Community Stories

Accuracy - How do you know? How much do you care?

Lonestar
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Spacefruit Spacefruit
As long as it’s beautiful to my eyes, and as long as it gets the time right twice a day, that’s good enough for me.


I’m not even joking.

My wife always forgets to wind her non-automatic watches and wears them anyway, so she agrees.
 
pdxleaf
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This is a great thread.

I'm probably the worst case, wanting to be the guy that knows how accurate their watch is but doing nothing to track it.

Knowing that a mechanical watch is supoosed to be -0/+5 seconds a day amazes me. I tell myself I should track a new watch to be sure it got off to a good start in life.

But then there's the testing in different positions and keeping records, not to mention remembering to check it at the same time each day. Plus, it'll run differently depending on what position I set it down overnight. Am I getting the real accuracy or am I influencing the results? Shouldn't I give the watch the best opportunity to show what it can do? But if I am only testing it under the best conditions, is it really telling me how the watch will perform the the way I actually use it?

The final straw is when someone asks me the time and I round up to the nearest five minutes. People are happy to know it’s a quarter to the hour, or even ten of. Tell them it's 9:46 and 37 seconds and watch how fast they move away from.you.

Why should it matter if my watch is off a few seconds if I am rounding up the time by minutes? But I should care about knowing accuracy if I bought a watch because it is made to be highly accurate, right?

Eventually my laziness overcomes my obcessiveness and I can forget accuracy as I contentedly wind my watches each morning, except for the automatic Seikos that need wearing. Then its, "Shouldn't I be wearing my Seiko today? But I want to wear my Speedy. Yes, but you bought the Seiko so should wear it. But I like the Speedmaster..." Who has time for accuracy?
 
SkunkPrince
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
Knowing that a mechanical watch is supoosed to be -0/+5 seconds a day amazes me. I tell myself I should track a new watch to be sure it got off to a good start in life.
Note that those specs apply to METAS certification of Omega watches. Not all movements have this spec, and truly many of them are -20 to +40 as manufactured.

Vintage watches, even vintage chronometers, may not meet original specification, though many times they can be adjusted to do so.
 
pdxleaf
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SkunkPrince SkunkPrince
Note that those specs apply to METAS certification of Omega watches. Not all movements have this spec, and truly many of them are -20 to +40 as manufactured.

Vintage watches, even vintage chronometers, may not meet original specification, though many times they can be adjusted to do so.

Don't I know it! 😉

20200421_074643.jpg
 
ahartfie
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The only one I care about is my MegaQuartz 2.4, which keeps time perfectly in sync with my phone until it doesn't, and that's when I know it needs a new battery. Other than that, my PO and my Globey are my most accurate. My vintage Connies are all pretty good when I keep them wound, which I don't anymore. Some of my vintage mechanical watches are more accurate than my 90s quartz watches, which amuses me.

I used to use WatchTracker on my phone but I made a conscious effort to simplify my life a few years ago. No more tracking gas mileage in the car, no more getting receipts for things I don't need (such as groceries), and no more tracking watch accuracy.
 
Wryfox
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Get one of these and the world of accuracy unfolds before you. This is a basic model but you can get higher levels and brands. About $200. Well worth it.

BTW, that is my 1968 Pre Moon Speedy. Nice, eh?

20170216_154636.jpg
 
Waltesefalcon
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Since I like to collect rail road grade pocket watches I like to put mine on a timegrapher. I'm astounded that some people tend to think that vintage watches aren't capable of keeping good time. Many companies have been regulating watches to keep extremely good time since railroads needed accurate watches to avoid train wrecks. I have this 135 year old Illinois that's keeping time to between seven and fifteen seconds a day. I figure that if they are capable of the performance, why not keep them running to that degree.
 
SkunkPrince
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Waltesefalcon Waltesefalcon
I have this 135 year old Illinois that's keeping time to between seven and fifteen seconds a day.
Geeze, that's pretty bad. Sounds like the watchmaker didn't even try to adjust it. I'd find someone who cares for its next service.
 
