Most watches that stop looking good do not break. They get grubby, the strap dries out, and nobody notices until it is too far gone to fix. A few minutes of attention every month is the difference between a watch that lasts a decade and one that looks tired inside a year.
Cleaning the case and bracelet
Stainless steel is the easiest material to look after, which is part of why it is the most common one in our catalogue — 108 of the watches we stock have a steel case or bracelet.
Wipe the case down with a soft dry cloth at the end of the day. Sweat and skin oils are mildly corrosive over time, and they collect in the gaps around the lugs and between bracelet links where you cannot see them.
For a proper clean, take the bracelet off if you can, use a soft toothbrush with a drop of mild soap and lukewarm water, scrub gently, rinse and dry thoroughly. Do not run water over the watch head unless you know exactly what it is rated for — and if you are not certain, assume it is not.
Keep solvents away from it. Alcohol, acetone, bleach and household cleaning sprays will attack gaskets, coatings and printed dials. Soap and water is the whole toolkit.
Straps
Different materials fail in different ways, and a strap is a consumable — it will wear out long before the watch does.
- Leather — the most common strap material in our range, on 93 watches. Leather and water are enemies. Repeated soaking stiffens the fibres and then cracks them. Take a leather-strapped watch off before swimming, showering or heavy exercise, and let it dry naturally if it does get wet — never on a radiator.
- Fabric — 69 watches in the catalogue. The most forgiving material. It can be washed by hand in mild soapy water and air-dried, which is why it suits warm weather and knockabout use.
- Rubber, silicone and resin — around 53 watches between them. Wipe down often. Rubber attracts dust and holds skin oils, which is what causes that tacky feel. Soapy water fixes it.
- Steel bracelets — check the spring bars and the clasp every few months. A bracelet almost always fails at the clasp or a pin, not in the middle.
Whatever the material, do not fasten a strap so tightly that it marks your wrist. A snug strap that can rotate slightly lasts longer and is more comfortable.
Storage
Store a watch somewhere dry and stable. Bathrooms are the worst place in the house — humidity and heat swings do real damage over years. A drawer or a box in a bedroom is fine.
Keep watches apart from one another. Two loose watches in a drawer will scratch each other. A cloth pouch or the original box costs nothing and solves it.
Strong magnets can disturb a mechanical movement. Speakers, laptop lids, magnetic phone mounts and handbag clasps are the usual culprits. A quartz movement is far less bothered by this.
If a watch is going into storage for months, lay it flat rather than hanging it, and store a leather strap unbuckled so it is not held in a bend.
Setting the date safely
On a mechanical watch with a date, avoid changing the date while the hands sit between roughly nine at night and three in the morning. In that window the date mechanism is already partly engaged and forcing it can damage the teeth that drive it. Move the hands forward past four o’clock first, set the date, then set the time.
Always push the crown fully back in afterwards. A crown left out is the fastest way to let dust and moisture into a case.
Batteries and servicing
Change a quartz battery promptly when the watch stops or the seconds hand begins jumping in multi-second steps. A dead cell left inside can leak and ruin a movement. Have it done by a watchmaker, who will reseal the case properly rather than press the back on and hope.
Mechanical watches benefit from a service every several years — the movement is cleaned, re-lubricated and regulated. Watchmakers differ on the interval. The signal to act is a rate that has drifted noticeably or a watch that no longer holds its charge from a day’s wear.
If something is wrong from the start
Care advice applies to a watch that arrived in good order. If one does not — a fault out of the box, or damage in transit — that is ours to sort out, not yours to maintain around. Email support@heatshabu.com with your order number and a photograph, and see the Returns page for how faults and the 30-day window work. You can browse the rest of the range in the shop.