Good question and one i had a sense of the answer, but didn't really know.
that's what google's for, and here's what i found:
For mechanical watches, no. Quartz movement watches are usually safe. ... The reason moving the time in reverse is harmful on mechanical watches is because the mechanisms are only designed to move forward, so reversing their movement can cause stress on the parts.
on the 7s26, as you likely know, a trick to 'hack' or stop the seconds hand to set time is to slightly twist the crown backwards slightly until the seconds hand stops. this takes some practice and isn't really moving the hands backwards, just stalling them.
many SKX diver owners have used this for years with no ill effects, including myself. but as said, that's not really turning the hands backwards to set time.
also, a trick on vostok autos and manual winds as a kind of 'quickset' date is to move hands past 12 so the new date clicks over, and then reverse hands 15 minutes, then again move past 12 to click the date over again, repeating until you get to the date you want.
i've done that before, and many people do. not sure if it's recommended. even if not, these movements are so robust you wouldn't notice the damage. but on higher grade/cost movements i certainly wouldn't do it, but most of those are quickset anyway.
so the 7s26 trick is not really moving hands backwards, but as for changing the date with vostoks it's still such a hassle that i just don't bother with the date on them...so there can be no damage.
thanks for the question and cheers.
161 views
Usually answered in minutes!
×