What should you check before buying a watch?

　　I believe that for many people, buying a watch is not a momentary whim. When everyone decides to acquire a watch, what needs to be checked before buying? Let's take a look together below.

　　First is the appearance inspection. The appearance of a watch is not just about looking pretty; the case, dial, and strap should look coordinated and aesthetic, while the finishing of the case should be up to scratch, without appearing dull or having sharp edges. At the same time, the text and images engraved on the case should also be clear and complete. If it is an average-priced watch, the steel bracelet needs to have flexible and skin-fitting links, while the leather strap needs to be comfortable to wear (whereas high-end watches mostly use leather straps such as alligator leather, so care must be taken in daily life).

　　Secondly, the hand-setting inspection. The coordination between the hour and minute hands should be good; when the minute hand coincides with the "12" hour marker, the minute and hour hands should overlap and align with the marker. Turn the hour, minute, and second hands to the overlapping position to check that there is no rubbing between the second hand and the crystal, the hour hand and the dial, and among the three hands; this needs to be checked one by one at the 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock positions. When setting the mechanical watch in an anti-clockwise direction, the second hand is allowed to stop or move backwards, but when the hand setting stops, the second hand should resume moving.

　　Movement quality inspection. Talking about movement inspection is rather complicated; we can observe it through some important movement components, such as the shock absorber. Different workshops have different grades. Modern watches are relatively popular with exhibition case-backs; relatively easy-to-see components are the escape wheel and pallet fork. Mid-to-low-end movements use brass pallet forks, and the surfaces of both the escape wheel and pallet fork are not polished. High-end movements use steel pallet forks (because steel has a lower specific gravity), and the surfaces of both the escape wheel and pallet fork are polished. Polishing steel parts and decorating and grinding the movement bridges are major characteristics of high- and low-grade watch movements.

　　Others, including the date window and watch reliability, etc. For watches with date and day display functions, when inspecting them, there should be no phenomenon of half-jumping or non-jumping characters, and the date-jumping time should be within 15 minutes before or after "0" o'clock. As for the reliability of the watch, it means that under normal conditions of use, the watch must not stop, parts must not fall off by themselves, and the hand-setting mechanism must work reliably.

　　The above are a few matters that need attention before buying a watch, and I hope they are helpful to those who want to purchase a timepiece. Of course, in addition to the points mentioned above, details such as the material, craftsmanship, and crystal of the watch are all worth noting. By observing carefully and summarising experiences, I believe everyone will surely have their own set of watch-buying insights.