One burning question that has stayed in the back of my head has been, “Should I ever sleep with my luxury watch on?”. After thinking about it for several days and looking through forums to see what other watch enthusiasts had to say, I decided to run my own experiment over several days to finally answer the question that has been stuck in my head.
As a general rule, it’s recommended not to sleep with a luxury watch on. While it provides you the time immediately when you wake up, sleeping with a watch on may feel uncomfortable and there is a possibility that your watch can get damaged or incur long-term damage when you wear it to bed.
Keep reading this article to see my experience wearing a watch to sleep, my 3-day test, and my final thoughts about wearing a watch to sleep.
Is It OK To Sleep With A Watch On?
One of the most asked questions that I have seen recently is “Is It OK to sleep with a watch on?”, and I have been thinking about it for a while now. Because of this, I decided to run my own experiment over the past three days, and I found that I do not recommend wearing a watch to sleep. While wearing it at night may not show immediate problems, it can be uncomfortable and may lead to long-term effects that can be avoided if you don’t wear it to sleep.
One of the main reasons why I do not recommend wearing a watch to bed is because it can be uncomfortable when you wear it at night. I found this problem particularly throughout my 3-day test. I often found myself looking down carefully at my watch to make sure that it didn’t bump into anything, which made it harder for me to fall asleep. Perhaps it may just be me, but I did not like the feeling of being uncomfortable when I ran my experiment.
Another issue that I realized is that wearing a watch to sleep keeps the movement running, thus wearing out the watch’s internal movement and leading to more servicing.
When you wear a watch at night, especially an automatic movement, the internal movement does not stop and constantly keeps running. This means that the internal gears and parts are constantly moving every minute of every day, which can lead to more expensive servicing over the years and wear your watch out faster.
Because wearing a luxury watch to sleep can be uncomfortable and can lessen the overall lifespan of a timepiece, I would not recommend wearing a luxury watch to sleep, but rather investing in an alarm clock and storing away your timepieces safely behind a lock and key.
My Experience And 3-Day Test
To test and really see if you should wear a luxury watch at night, I decided to wear my Breitling Wings, one of my favorite timepieces in my collection, to sleep over a span of three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) to see if it is safe to wear it at night.
My Breitling Wings watch is one of my favorite timepieces that I own right now, and it’s one of my go-to timepieces to wear. In fact, I made a complete review on this specific Breitling watch because I love it so much. Click here to view the in-depth review.
By the time that I woke up on the third morning, I concluded that I would not recommend wearing a watch at night for several reasons. Without further ado, let’s take a deep dive into my 3-day experiment and see what happened.
Wearing My Watch To Sleep: Night 1
During the first night, I put my watch on after I read a chapter in a book that I was reading. I really didn’t expect much of anything. However, I did get a little worried because I know that I do move around in my sleep often and there are tons of hard ledges around my bed, so I was pretty skeptical when wearing my watch to sleep.
However, when I was trying to go to bed later that night, I found that it was somewhat uncomfortable wearing the watch when I was going to bed. Maybe it’s because I am not used to wearing my timepieces when I sleep, but I found that it just didn’t feel right to wear it, and I was carefully looking at the timepiece and making sure it doesn’t hit anything around my bed. This was something that I found unsatisfying about wearing a watch to sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, everything was perfectly fine, and I found a good thing about wearing a luxury watch at night: it immediately gives you the time. As soon as I woke up, I looked at my wrist and I immediately knew what the exact time was. However, I would much rather do this with my phone or a simple alarm clock and not take the risk of damaging my watch.
Nonetheless, my watch was in the same condition that it was in before, and I had no injuries on my wrist after wearing it, which made me feel relieved for the most part. When I first woke up, I was nervous to look down at my wrist because if I saw any major damage on the watch from hitting it against something, I would freak out.
Wearing My Watch To Sleep: Night 2
The second night of wearing my watch to sleep was extremely similar to the first night. After I read my book, I again put my luxury watch on my wrist and proceeded to head to bed. Although, I felt a little more comfortable wearing it since I didn’t have any repercussions of wearing it the first night. Nonetheless, I was still a tad bit worried.
