Once your watch is fully wound the next thing you’re going to want to know is, is it manual or automatic? Automatic Omega’s feature a rotor in the movement which can freely move both left and right as you move your wrist around. This rotor is also attached to the spring that’s responsible for the power reserve of your watch. Automatic watches usually don’t need wounding up as frequently so long since so long as you keep wearing it, the power reserve will be constantly wound up. 

The rotor moves freely left and right which keeps winding up the power reserve, but instead of actually manually winding it, the rotor winds it when you move your wrist. Thanks to gravity on earth, watch makers realised you could use kinetic energy to power your Omega watch so you only have to wind your watch up when you take your watch off for an extended period of time. Both Omega sport and classic watches feature this however there are a few models that don’t. 

One of Omega’ most famous watches ever made, the Moonwatch that went to the moon on the wrists of the astronauts back in 1969. Since automatic Omega’ use a rotor that works from kinetic energy, which relies on gravity, as soon as you're in space there's no gravity. So kinetic energy isn’t going to work making the rotor feature completely useless.

Hence Omega left that function out so if you own the Omega Moon watch or a vintage Omega before 1931, you will have to wind your watch up everyday. Even though most people who buy a Moonwatch in 2022 are not going to the moon or space, Omega kept it as close to the original model. 

With there being no rotor in the movement to constantly charge your power reserve, it is up to you to make sure you keep your Omega watch wound, otherwise it will stop ticking and the time will be incorrect! Since the Moonwatch and vintage Omega dress watches didn’t have a screw down crown you do not need to unscrew the crown. From the first position, which is the position when the crown is pushed all the way in, you can simply start to wind your Omega. 

Just like before, be careful not to overwind your manual Omega because it is possible to overwind these models and this would actually break the spring which would mean your watch no longer has a power source. With manual Omega watches it’s just like putting fuel in your car at the gas station, you feel a click to let you know it’s full, the same goes for your Omega. You should be able to feel a small click as you’re winding it and this click lets you know the power reserve is full so you should stop winding.  

As you can see, for some Omega watches (like vintage Omega’ or their Moonwatch line up) you can simply just turn the crown to wind it up but for others you need to first unscrew the crown before you can start to wind them up (like theri Seamaster lineup). Once your Omega is wound up, keeping it wound up is also different, the Moonwatch requires you to wind it once a day to keep the power reserve full whilst the automatic rotor feature in most of their modern lineup means you don’t have to do that. Knowing this will help you ensure your Omega watch is safely wound up and keeping time with a healthy power reserve to get you through the day!