I like my quartz watches for their accuracy and will manually reset them to time.gov, but I accept the fact that my mechanical watches will drift to some extent. I've experimented with my Speedy, and found that it loses around 0.2spd in general use, but gains around 12spd when left sitting crown-up. So rather than adjust it manually, I just leave it crown-up on my nightstand overnight once every couple of weeks or so to bring it back up to the correct time.

To me, this is just another part of the whole relationship that I have developed with this, my first manual watch in decades. Do other folks take it to this level, or do you just adjust your watch manually every now and then? (Of course the whole point is moot if you have so many watches in your rotation that they need to be rewound and set every time you put them on, but I'm a long way from that level of commitment!)

 

When not being worn, I always place my watches dial up on display. Periodically, I will go through all of them and check the time and if any are greater than a couple minutes off, I will manually adjust. I don't think I have ever checked their positional variances and made note to leave them in a specific position when not on my wrist.

 

With my tendency to be a bit OCD (Mrs. Blufinz would remark "A bit??") I will adjust any of my watches to the correct time. My speedmaster runs a tad fast, as well as the Oris. To me, it's all part of owning watches.

 

I normally wear a current favourite for several days straight, then swap it for another for the same amount of time. I don’t have a watch winder for the autos, and can’t be bothered to keep watches running that I am not wearing, so whenever I wear a “new” watch, I always have to reset it and the date if there is one.

 

I set my watches to the Watchville app. If I see too much drift over a couple of days its off to the watchmaker. I expect my gear to actually provide a useful service even if its an old watch. Makes me crazy when they slip by big margins.

 

I don't keep my watches wound when I'm not using them so I just set them to the correct time whenever I put one on. If the movement hacks, I set it to the second, if not I usually just set it to the nearest minute. I rarely wear the same watch more than a few days in a row so I don't usually notice changes in timekeeping. I would say the last time I noticed was when I got my Speedmaster and wore it for a few weeks. It runs (or ran, I haven't checked in a while) at around -12 seconds per day, so I just set the minute hand forward once a week or so. Not an issue at all.

 

Since most of the watches I've bought lately are old and non functioning when i get them I have to regulate them once I get them running smoothly.
When observing them I keep them hanging on the band slipped over the barrel of a rifle hanging on the wall with the 12 o'clock position straight up.
After regulating to within a minute a day while hanging I wear them for twelve hours to see whether and by how much they gain or lose time during normal wear and adjust accordingly.
Once they are within a 1/4 minute or less slow per day I will usually just let it go at that. If even a few seconds fast per day I won't accept that. I do not like to set a watch back at all. I'd rather it was 15 seconds slow per day than five seconds fast.
Best I can remember doing was getting a watch to less than ten seconds slow per week when sitting face up.

 

I have positional variation pretty much figured out for what ever the current rotation is and rest them accordingly. Currently, two speedmasters and a mm300 all live somewhere within +30. A p.o.8500 is pretty much +1.25 spd no matter how I wear it or rest it. I let it go and adjust as necessary or when I can no longer stand it. The speedmasters are hand wind, the mm300 lives on a winder when not with me. The p.o. 8500 is my typical work watch. A solar atomic g shock or time.gov provides reference.

Have fun
kfw

 

The watchmaker that services my watches habitually lets me know the positional variance when I get a watch fresh from service.
Since I also store everything face up, I basically disregard the variance and reset as needed when wearing.
Like @Larry S I too expect a certain level of service and accuracy, and if I don't get it, off to service it goes.
That being said, I think my level of expectation is lower than other collectors on this forum. If I get my watch within 60 seconds +/- over 24 hours I am a happy camper.

 

I wear mine in rotation so the deviation isn't too noticeable since I have have to wind and set a watch every morning.

 

set then every time I put them on (automatics) quartz just run kinetics are a work out

 

I think +- 1min is fine for me. Sometimes I don't even adjust date...because its such a pain...try to set date on Heuer 1163 and you will know what I mean...

 

The less error there is from positional variation, the better. However, as a vintage collector, it's pretty rare to find examples of watches that run at COSC without needing to have some sort of hairspring adjustment/balance re-poising after some odd 40+ years of use.

 

Hmmm. Yes, I adjust my watch if it is needed.

 

I will adjust mine to the exact time and prefer to reference the USNO Master Clock site, http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/simpletime.html. Schedules are schedules and to me, there's no sense in not being precise. My first Omega, SMPOc 2210.50.00 started losing time daily, 10 to 30 seconds within a 24 hour period and since it was also displaying some slight catches/ticks in the second hand sweep, the local OB suggested it might be time for its first full service, so off it went. (that is a loooong 6-8 weeks by the way) I recently picked up a new SMPc300M and it seems to be gaining 3-5 seconds a day. While I'd rather be ahead than behind, I still adjust every day or so. To others it might seem a bit crazy, but to me it is no different than washing a car and checking/correcting tire pressure. It's part of ownership and there's no reason to not be exact.

 

A slow watch bothers me more than a fast watch. But I change watches too often for it to matter much.

 

I stopped doing that.. generally my watch is fast and it makes me ahead of time so thats the advantage..

 

I do check the time regularly against the Watchville app. If it’s more than 10-15 s off, I’ll readjust the time. Precise time keeping is part of what’s I’ve found to be fun about watches. Yet, I don’t find any fun in quartz ones. It kinda feels like cheating .

Also, from time to time I’ll use WatchTool to me sure things are running smoothly and within aceptable parameters.

 

Not that often. My 16800 runs fast when in use and slows down at night when not in use. Sort of evens out and needs adjusting surprisingly unoften.

 

I rotate my watches every few days, but check the one I'm planning to wear against time.is or timeticker.com when I put it on. If it's +/- 1/2 minute I'm happy.