How accurate is your mechanical watch?
Discussion
My 2011 Rolex sub was the most accurate of my mechanical watches, it was essentially spot on - never more than 5 or 10s out when I came to change the hour for BST. Quite remarkable really. In 2019 it needed a service because the mainspring wouldn't power it for more than a few hours. Since the service it is +3s/day regardless of whether I wear it or put it down in any orientation.
My glycine incursore is +1s/day out of the box and still is 3 years later.
Seiko turtle save the ocean manta ray 2020 was ~7s/day, now within 1s/day after adjusting.
Seiko landshark was 30s/day, now within 2s/day.
I use an iPhone app with headphone mic to calibrate them, it's a fiddly process but you can get them to run well if you take your time (can't do that with the sub though). I've always been a bit
when it comes to the timekeeping of my clockwork watches.
My glycine incursore is +1s/day out of the box and still is 3 years later.
Seiko turtle save the ocean manta ray 2020 was ~7s/day, now within 1s/day after adjusting.
Seiko landshark was 30s/day, now within 2s/day.
I use an iPhone app with headphone mic to calibrate them, it's a fiddly process but you can get them to run well if you take your time (can't do that with the sub though). I've always been a bit
when it comes to the timekeeping of my clockwork watches.
Regbuser said:
Given that there's approximately 31,556,952 seconds in one year, yet 31,536,000 in 365 days, how does a mechanical timepiece factor the 'surplus' 20,952 in?
Same way that calendars do- completely ignores them (and maybe adds a day every four years if you've paid enough.As to the OP, by Cal 36 Tag is appx +2 s/d, though it's hard to really notice as the seconds don't stop when setting time.
I have an old Valjoux from the 40's that does about +5mins/day. I really need to get that sorted!
glazbagun said:
Regbuser said:
Given that there's approximately 31,556,952 seconds in one year, yet 31,536,000 in 365 days, how does a mechanical timepiece factor the 'surplus' 20,952 in?
Same way that calendars do- completely ignores them (and maybe adds a day every four years if you've paid enough.As to the OP, by Cal 36 Tag is appx +2 s/d, though it's hard to really notice as the seconds don't stop when setting time.
I have an old Valjoux from the 40's that does about +5mins/day. I really need to get that sorted!
When I later bought a Rolex I thought it was faulty.
Thirty year old Seiko 7002-7009 runs at about +1 to 2 seconds a day, never serviced or regulated. My Seiko orange monster gains at least +30 seconds a day. I tend to only wear them for three or four days at a time though, so it's not much of an issue. It's more annoying to pick up my g-shock after a couple of months or so to find it's gained a minute, with the autos you're starting and resetting them anyway.
I've been wearing a Sugess panda which has the ST1901 manual wind movement in it. I have to say I'm impressed with how well it runs.
I'm not monitoring it to the second but I'd anticipate over the course of a month I'd notice it being maybe a minute ahead or behind but despite it not having a hacking movement, it seems pretty much spot on.
I'm not monitoring it to the second but I'd anticipate over the course of a month I'd notice it being maybe a minute ahead or behind but despite it not having a hacking movement, it seems pretty much spot on.
I wear my 'work' watch more than any other, which is an older Oric BC3. After a relatively recent service, it manages to keep time to within about +1/+2sec per day. Sometimes it is within the second.
This is obviously a combination of a 'good' ETA 2836, excellent regulation and my combination of wear and rest suiting it perfectly. Sometimes this can have a far greater effect on your day to day accuracy: if it gains 10sec whilst you are wearing it, but loses it again in the 8hrs that the watch is off and on its side on a dressing table, then the nett result is outstanding accuracy, even though the watch movement may not be particularly accurate...
This is obviously a combination of a 'good' ETA 2836, excellent regulation and my combination of wear and rest suiting it perfectly. Sometimes this can have a far greater effect on your day to day accuracy: if it gains 10sec whilst you are wearing it, but loses it again in the 8hrs that the watch is off and on its side on a dressing table, then the nett result is outstanding accuracy, even though the watch movement may not be particularly accurate...
I have 3, all hand winding.
Laco and Stowa both adjust/regulate all movements in-house to 5 positions beyond what the movement maker does in their factory hence the tight accuracy. Hamilton likely do the same as the H-50 has been modified to beat slower for the 80hr reserve and modifications to components meaning it requires laser regulation.
