A love note to calibre 8806

I spent some time this week regulating newly arrived watches and their movements from other brands, so whilst in the process of playing around with some incredible beat error and daily rates I thought I would place a few Omegas (Omega’s?) on the timegrapher for an update.

For some in the watch box it has been years since I’ve had a look at daily rates and amplitude.

Calibre 321 in the Ed White was around +7 dial up and 290 amp, which on wrist has been around a chronometer level in actual wear tested over half a year. Great, I thought, that’s incredibly solid for a watch with architecture from a base movement and architecture from the 40’s. The 321 I have was put together in 2022 in an Ed White, so considered fairly new as far as my Omegas.

How does the 8806 in my Seamaster from 2017 compare?

On wrist in real world conditions it has been thoroughly tested as around +0.1 seconds per day, tested over 500+ days.

On the timegrapher, +4/seconds per day dial up seemed normal after many hours; with 290 amplitude after an hour on the graph and tidy beat error. Phenomenal! Thought I’d share.

If this is the running and daily rate I’ll only look for deviation for servicing after deviation or degradation of daily rates and amplitude.

How does your 8806 fare?

Years of wear and tear certainly have an effect, 230-250 amplitude sounds quite normal.

The Ed White I have has been worn almost daily, it used to be 310 amplitude after a full wind, I’ll place it on the timegrapher in a year or so to see how it fares.

Your new 321 is impressive. My new 321 (Dec2024 stamping) runs +13-18 seconds at 60th hour since full wind, and I think it still falls within the range allowed -1 ~ +10 seconds per day.

I don't think the Weishi 1900 can properly measure amplitude for a co-axial movement. At least that's what I've been told by Omega watchmakers.

But it's fine for rate and beat error.

Interesting. I guess for testing fully the older 321 it is ok.

Might be time for a Witschi though, most of the watches I have coaxial escapements.

I normally like to test over the course of a number of days, winding just once a day at around about the same time.

I think with your rates your watch will likely perform about the same.