A process for manufacturing a polyester resin insulated wire involves coating a resin consisting essentially of a saturated substantially linear polyester resin prepared by reacting (i) an aromatic dicarboxylic acid or a dicarboxylic acid in which an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid is substituted for part of the aromatic dicarboxylic acid, and (ii) an aliphatic diol or an aromatic diol on a conductor having a copper surface without use of a solvent, and then heating the coated conductor in oxygen or an oxygen-containing gas at a temperature higher than the melting point of said linear polyester resin to permit cross-linking in the coated resin.