Hi Everyone - I'm new to vintage Heuer watches, and have been fortunate enough to have acquired a few Autavias and a Carrera that all have the Calibre 12 movement.

I know this is an incredibly stupid question - but with the crown on the lefthand side I wanted to make sure I'm hand-winding it correctly. Generally I only hand wind if the watch is empty of power reserve and I want to start wearing it and jumpstarting the movement. So I suppose my questions are:

1) Is it bad on the movement to hand-wind an empty Calibre 12? Or should I just put it on and get the rotor moving to get things started?

2) Do I wind it clockwise or counter-clockwise as the crown is on the left? It is MUCH easier to wind counterclockwise, and when I go backward (our clockwise) it seems to be really gritty and worries me that I may be causing damage to the movement.

Anyways - any tips for what is best for these 1970's watches would be MIUCH appreciated - and sorry for the total newbie questions!