
1. How often should I wear it to let it run properly? Due to my job (I'm a worker) it's not safe to wear it everyday, so if I use that once or twice a month (i.e. during the weekend)is it enough?I've owned an Omega speedmaster automatic since 2005 and I use to wear it everyday and it works very well, I don't want that using my Portuguise rarely it doesn't work properly...

1. I purchased the watch from an AD, but he was'nt able to tell me if it has been serviced and, if so, when. What do you suggest me to service it or, till it works well, let it do his job?

Thanks in advance for you suggestions and I'm very very happy to havr joined the IWC family.

Michele

Hello Michele,

Congratulations on a well-deserved birthday present for yourself, and welcome to the forum.

1. I do my best to keep my watches running continuously. In my opinion, this ensures an ideal operating condition in which the lubricants are kept flowing to maintain a favourable viscosity. In the long run, you can expect less wear and tear. If your work doesn't allow regular wearing, you might want to consider putting the watch on a winder or manually winding it yourself every day.

2. If you want a peace of mind and have a servicing centre nearby, bring it over and have them perform a quick assessment. It doesn't take long to know what sort of servicing work is or is not required to keep the watch running well.

Once again, big cheers on your choice and wear it in health!

Jack

Hi Jack
thanks for your suggestion... Just another question: you say "...or manually winding it yourself every day..."
But somewhere I read that manually winding an automatic watch is not the best thing... is it correct?
Thanks again in advance
Michele

No danger there. Modern IWC models have a built-in mechanism to protect against over-winding. From the ref 3714 operating instructions:

Normal position
In the normal position (position 0), you can also wind
the automatic movement by hand. The movement
will start after only a few revolutions of the crown. However,
it is better to wind the movement fully with about
40 revolutions of the crown, as maximum accuracy and
a power reserve of about 44 hours will then be assured,
even after taking off the watch. The crown must always
be in position 0 when wearing the watch.

Position 0 is when the crown is pushed in.

Let me start with a question: how does your Omega look right now? If it looks ugly, with lots of scratches, and has received a lot of shocks with it, then it is wise to keep the Portuguese for the evening hours and non-rough weekend activities. Not because the Portuguese couldn't stand the treatment your Omega is getting, but because it is a pity to get all those scratches on such a nice, classy watch.

Letting the watch run out and keeping it not running for a while doesn't harm the watch at all. I read that the modern lubricants are far too good to necessitate the constant running of the watch. Winding it fully once a month should be enough to keep the watch in top shape. Some of my watches undergo that treatment without any detrimental signs. Good luck!

Kind regards,
Paul

Hi Michele,

happy birthday and congrats on your new aquisition.

If you're going to wear the watch once or twice a month, you don't need to do anything, except setting the time.

The range of the periods the watch won't run is not an issue.

I'd avoid to wind up the watch manually; usually, automatic calibres have weaker inverters than hw watches, since they're not designed to bear such a constant stress (although I'd say this won't cause problems either, most of the times).

To know the chromometric performances of your watch, simply check it through a timing machine (any watchmaker has one). This simple control will tell you whether the watch needs to be fixed/serviced etc. or not.

Hi guys,
thanks for your help I appreciate.
All the best from Italy
Michele