Gents, I have a Speedmaster with a 9300 caliber movement that I have some concerns about. Hope anybody can advise me. The issue is the following:

The movement specs say it should have a 60hr power reserve. When i fully wind the watch manually the power reserve runs out after about 55 hours, which is acceptable to me. However, when I wear it for a few days and then put it in the the case the watch stops running usually after 30 hours or so. This seems not right. You could say that perhaps i dont move enough during the day to properly wind the movement. I do have an office job, however, i also have a 2500 and 8500 caliber watch and these sometimes keep running even longer than the 9300... I am afraid that there might be an issue with the auto wind function of the movement.

Should I take it in for service? I am not really keen on having to be without it for 6 weeks... What is your experience with the 9300 power reserve when you don't use a watch winder?

Any advice and/or experience is welcome.

 

The 60 hour reserve is based on a full wind.

If you're putting it away not fully wound you shouldn't expect a full reserve length.

Sounds like there's no issue with the watch.

 

I understand that. However, is it not strange that my 2500 and 8500 movements keep running longer than my 9300? I even had once that the wach was dead the next morning after wearing it the whole day. I did not fully wind it the day before, however I would expect the watch to fully wind to 60hrs via the rotor with normal use. It seems not to do this. Can any other 9300 owners share their experience on this?

 

I think the more watch is wound the harder rotor winds it. if it's nearly fully unwound even slightest movement of hand will wind it while not the case if it's fully wound. So basically automatic winding will keep your watch wound at 30-40 hours power reserve (estimate).
maybe if the rotor was made of pure gold it would help in winding process, since it's heavier.

 

Yes, however it doesn't tell you if the watch is functioning properly, which is the real question the OP is asking. I would do exactly as you say, fully wind it via the crown, lay it dial up, and track how long it runs before stopping (chronograph off). If it's very close to 60 hours, you know that at least a portion of the watch is fine. Now you need to test the automatic winding system, so fully wind the watch, wear it for 4 days, then take it off, lay it dial up, and see how long it runs. If it is the same as the first test, your are fine. If it's less than the first test, then unless you only wear it for a few hours a day, or are as active as a slug, there is a problem with the watch...

Since the OP has other Omegas that run longer with presumably the same amount of wear and activity, I'm leaning more towards there being a problem with the watch.

Cheers, Al

 

Okay. This makes some more sense.. Also when manual winding I can feel pressure increasing the more I wind the watch. Perhaps this can affect automatic winding as well. Still strange though, that would mean that it would never fully wind when I put it on the watch winder.

 

Thanks, Al. That's exactly what I did in fact. After wearing it for 4 days the power reserve was 25 hours less than when fully winding it manually... And indeed I am not having any similar issues with my 8500 and 2500 movements. I will try this test method one more time next week and report back here... I was thinking the 2nd barrel somehow does not fill up when autowinding.

 

Hi korenje,

You are correct that as the watch winds up, more torque is required to wind the mainspring(s) than when the watch is fully unwound. This is unlikely to be a design issue related to mass in my view, since I would hope Omega employs competent engineers to ensure that the mass of the oscillating weight is sufficient to overcome the forces of the mainspring, and the inefficiencies built into the system. And if it was, everyone would be having this power reserve issue, not just a few people.

Although various materials are used for oscillating weights such as gold, platinum, and on older watches brass, the most common material for the oscillating weight mass on modern watches from mid-level brands like Omega and Rolex is Tungsten. The Blancpain I used to own had an 18k gold rotor on it...



I can't say for certain what it is on the 9300, but I would be surprised if it's not Tungsten, and since the density of Tungsten is 19.25 g/cm3, where pure gold is 19.30 g/cm3, I doubt using gold would make a difference in this case.

Cheers, Al

 

Just remember to fully wind it before starting the 4 day wearing test. This is just to be sure that the watch starts with a full charge...

 

Yep. Will do. Just to be sure, it should be fully wound when I hear a slight click at each rotation, right? Around 30-40 turns from being fully depleted?

 

archer, are you sure that rotor on omega is made of tungsten... because I think tungsten is a bit darker than stainless steel.

 

Omega is advertising it as Rhodium plated, that would probably explain that I suppose.

 

As John R. has noted, it's rhodium plated. The plates of the movement don't look like brass either, but that's what they are made of - Rhodium plated brass...

There is not much stainless steel inside a watch movement, and since steels usually have a density in the area of 8 g/cm3 or so, it would not make for a very efficient design.

Cheers, Al

 

it's brass probably because of machining. tools that small cost a lot of money and if they break it's a problem. so machining brass is much easier and the tools last much longer.
but that's a shame. I was hoping for stainless steel movement case.

 

Just reporting back again... Have worn the watch for 4 straight days (excluding nights of around 8-10hrs) and again the watch stopped after ~32hrs. This is around 25 hours less compared to when i give it a full manual wind and just let it run down in the box. Even though I have an office job I am quite active so I am certain that it is not due to lack of movement during the day. This leads me to believe that somehow the autowind function is only partially building up power reserve, or possibly only in one barrel.

No other similar experiences with the 9300 caliber here? I guess I will send it in for service...

 

AP famously use a rotor of solid 22K gold on the Royal Oak. Sounds like tungsten would have been cheaper and just as effective but not as pretty I guess. Depleted Uranium is pretty dense too but I guess there may be practical issues there...

 

Could possibly be the DLC barrel problem, and Omega has a fix for that, but the only way to know for sure is to send it in. If they send back any replaced parts from the service, post photos of them here.

Cheers, Al