A wooden watch needs less looking after than most people expect. There is no oiling, no waxing and no special product to buy. What it does need is keeping out of water, away from direct heat, and wiped down now and then. Below are ten tips, and the direct answers to the questions people actually ask.
The ten tips, in short
- Take it off before swimming, showering or washing up.
- Wipe it with a dry or barely damp cloth, never a household cleaner.
- Dry it properly if it does get wet, and let it air rather than using heat.
- Keep it away from radiators, hot cars and direct sun.
- Store it out of the bathroom, where humidity swings hardest.
- Put it on last, after aftershave, perfume, sunscreen and hand cream.
- Take it off for the gym, DIY and anything with repeated knocks.
- Change the battery when it stops rather than leaving it sitting.
- Have links adjusted by a watch shop rather than forcing them yourself.
- Give it a wipe every couple of weeks rather than waiting for it to look dirty.
How do you clean a wooden watch?
Wipe it with a dry or barely damp soft cloth. That is the whole method. Household cleaners, alcohol wipes and polish all strip the finish, and anything abrasive will scuff the grain.
If the case has picked up grime in the crevices, a dry soft toothbrush works. Do the wipe every couple of weeks rather than waiting until it looks dirty, because grime lifts easily when it is fresh and needs scrubbing once it is not.
Can you get a wooden watch wet?
Briefly, yes. Properly, no. Rain is fine and being caught out is fine, but take a wooden watch off before swimming, showering or washing up. Wood is porous, and prolonged soaking can swell or discolour a case in a way that does not reverse.
If it does get soaked, pat it dry with a cloth and leave it somewhere room temperature to finish drying on its own. Do not put it on a radiator or use a hairdryer, because forcing the water out fast is what causes splitting.
How do you stop a wooden watch drying out?
Keep it away from direct heat. Radiators, car dashboards in summer, windowsills in direct sun and long spells of central heating are the things that dry wood out, and dry wood is what eventually cracks.
Storing it in a drawer or a box rather than on an open surface handles most of this by itself. Avoid the bathroom, where humidity swings from very high to very low several times a day.
Do wooden watches need oiling?
No. Wooden watch cases are finished and sealed at manufacture, and adding oil or wax sits on top of that finish rather than feeding the wood. It tends to go tacky and collect dust.
If a case ever looks dull, that is almost always surface grime rather than dryness, and a wipe fixes it.
How often should the battery be changed?
Every couple of years for a quartz movement, and the honest signal is simply that the watch has stopped. Any watch shop can do it in minutes.
What matters more than the timing is not leaving a flat battery sitting inside the case for months. That is one of the two things that ends a watch early, the other being water.
Can a scratched wooden watch be fixed?
Light marks usually settle. Wood darkens and develops a patina with wear, and shallow scratches blend into that rather than standing out the way they do on polished steel.
Deeper gouges are permanent, which is the honest answer. This is why a wooden watch is worth taking off for DIY, the gym and anything involving repeated knocks against hard surfaces.
Does aftershave or perfume damage a wooden watch?
It can. Alcohol-based sprays, sunscreen and hand creams all sit on the finish and some will dull it over time.
The fix is ordering rather than avoidance: put the watch on last, once everything else has gone on and dried.
How should you store a wooden watch?
Somewhere dry, out of direct sun and away from heat. A drawer or a box is ideal. If you are storing it for months rather than days, take the battery out first so a leak cannot damage the movement.
How do you resize a wooden watch strap?
Take it to a watch shop. Wooden links are held by small pins and they are less forgiving than metal ones, so forcing a link is how people break a strap that was fine. Most shops do it while you wait for a few pounds.
How long should a wooden watch last?
Years, with the care above. The movement inside is the same kind of sealed quartz used in metal watches, so timekeeping is not the weak point. The case is what benefits from the habits on this page.
Every Forest watch carries a two year warranty. Our watches are handcrafted from reclaimed timber and run a Miyota quartz movement, and we plant ten trees through Tree-Nation with every watch sold.
If you are still deciding whether wood is right for you, we cover the trade-offs in are wooden watches any good. Or take a look at the Barrel and the Victoria.