As soon as I woke up in the morning after the second night, I realized that wearing a luxury watch when you sleep can lead to long-term damage and more servicing in the future.
When you wear a watch at night when you go to bed, the internal movement constantly keeps running, which means that the watch will be worn out much faster and can lead to more expensive servicing in the future. As soon as I realized this, a flip in my mind was suddenly switched and I decided that I would not recommend wearing a watch to sleep.
Similar to the first night, I didn’t find any new, major abrasions on the watch and I yet again had no injuries. As far as the timekeeping goes, the watch was still running perfectly fine and the automatic movement still performed just as I expected.
Wearing My Watch To Sleep: Night 3 (Final Night)
And on the third and final night, I followed the same procedure as the first two tests and wore the same watch on my wrist when
To be completely honest, I was sort of happy on the final night because I still felt uncomfortable wearing my luxury watch to bed because of all of the realizations I made during the tests prior. But still, I carried on with the final part of the test and wore my Breitling watch to sleep for the final time.
On the third test, I fell asleep much faster than I did during the first and second night. However, I woke up in the middle of the night and immediately looked down at my watch, which didn’t happen during the first test. But when I woke up in the morning, I had the same result as the first two nights: there were no new scratches on the watch and I didn’t have any injuries.
Even though nothing bad really happened at the end of all three nights and everything was completely safe, I still would not sleep with my luxury watch on because I don’t want to risk anything bad happening to them, and storing it in a safe is a much better option in my opinion.
What Should You Do Instead Of Sleeping With A Luxury Watch?
Even though sleeping with a luxury watch is not recommended and can lead to long-term servicing in the future, there are several alternatives that you can do instead of sleeping with it at night to optimize the life span of your timepiece.
Invest In An Alarm Clock
The only real and logical reason to wear a luxury watch to sleep is to immediately check the time when you wake up (which I found out after the first test). Even though it can provide you with the time immediately as soon as you wake up, it is much easier to do this with an alarm clock and it takes away the risk of potentially ruining your luxury watch.
On top of that, alarm clocks are relatively cheap and you could find them at basically any store. In addition, they also provide you the time immediately similar to a luxury watch does. Because of these reasons, I recommend buying an alarm clock instead of wearing your watch to sleep at night. To me, this is the simplest and most effective alternative.
Store Your Watch Properly At Night
To safely keep your timepiece secure at night, it is vital to properly store your watch at night to prevent thieves or other factors from damaging your watch. As a general rule, the safest way to protect your watch is behind a locked, reliable safe in a unique hiding spot. This minimizes the risk of your watch ever being stolen or damaged, which is so significant for keeping your watch safe at night.
I love scrolling through “Reddit” and “WatchUSeek”, which are public forums that have watch discussions, and I have come across so many users who tell their horror stories of how their watch was damaged at night or stolen just because they were not storing their timepieces correctly, which makes me sad because I know that could be completely avoided.
As a matter of fact, I made a complete article discussing all this topic. Storing a watch at night is so important because it keeps your timepieces safe and helps you keep a peace of mind at night when you go off to sleep, which is the sole reason why I created it. If you want to educate yourself about storing your watch at night, check out the article click here.
Sleeping With A Luxury Watch On: My Thoughts
At the end of the day, I do not recommend sleeping with a luxury watch on, and I do not plan on doing it in the future. After running my own tests, I realized several issues that can arise if you consistently wear your watch to sleep at night.
For me, my number one priority is the longevity and safety of all my watches. I want my timepieces to last as long as possible, which is why I store my watches safely at night instead of wearing them. I personally found that the benefit of keeping a watch in a safe at night significantly outweighs the benefits of wearing a luxury watch to sleep.
If I wear my watch to sleep and I figure out that it incurred major problems because I knocked it against something, I would be more than frustrated because I know that the whole situation could have been avoided if I were to just keep my watches behind a safe. This is why I keep my watches behind a lock and key because I never have to worry about this problem again.
If you ultimately decide that you want to wear your watch at night and you do not really care about the downsides that come with it, then by all means please do what you want to do. But for me, I am personally going to stay away from wearing my watch as much as possible so my watches last for years and years.