Cal 1861 - daily seconds delay

[Varasc]

Dear All, good morning,
I'd need your opinion, please. My Speedmaster Professional, cal. 1861, ref. 38705000, loses 11 seconds per day (fully winded, approx. always at the same hour).
I purchased it in 2009 and it was serviced last time in 2020. Question is, do you see this delay as bad/red alert?
It's my everyday-wearing watch and I'd miss it, should I sent it away for months-long servicing in Switzerland. But on the other hand, if it's a really bad sign, I would surely consider this option.

Thank you all!

 

[Canuck]

Serviced in 2020? Losing that much time? It might be a pain to have to be without it, but something needs to be done. My Speedmaster calibre 863 turned 33 years old this year. Basically the same movement, gold-plated. I serviced it in February 2023, and it is running consistently one second per day slow. I could adjust it, but tough to adjust for such a small error. Besides, I seldom wear it.

 

[DoctorEvil]

Losing 11 seconds a day is well out of spec for a Cal 1861. If it was me I'd definitely be wanting to get it fixed, even if it means going without my watch for a couple of months. I generally prefer my watches to run a bit fast rather than slow so this would annoy the hell out of me.

 

[DenisChalandier]

11 seconds is not a big deal and not surprising. The watch is not Metas, Chronometer or else. I wouldn't serviced for that. Specially considering the price of a service.

 

[Scarecrow Boat]

DenisChalandier

11 seconds is not a big deal and not surprising. The watch is not Metas, Chronometer or else.

Considering the watch was recently serviced, loosing 11 seconds per day isn’t surprising? Regardless of if it is metas/chronometer, the specs of a 1861 is -1/+10 spd. -11 is well out of spec.

 

[DenisChalandier]

Scarecrow Boat

Considering the watch was recently serviced, loosing 11 seconds per day isn’t surprising? Regardless of if it is metas/chronometer, the specs of a 1861 is -1/+10 spd. -11 is well out of spec.

Out of specs and so what ? If the OP wants to spend 1000$ to get a "into specs" +8s watch instead of -11s. Fine by me.

But he ask for an advice, mine is : you bought a 60's tech watch. Don't mind a couple of seconds and enjoy it.

 

[Meme-Dweller]

If it's consistently losing 11 seconds, then it probably just needs to be regulated/adjusted. Just takes a couple of minutes for a good watchmaker.

 

[Duckie]

I would find a great watchmaker that can be trusted and have them open it up for a good inspection to see if something is wrong and have it adjusted if viable.
You had a good run before your last service and Omega recommends a shorter service interval loosely speaking.
If it can be easily adjusted with a view to pushing back a service for a few years, then all good
In the interim, I would simply set the watch ahead a few minutes which is so easy to do with a non- hacking movement and repeat as required when it's a minute slow until you can decide what you want to do.

Do you wear it daily?

 

[Dan S]

I'm curious if the -11s daily rate is a recent change, or if it has been the same since it was serviced in 2020.

 

[Foo2rama]

Scarecrow Boat

Considering the watch was recently serviced, loosing 11 seconds per day isn’t surprising? Regardless of if it is metas/chronometer, the specs of a 1861 is -1/+10 spd. -11 is well out of spec.

4 years ago.

 

[drster]

You can regulate it for a small fee or do it yourself for nothing. Simple to do. It's not under warranty so it doesn't matter.

 

[YY77]

drster

You can regulate it for a small fee or do it yourself for nothing. Simple to do.

 

[Donn Chambers]

Whenever I see a post saying their watches timing is off, I always wonder how they calculated this, what time standard they used, etc. Unless you have a good timegrapher with the proper settings, you have to look at the time on your watch compared to a time source. And on the 1861, it’s even harder because you can’t hack the movement.

I take a pic of my watch in front of my browser on the time.gov page, like this:



So here, my Speedmaster is a little over 10 seconds fast. I do this occasionally, then look at the time difference between pics and calculate the deviation. I rarely do this, though.

To the question of the potential accuracy of the 1861, I got this back from my watchmaker 6 days ago, a set it as best I could to “0” (really, probably a second or two off). Thus, it has gained about 2 sec/day, which I’m perfectly happy with.

 

[YY77]

Donn Chambers

So here, my Speedmaster is a little over 10 seconds fast. I do this occasionally, then look at the time difference between pics and calculate the deviation.

For Android there's the watchcheck app which records the deviation;

 

[Donn Chambers]

YY77

For Android there's the watchcheck app which records the deviation;

But the WatchCheck app simply determines a time standard (either from the internet or GPS) and keeps track of the time difference, but you still have to manually insert the time offset by visual inspection. And that’s why I use a photo, because it’s easier to tell the exact offset.