hOW TO WIND YOUR TAGHEUER AQUARACER CALIBRE 5


The famous brand known for its endorsements and sponsorship in motorsports, TagHeuer breached out into all sports and out of its aqua designs, the Aquaracer came to be. If you have been interested in watches, specifically the TagHeuer Aquaracer calibre 5 (reference WBD and WAY), you will have seen hundreds of different versions each with their own colours, designs and movements. Depending on your Aquaracer and model will affect how you wind your TagHeuer Aquaracer calibre 5. With complications ranging from your classic time-only to a grand date complication with multiple time zones and the date benign displayed, it is important you know which movement your Aquaracer has. That will ensure you know the appropriate method to wind your Aquaracer up and make sure it lasts as long as it is well loved for!

TAG HEUER CALIBRE 5

TagHeuer Aquaracers all feature a screw down to ensure 300 metres of water resistance and to avoid the crown accidentally being knoed or pulled out whilst submerged in water. Thai means you need to turn the crown in an anticlockwise motion to unscrew the crown until you feel it click out into the first position. If you own an automatic Aquaracer then the first position will be used to set the time by turning the crown forward and backwards you can adjust the hour and minute hand to set the correct time. However, if you own an Aquaracer with a quartz movement then this will not be the case. The first position on all the automatic  Aquaracers allows you to wind up the spring that powers your watch. 

Winding your Aquaracer should feel very smooth and the crown’s on the Aquaracers are incredibly studious so there will not be any wobbly feeling when you interact with the crown. Keep winding your watch up until you see the second hand start ticking. TagHeuer will recommend you wind your watch 25-30 rotations of the crown. However, even if this is true, a good rule of thumb is to stay the course until you feel it becomes more difficult to turn.

This is because the spring is getting tighter and now reaching its ‘healthy’ limit which is its maximum capacity. The number of rotations that this takes will vary watch to watch which is why it's good to stop when you feel more resistance to avoid damaging or even breaking the spring!

TAG HEUER CALIBRE 5

Source : Calibre11

TAG HEUER CALIBRE 5

Source : Time & TIde

Compared to some watch movements from TagHeuer and other brands, the Aquaracers moments are either automatic or quartz, no manual movements. This means that once you have wound your  Aquaracer up, so long as you keep wearing it, the automatic rotor will keep winding the spring inside. Don’t worry, there is a safety clutch on thes rotors ro make sure it does not keep winding the spring past its limit so you can wear your Aquaracer all day everyday! 

If you have a date function on your Aquaracer then you have 3 positions for your crown, the first benign for winding, the second benign for the date and the third for the time. First move the hands using the third position to 6:30, this is because the calibre 5 could be damaged when the hands are not both pointing downwards. Now in the  second position you can rotate the crown anti-clockwise to get the date before the date you want displayed. That way, when you move the hands to go past 00:00 you will know the next time you cross 00:00 it will be midday and not midnight. Just a useful tip to avoid having to circle through all the dates again! Now you have got the correct date you simply pull the crown out to the third position to set the correct time. This is the same process if you own a quartz except for the first position will not be for winding, it will instead be used to adjust the date wheel and the second position will be for moving the hour and minute hands.

TAG HEUER CALIBRE 5

Source : ZEALANDE

If you have a second hour hand to display the time in another time zone then you still have to use the second position. Like before, rotating the crown anti-clockwise will still cycle through the dates. However, if you turn it clockwise you will be able to move the GMT hand forward and only forward. Beware, if you miss the correct hour, you need to cycle all the way round, otherwise you’ll accidentally change the date! This is the same process if you have a GMT feature on a chronograph Aquaracer, a grand date (like reference CAF101A). This is what Tagheuer called their older Aquaracer chronograph models with a date, time and chronograph function (But now it would refer to a model that has multiple time zones and a date function). 

Now you know how to wind your Aquaracer, set the date and time, you are now ready to wear it on your wrist on either the metal bracelet or one of ZEALANDE' fantastic swiss-made rubber straps. With the Aquaracer calibre 5 being a sports watch, wearing iot for sporting activities is no issue and to improve your experience, a rubber strap is lighter and easily adjustable to the right size. Here at ZEALANDE we can offer you multiple colours to either match or contrast and complement your dial for a new sporty look so have a look at our range to see what colours you like!

— James Talbot