[RedlinePSI]

So get this. I have a Jaeger Master Chronograph. I was very careful to read the manual to learn proper usage. I'll skip to the main point now, setting the date (as read in the paper manual from the box as well as a pdf from their website): "rotate counter-clockwise to set date."

So I proceed to spin the shit out of the crown trying to set the date, nothing happening. After some confused time goes by, I spin it clockwise and the date shifts forward. ok great, I leave it alone and take it into the store where my salesman instinctively rotates it clockwise to set the date and sees it's working.

So it basically works now, and he says that it has a clutch which should prevent damage from spinning the crown the wrong way. Various people I have asked about this have different opinions. My one friend says he think's it could have caused damage.

So that was a few months ago. It general works ok, I usually wind up the watch, set the time, and then set the date. Sometimes when I go to set the date it wont work. It will not click into position, but more softly mush forward to the next day and then it will not spin any further. Then, if I wait about an hour I can try again and it works normally.

I go back to the store again expecting that I have to ship this to Jaeger but at the store another guy told me that you should always set the date with the hands pointing down. Anybody ever heard that?

So my main questions are do you think damage was done by spinning the crown the wrong way and is there truth to setting the date hands down? I have plenty of time left on my warranty so I am going to monitor it a little while longer. I am also going to call Jaeger to see what they say but I'm wondering what others think.

[brianeck]

Regarding hands pointing down: that refers specifically to the fact that on an automatic watch you are never supposed to change the date when the hands are between (roughly) 10 and 2. Really its only for the 10PM - 2AM period where the date change is storing energy or actually occurring, but if you're unsure its always better to change the time. You can damage the gear by forcing a date change when the date change is actually occurring normally. This is true on a lot of different movement types etc. It is VERY possible seeing as by the looks of your post you didn't know this and accordingly you easily may have done exactly what I listed above at some time or another.

http://gearpatrol.com/2013/06/05/com...hanical-watch/ halfway down the page.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f72/set...ch-447260.html

[RedlinePSI]

Originally Posted by brianeck

Regarding hands pointing down: that refers specifically to the fact that on an automatic watch you are never supposed to change the date when the hands are between (roughly) 10 and 2. Really its only for the 10PM - 2AM period where the date change is storing energy or actually occurring, but if you're unsure its always better to change the time. You can damage the gear by forcing a date change when the date change is actually occurring normally. This is true on a lot of different movement types etc. It is VERY possible seeing as by the looks of your post you didn't know this and accordingly you easily may have done exactly what I listed above at some time or another.

http://gearpatrol.com/2013/06/05/com...hanical-watch/ halfway down the page.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f72/set...ch-447260.html

No I am aware of that. You are not supposed to change the date on this watch between 10:30pm and 3:30am. One thing I do not like about this watch is it does not tell you am/pm so you always have to spin it past 12 to see if the date changes so you know for sure where it's at.

It's possible I did it by mistake but I tried to be careful about that.

[brianeck]

Originally Posted by RedlinePSI

No I am aware of that. You are not supposed to change the date on this watch between 10:30pm and 3:30am. One thing I do not like about this watch is it does not tell you am/pm so you always have to spin it past 12 to see if the date changes so you know for sure where it's at.

It's possible I did it by mistake but I tried to be careful about that.

Pretty much all watches won't have an AM/PM monitor, so you just always have to assume its PM and then spin the dials away from the "changing time" to something lower. "Always making them point down" is a surefire way to get this right before you mess with the date!