Do new watches settle down?

Posts

12

Likes

39

craigsalisbury

·May 17, 2022

I have seen it in one post and thought it would be better to get a wider view.

my new SPM runs +5.3 SPD and someone mentioned in a post that wearing a new watch daily lets it settle in and it may/should settle closer to + - 1-2 SPD after about a month.

is this the case? should i expect to see better time keeping after a while?

Cheers

 

D

Posts

886

Likes

471

Duckie

·May 17, 2022

I know that most of my watches have slowed up a little from new within the first couple of weeks😉
But a few haven't changed at all🙁
Others with more technical experience in the field will say that there is no reason why the rate could or should change after a theoretical settling in timeframe from new👎

 

Posts

16,856

Likes

47,859

STANDY

·May 17, 2022·schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collector

Depends on what you do each day as in….walk….sit around….play a sport….

and

Depends on how you place it when you take it off also. Dial up, dial down, crown up ………..etc……

 

Posts

1,326

Likes

2,554

josiahg52

·May 17, 2022

DOES THE POST BELOW APPEAR NORMAL? Only asking because I've received two "new post" notifications but they don't appear.

Agree with the above. There are variances in your daily wear and storage practices that just didn't come into play during regulation. Certain methods or regulation standards try and minimize or practically eliminate that affect but the differences remain. I think "wearing in" as simply the observation of the watch performing in an ever-changing environment.

Try fully winding the watch off the wrist every 36 hours or so. Observe the time lost or gained every 36 hours. Cycle through different positions. Does the observed time vary?

Now fully wind the watch and wear it daily. At night, store it in different positions. Observe the time lost or gained at the same time once a day. Cycle through different positions. Does the observed time vary?

It probably does. This experiment doesn't even take into account varying temperatures or some random, stray magnetic field or something. A good regulation should minimize the differences but not eliminate them.

Edited: May 17, 2022

 

Posts

18,107

Likes

27,413

Foo2rama

·May 17, 2022·Nowhere near as grumpy as he used to be...

It’s mostly a myth from watch dealers.

 

Posts

7,571

Likes

13,976

Evitzee

·May 17, 2022

Anyone remember the old "Are You Being Served?" Brit comedy of the 70's? Anytime a customer in the menswear department questioned if the sleeves, pants, jacket were too long (or too short) the standard answer was "It'll ride up (down) with wear", just to get rid of the customer. Same thing here, watch owner questions the seller about the rate and gets the standard answer, "the rate will settle down, it's breaking in".

 

Posts

23,461

Likes

52,142

Dan S

·May 17, 2022

Evitzee

Anyone remember the old "Are You Being Served?" Brit comedy of the 70's? Anytime a customer in the menswear department questioned if the sleeves, pants, jacket were too long (or too short) the standard answer was "It'll ride up (down) with wear", just to get rid of the customer. Same thing here, watch owner questions the seller about the rate and gets the standard answer, "the rate will settle down, it's breaking in".

Exactly. It's like a doctor telling you to go for physical therapy. 😁

 

Posts

274

Likes

266

Leviathan

·May 17, 2022

They don’t. At least in my experience.

Try experimenting with different overnight resting positions. Try crown down. You’ll get to the +2 range that way.

 

Posts

897

Likes

2,814

Scooterino36

·May 17, 2022

So are you all trying to tell me that mechanical watch movements are not living souls that need time to adapt to their new home and environment? 😀

 

Posts

23,461

Likes

52,142

Dan S

·May 17, 2022

Only if you sing it gentle lullabies.

 

Posts

3,998

Likes

9,015

cvalue13

·May 17, 2022

Scooterino36

So are you all trying to tell me that mechanical watch movements are not living souls that need time to adapt to their new home and environment? 😀

“that little, cold-blooded animal which lives coiled up in a shell, feeding on time.”

 

Posts

325

Likes

936

morethan1

·May 17, 2022

I think quartz is good 😁

 

Posts

3,506

Likes

8,773

MRC

·May 17, 2022

morethan1

I think quartz is good 😁

Pfffffttt! My quartz Seamaster ran at a drift of roughly 1 sec/month when new in 1982 and continued until it actually stopped, but dropped to 1 sec/day after a trip to Bienne 5 years ago. Consistency -- yes we've heard of it.

 

Posts

12

Likes

39

craigsalisbury

·May 17, 2022

thanks all, it doesn't bother me too much as i said ill sync it once week, it's not like i need military timing on making a cuppa. I just saw in another thread someone's watch went from average +5 > +2 after the first month of wear and was curious.

Also I sleep with it on, so wont be performing any winding voodoo 😀

 

Posts

18,107

Likes

27,413

Foo2rama

·May 17, 2022·Nowhere near as grumpy as he used to be...

363 days a year it’s spot on. Then 1 day it’s an hour late… it oddly fixes its self about 6 months later and runs one hour fast…

 

D

Posts

886

Likes

471

Duckie

·May 17, 2022

craigsalisbury

thanks all, it doesn't bother me too much as i said ill sync it once week, it's not like i need military timing on making a cuppa. I just saw in another thread someone's watch went from average +5 > +2 after the first month of wear and was curious.

Also I sleep with it on, so wont be performing any winding voodoo 😀

This mirrors my experience with the rate dropping a few seconds within the first couple of weeks on some of my new watches.
I don't question it and i do not over analyse it.
It is what it is and after the event it becomes history but interesting none the less when one experiences the joys of a good timekeeper😉

 

Posts

17

Likes

35

Bucks

·May 18, 2022

I must be the odd one out here as I bought a new Seamaster and found it was about +5/day and it settled after a month or two to around +2/day.

 

Posts

12

Likes

39

craigsalisbury

·May 18, 2022

Bucks

I must be the odd one out here as I bought a new Seamaster and found it was about +5/day and it settled after a month or two to around +2/day.

Did you do anything to influence regulation, as mentioned in a comment above? Or just wear it daily as normal?

 

Posts

7,111

Likes

23,088

M'Bob

·May 18, 2022

Dan S

Exactly. It's like a doctor telling you to go for physical therapy. 😁

You’re right. Because the medical establishment pushing reams of pharmacological solutions on patients makes so much more sense than sending them somewhere that has very few side-effects.

 

Posts

1,438

Likes

2,213

scapa

·May 18, 2022

M'Bob

You’re right. Because the medical establishment pushing reams of pharmacological solutions on patients makes so much more sense than sending them somewhere that has very few side-effects.

Not all of us behave like the God Complex pushers on TV...

I know the settling in thing is a myth, but I've owned a few watches (specifically, a Sinn and an Aqua Terra) that an respectively quite fast and quite slow for the first week or so that I wore them, and then seemed to -- you got it! -- "settle in" to a much more accurate overall rate within the next few weeks after that.

Was I unconsciously changing the resting position? Did I wear the watch differently? Very likely, but these were swings I never really noticed again with any of the dozens of other watches I owned over that period. So if it isn't a real thing, it can sure sometimes feel like it.