Your watch would be beating most quartz watches in the world too let alone the world's most accurate mech movement...
I think what yours is actually doing is that depending on wear pattern and watch position, the watch will gain and lose time as do all mechanical watches. It just so happens that your watch has been worn/placed etc in various positions that have resulted in gaining and losing time throughout this time and as you've just checked it now, those swings either side have kept the accuracy to around the +7s mark.
Had you kept the watch in the same position for a full week for example it's almost certain you'd be seeing the sum total of a few seconds per day either side.
A better way to measure is daily so your wear pattern for each day can be taken into account. You will see that + or - in action then too.
Laco and Stowa both adjust/regulate all movements in-house to 5 positions beyond what the movement maker does in their factory hence the tight accuracy. Hamilton likely do the same as the H-50 has been modified to beat slower for the 80hr reserve and modifications to components meaning it requires laser regulation.
Tango13 said:
Since I wound it forward a day at the end of November my Rolex GMT II has gained 7 seconds.
A mechanical watch gaining only 7 seconds in ~3 months? That seems impossible considering the world's most accurate movement resides in the Zenith Defy which is 0.3s a day!Your watch would be beating most quartz watches in the world too let alone the world's most accurate mech movement...
I think what yours is actually doing is that depending on wear pattern and watch position, the watch will gain and lose time as do all mechanical watches. It just so happens that your watch has been worn/placed etc in various positions that have resulted in gaining and losing time throughout this time and as you've just checked it now, those swings either side have kept the accuracy to around the +7s mark.
Had you kept the watch in the same position for a full week for example it's almost certain you'd be seeing the sum total of a few seconds per day either side.
A better way to measure is daily so your wear pattern for each day can be taken into account. You will see that + or - in action then too.
Edited by robbiekhan on Sunday 6th February 01:13
robbiekhan said:
I have 3, all hand winding.
Laco and Stowa both adjust/regulate all movements in-house to 5 positions beyond what the movement maker does in their factory hence the tight accuracy. Hamilton likely do the same as the H-50 has been modified to beat slower for the 80hr reserve and modifications to components meaning it requires laser regulation.
Your watch would be beating most quartz watches in the world too let alone the world's most accurate mech movement...
I think what yours is actually doing is that depending on wear pattern and watch position, the watch will gain and lose time as do all mechanical watches. It just so happens that your watch has been worn/placed etc in various positions that have resulted in gaining and losing time throughout this time and as you've just checked it now, those swings either side have kept the accuracy to around the +7s mark.
Had you kept the watch in the same position for a full week for example it's almost certain you'd be seeing the sum total of a few seconds per day either side.
A better way to measure is daily so your wear pattern for each day can be taken into account. You will see that + or - in action then too.
I use the watch for 23 3/4 hours a day every day, the 1/4 hr is when I'm in the shower. After its last service it was all over the place so before I sent it back I monitored it over 30 days of constant use and made sure Rolex were aware of the fact that I wear it on the inside of my wrist. Laco and Stowa both adjust/regulate all movements in-house to 5 positions beyond what the movement maker does in their factory hence the tight accuracy. Hamilton likely do the same as the H-50 has been modified to beat slower for the 80hr reserve and modifications to components meaning it requires laser regulation.
Tango13 said:
Since I wound it forward a day at the end of November my Rolex GMT II has gained 7 seconds.
A mechanical watch gaining only 7 seconds in ~3 months? That seems impossible considering the world's most accurate movement resides in the Zenith Defy which is 0.3s a day!Your watch would be beating most quartz watches in the world too let alone the world's most accurate mech movement...
I think what yours is actually doing is that depending on wear pattern and watch position, the watch will gain and lose time as do all mechanical watches. It just so happens that your watch has been worn/placed etc in various positions that have resulted in gaining and losing time throughout this time and as you've just checked it now, those swings either side have kept the accuracy to around the +7s mark.
Had you kept the watch in the same position for a full week for example it's almost certain you'd be seeing the sum total of a few seconds per day either side.
A better way to measure is daily so your wear pattern for each day can be taken into account. You will see that + or - in action then too.
Edited by robbiekhan on Sunday 6th February 01:13
Harrisons' H4 was tested on a 47 day voyage with an error of less than 40 seconds and 115 seconds over 147 days on a different voyage.
Correctly calibrated and used regularly a self winding watch can be very accurate indeed.
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