MPWATCH
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I recommend purchasing a time grapher if you're buying pre-owned. You can hold the seller accountable immediately instead of noticing a slow decline in accuracy over time.

I use this one Timegrapher No.1000, Multifunctional Watch Tester

The $179 is worth every penny if you save on needing to service something or can return something described as perfect/keeping great time.

As far as the obsession of timekeeping is concerned, mostly anything produced after 1980 should give at least 260 amplitude on the timegrapher. If it's lower there's a high chance it will need a service soon.
 
Waltesefalcon
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SkunkPrince SkunkPrince
Geeze, that's pretty bad. Sounds like the watchmaker didn't even try to adjust it. I'd find someone who cares for its next service.
I know you jest but in practical use it is keeping better time than that. On Sunday night I wound it and I've been carrying it since. Every night I'll wind it and check it against my fancy satellite set atomic clock in the living room. It has gained eight seconds in three days.
 
STANDY
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Have been setting my watch by the new rescue cat lately , 5:30 every morning this week Bond ( we call him James ) has wanted a feed. 🫨
 
p4ul
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Wryfox Wryfox
Get one of these and the world of accuracy unfolds before you. This is a basic model but you can get higher levels and brands. About $200. Well worth it.

BTW, that is my 1968 Pre Moon Speedy. Nice, eh?

20170216_154636.jpg

Horrid watch, get it out of your life, pm me for delivery address.😉
 
stevec14
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When I first started out, I was obsessed with accuracy and had the watch tracker app with around 5 watches monitored on it. As time goes on, I realised that largely it was a waste of time and haven’t bothered. Certainly I know my current daily isn’t that accurate (Ed white) but I basically check vs my phone maybe once a fortnight and adjust as appropriate.

accuracy is nice but not what I judge watches on these days. More the way they make you feel when you are wearing them is what matters to me now. If they are accurate to a second a day, then great.
 
stevec14
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STANDY STANDY
Have been setting my watch by the new rescue cat lately , 5:30 every morning this week Bond ( we call him James ) has wanted a feed. 🫨
You are lucky - ours wants feeding at 4am daily and won’t let you sleep until you’ve done it
 
CharlieM0uze
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I use Toolwatch.io and this is also available on iPhone as a app called "Toolwatch".
I have a couple of quartz watches, a Raymond Weil Tradition, a G-Shock and a TAG Heuer, and the time keeping on those is within -+ 1sec per day. For my mechanical watches, a Longines and a Omega my target is +1 or +2 seconds per day or I go nutz!.
For my Vostoks, anything within +5 seconds per day is fine.
 
Axel Brass
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How do you know that your watches are +/- a few seconds a day?
I set my watch against an iPhone atomic clock app and then check how far it is off a day or so later.

How are you keeping track of that?
I don't aside from my memory.

How much do you care?
Within a minute or so.

Why?
I like to be on time when meeting up with my friends or cooking.
 
The Father
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After service the Omega Speedmaster appears off by less than 10 second or so after 5 days.
Close enough for government work
 
Widows Son
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Unless you're doing a mid air refueling, or planning a lunar landing, I'm not sure why people obsess over this. A few seconds a day??? Who cares?? I've never even checked the accuracy of my watches. If they're noticeably different from my cell phone, I know it's time for a service. A friend recently gave me a Movado Museum quartz watch. The dial is black with no markers. It could be off by a couple of minutes a day, or keeping perfect time, you can't even read the time!!! When I wear a 50+ year old watch I set it and forget it. If it loses or gains a minute over an eight hour day it doesn't affect my life in the slightest.
 
tikkathree
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Well, sometimes, when I remember to, I subject new acquisitions to an app "Watch accuracy meter" and start with dial up, dial down, none up, three up. Of late I've also explored 12 up and six up. If I can't get enough readings I revert to the "internet clock" method and check after 24-hour intervals. Same process for watches received back from service.
That's for the incoming autos and occasional hand-winders. I haven't bought a quartz for over a year.
And when I remember I follow the same process for "watches already on the shelf".
It's all very subjective. I live with it and don't lose any sleep.
 
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