How to change a mechanical watch for daylight saving time
When the clocks go back or forward, move your watch the next morning, not at 2am. The safe way for date watches, GMTs and watches that should not run backwards.
Published
When the clocks change
- United States and Canada: back one hour on the first Sunday of November, forward one hour on the second Sunday of March.
- UK and the European Union: back one hour on the last Sunday of October, forward one hour on the last Sunday of March.
- Much of the world, including Japan, China, India and most of Africa, does not change at all.
Wait until the morning
The official change happens in the small hours, which is inside the window when the date mechanism of most watches is engaged. Leave the watch alone overnight and set it the next morning, any time between about 6am and 8pm. If you are not sure the time is safe, the date check tells you.
When the clocks go forward
- Wait until the seconds hand reaches 12 and pull the crown out to the time-setting position. On most watches the seconds hand stops.
- Turn the hands forward one hour.
- Push the crown in on the minute using the sync countdown, so you keep the seconds exact.
When the clocks go back
In the morning the hands are far from the date change, so turning them back one hour is safe on most modern watches. Pull the crown out with the seconds hand at 12, turn the hands back one hour and push the crown in on the minute.
A few manuals, mostly for older or vintage watches, ask you never to turn the hands backwards. For those, pull the crown out and leave the watch stopped for exactly one hour, then push it in on the minute. Do not turn the hands forward 11 hours instead: the watch would show the right time on the wrong half of the day, and the date would change at noon.
GMT watches and jumping hour hands
Many GMT watches have an hour hand that jumps in one-hour steps from the middle crown position while the watch keeps running. Jump it one step and you are done: the minutes and seconds stay exact. If yours is the kind where the middle position moves the 24-hour hand instead, set the main hands as above. The GMT guide explains which kind you have.
Watches you are not wearing
A watch sitting in a drawer has probably stopped. Wind it, set the date the safe way from the date-change guide, then set the time to the second. A watch on a winder can be changed like one on the wrist.