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Can changing the date have affected the timing of my Aquaterra?

GordonH
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I got my 2006 Aquaterra back from Omega at the end of August after a full service. I decided to monitor its time keeping and to fully wind it and reset it after it was a minute fast (or slow).
After 13 days it had lost 59 seconds, so I reset it and wound it fully. After a further 16 days it had lost 62 seconds and once again I reset it and wound it fully. At this point I was satisfied that the watch was keeping good time.
Then, after only 7 days, it had lost 82 seconds and was fully wound and reset. Seven days later it had lost 83 seconds and was fully wound and reset. It has now lost 138 seconds after only 6 days!
I was wondering how it could keep excellent time for a month and then start losing so much time when I realised that the problem seems to have occurred just after I changed the date, due to September only having 30 days.
Do you think that there is anything in this or is it just a coincidence?
The watch has a 12 month guarantee following the service, so I'm going to contact my local Omega dealer, but wanted to know your collective opinion on my possibly insane theory...

Cheers

Gordon
 
Canuck
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If you are monitoring the Omega using a reliable accurate time source, there is a problem with your watch! Having advanced the date by one day at the end of September would have nothing to do with the erratic rate. If you have been dealing with a local Omega dealer with these repairs, are you absolutely certain the watch was serviced by Omega? I feel that you need to ascertain that, in order to be dead certain it does go to Omega, and if the dealer had it done by somebody other than Omega, I feel he is liable to cover the warranty on a service BY Omega!
 
Donn Chambers
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GordonH GordonH
I got my 2006 Aquaterra back from Omega at the end of August after a full service. I decided to monitor its time keeping and to fully wind it and reset it after it was a minute fast (or slow).
After 13 days it had lost 59 seconds, so I reset it and wound it fully. After a further 16 days it had lost 62 seconds and once again I reset it and wound it fully. At this point I was satisfied that the watch was keeping good time.
Then, after only 7 days, it had lost 82 seconds and was fully wound and reset. Seven days later it had lost 83 seconds and was fully wound and reset. It has now lost 138 seconds after only 6 days!
I was wondering how it could keep excellent time for a month and then start losing so much time when I realised that the problem seems to have occurred just after I changed the date, due to September only having 30 days.
Do you think that there is anything in this or is it just a coincidence?
The watch has a 12 month guarantee following the service, so I'm going to contact my local Omega dealer, but wanted to know your collective opinion on my possibly insane theory...

Cheers

Gordon

are you absolutely, 100% sure that you set it to the proper time and not 1 minute off these last two times? The reason I ask is because if you did set them a minute off, that would be 22 and 23 seconds off in a week, which is consistent with the behavior previously.

I don’t know how many times I look down at my watch after resetting it recently and find it is a minute, five minutes, and hour, etc off. I never blame the watch — I know I wasn’t paying enough attention when I reset the watch. It’s an easy mistake to make.

try resetting it again and make sure it is set correctly - I will often take a pic of the watch with time.gov in the background so I can verify I did it correctly later.

if it still loses 20 seconds a day, something is wrong and it wasn’t because you changed the date.
 
Burr
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I wouldn’t worry too much about this, IF there are any issues, omega will promptly fix. That warranty is there for a reason! I highly doubt any permanent/unfixable damage has been to your lovely watch.
 
GordonH
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Thanks for your replies.

I am definitely using an accurate time source, which is the time displayed on my mobile phone (which is the same as that displayed on my desktop PC). I've been checking the watch every morning, and for the first two or three days after winding it keeps reasonable time, but begins to lose increasing amounts of time after that.
Here are the readings for last week: -1s, -3s, -10s, -20s, -49s, -66s, -83s.

It seems like the watch is running down, as after I've wound it, it is O.K for a few days, but then loses increasing amounts of time.

The watch was definitely serviced by Omega. I received all of the components that were replaced (see attached pic.)

Aquaterra parts replaced.jpg

Thanks again for your advice

Gordon
 
hronists
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why would you wind it after resetting? do you wear your watch all day? are you active?
 
Canuck
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Did somebody actually reply to this thread, commenting that resetting the calendar can “grind the gears”, causing erratic timekeeping? It must have been deleted from the message board, but I received a notification in my email in folder that this comment was made! ::facepalm1::
 
dennisthemenace
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GordonH GordonH
The watch was definitely serviced by Omega.
If Omega serviced your watch you would have been given a 2 year guarantee, not 12 months.
 
IDXM
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Donn Chambers Donn Chambers
I don’t know how many times I look down at my watch after resetting it recently and find it is a minute, five minutes, and hour, etc off. I never blame the watch — I know I wasn’t paying enough attention when I reset the watch. It’s an easy mistake to make..

You are not alone and glad I'm not the only who does this.
Edited:
 
GordonH
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hronists hronists
why would you wind it after resetting? do you wear your watch all day? are you active?
I was under the impression that the watch would need to be wound every couple of weeks. Is this incorrect? Iam very active and wear the watch all day.
 
GordonH
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Canuck Canuck
Did somebody actually reply to this thread, commenting that resetting the calendar can “grind the gears”, causing erratic timekeeping? It must have been deleted from the message board, but I received a notification in my email in folder that this comment was made! ::facepalm1::
If this is true, why on earth do Omega produce a watch that can be damaged so easily? It certainly ties in with when my watch began to misbehave...
 
GordonH
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dennisthemenace dennisthemenace
If Omega serviced your watch you would have been given a 2 year guarantee, not 12 months.
I've checked my receipt and it definitely states 12 months guarantee. I'll have to query this with the service centre that I took the watch to!
 
SkunkPrince
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Phone is not reliable. Use pc with a reliable time source specified.
 
Archer
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Changing the date will not affect the timekeeping.
 
hronists
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GordonH GordonH
I was under the impression that the watch would need to be wound every couple of weeks. Is this incorrect? Iam very active and wear the watch all day.

absolutely false. automatic watch should stay fully wound under normal conditions.
 
PandaSPUR
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SkunkPrince SkunkPrince
Phone is not reliable. Use pc with a reliable time source specified.

I was going to say this.

Go straight to https://time.gov/ and use that, or an app on your phone that is designed to sync up to atomic time when you open it. I personally like the Hodinkee app since it has chimes from 55s to 0s which helps you sync your watch without staring at the phone.

If I compare my phone time to time.gov, its about 2 seconds behind right now. My PC is 1 second behind. Digital sources like this only sync up with a time server occasionally to correct itself, so its not the best source when you're trying to measure something like the day to day accuracy of your watch.

But with all that said, it does sound like something is wrong with your watch since the seconds its behind seems to vary wildly on a daily basis.
 
P
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My guess is that it just needs to be regulated. I had to have my 2003 AT regulated about 4 months after its 1st service and then again about 7 years later. Ran for almost exactly 10 years before power reserve started to fail and I sent it in for the second service in Sept. What a timepiece!
 
Canuck
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When a watch such as the subject watch is as erratic as this one is, regulation is NOT what it needs! Before a watch can be satisfactorily regulated, it’s rate must be STABLE. Maybe fast, at a uniform, predictable rate. Or slow at a uniform, predictable rate. And the rate must be within the range of the regulator. The subject watch is all over the place! How in the name of Heaven can you regulate an erratic watch? It needs to go back to Omega!
 
P
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I guess my point is that the OP could give it a few months to see if it settles down, then have it regulated. It's entirely possible that the watch may stabilize in that time. If it's still unstable after 4-6 months, then yes, send it back. But I'd cut 'em some slack. Just my opinion.
 
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