Care and use

Your watch at a glance

Water, and the one rule that matters

Every Wren is rated to 200 metres. That rating only applies with the crown screwed fully down.

This is the most important line in this manual. The crown is the weakest point against water, and one left unscrewed after setting the time — or left half-turned — is an open door. Before the watch goes near water, press the crown in and turn it clockwise until it stops. It should sit flush and feel firm.

• Never touch the crown while the watch is wet or underwater. Dry it first.
• Rinse with fresh water after salt water or chlorine. Both attack gaskets. Fresh water and a soft cloth is all it takes.
• Keep it out of hot showers, saunas and steam rooms. Heat softens gaskets and the temperature swing can draw moisture past them. Water resistance is tested cold — a sauna is a harder test than a dive.
• Have it pressure tested every year or two, and any time the case has been opened. Gaskets are a wear item and they perish quietly.

If you ever see fogging inside the crystal, stop wearing it and contact us that day. Moisture inside a case does real damage fast.

The bezel

120 clicks means one click every 3 degrees — one click every 30 seconds of elapsed time. You can line it up to the half-minute rather than rounding.

Unidirectional means it only turns counter-clockwise, and that is a safety feature. If the bezel is knocked during a dive it can only rotate in the direction that makes your elapsed time read longer than it truly is. You surface early rather than late. A bidirectional bezel knocked the wrong way tells you that you have air left when you do not.

To time something: turn the bezel until the triangle at 12 lines up with the minute hand, then read the elapsed minutes off the bezel wherever the minute hand has travelled to. Works as well for parking meters and coffee as it does for a dive.

On the Diver 38 the entire bezel scale is lumed, not just the pip, so elapsed time stays readable in the dark.

Winding

All three movements are automatic and all three can also be wound by hand.

From a dead stop: unscrew the crown, then turn it clockwise in position 0 (pushed in, unscrewed). About 30 to 40 full turns takes any of the three to a full wind.

You cannot overwind it. The SW200, SW300-1 and 2824 all use a slipping mainspring bridle, which disengages at the top rather than snapping anything. In a hurry, 20 turns is plenty to get it running — wearing it does the rest.

A day of normal wear keeps an automatic topped up. Off the wrist Friday evening, it will likely still be running Sunday morning and stopped by Sunday night.

Setting the time and date

Time: unscrew the crown, pull to position 2. The seconds hand stops — all three hack, so you can set to the second. Push back in and screw down.

To check whether you are at midnight or noon, run the hands past 12 and watch for the date to flip. Get this wrong and the date will change at lunchtime.

Date: pull the crown to position 1 and turn.

Do not change the date between roughly 9pm and 3am. In that window the date change mechanism is already engaged and under load. Forcing it with the quickset is one of the most common ways owners break an otherwise healthy watch. If you need to set the date in the evening, wind the hands forward to a safe hour first, set the date, then set the time.

If you chose the no-date Diver 38, there is no ghost date position — the crown has one fewer stop, exactly as it should.

Never polish a coated case

Every Wren carries a DLC coating — clear on every model except the Obsidian, which is black. It is far harder than bare steel, which is why a Wren holds its brushing and its edges. Why that is worth having is explained in the FAQ.

What matters here is one rule: never let anyone polish or buff a coated case. A jeweller who offers to buff out a scratch is about to remove the coating in that spot, and it cannot be spot-repaired — the case has to be stripped and recoated. If a Wren needs cosmetic attention, come to us first.

Day to day the coating asks nothing of you. Warm water, a drop of mild soap, a soft toothbrush for the bracelet, rinse, dry.

Bracelet and straps

• Lug width is 20mm on the Diver 38, 22mm on the Diver One and Diver One Titanium. Any quality strap in that width fits.
• The bracelet links are screwed, not friction pins. Use a properly fitting screwdriver, work slowly, and a drop of thread locker on reassembly is not a bad idea. Any watchmaker can size it in a few minutes if you would rather not.
• The Diver 38’s clasp has on-the-fly micro-adjust, roughly 12mm of extension. Use it. Wrists swell in heat and after exercise, and adjusting without tools is the difference between a bracelet that fits all day and one that fits only in the morning.
• Changing straps: standard spring bars. Use a proper spring bar tool, not a knife, and tape the lugs while you work. The most common damage we see on any watch is a slipped tool between the lugs.

Lume

The Diver 38 uses Swiss Super-LumiNova BL10 Grade X1 on the markers, hands and bezel scale, with the whole scale lumed rather than just the pip.

Lume is a phosphor, not a battery — it charges with light and discharges over hours. Thirty seconds under a bright lamp or in sun gives a full charge and a night’s readability. If it seems weak it has almost always been indoors under dim light all day.

Magnetism, storage and winders

Magnetism is the most common reason a mechanical watch suddenly runs fast. Laptop speakers, tablet covers, magnetic phone mounts and bag clasps are the usual culprits. If yours suddenly gains minutes a day, get it demagnetised — it takes a watchmaker seconds and usually costs nothing.

Storage: dry, away from magnets. If it stops, it stops. Nothing is harmed by a mechanical watch sitting unwound.

Winders are optional. They keep a watch ready to wear; they also keep it running and wearing when it could be resting. Either choice is fine. We do not think you need one.

Accuracy

These are mechanical watches, affected by temperature, position and how much you move. A few seconds a day either way is normal and is not a fault.

If yours is suddenly running very differently from how it used to — tens of seconds a day, or a change that appeared overnight — check for magnetism first, then get in touch.

When to have it serviced

Every five to seven years, and sooner if the power reserve drops off, the accuracy changes sharply, the crown or bezel feels gritty, or you see moisture in the case.

For the first two years we arrange it through our own watchmaker — just contact us. Warranty terms, and what happens after two years, are in the FAQ.

Work by an unauthorised third party voids your warranty. Talk to us before sending a Wren to an independent watchmaker within the warranty period.

The short version