I'm having a little trouble regulating my watch and I wonder if there's something I'm missing - perhaps a tool, skill, or technique. I like to regulate all my own watches after having them serviced and it's something I'm quite comfortable spending some time on to get it right.

The delta on my watch is about 6 seconds between all 6 positions, averaging about -21 a day. I tried moving the regulating lever a minute amount, however it took the stud carrier with it and made the watch run out of beat. So I got it back to where it started and it's again running in beat.

Is there some technique I can use to get the regulator to move without taking the watch out of beat?

Cheers!

 

Since there are various types of regulating systems, knowing the specific movement would help...

 

Massive oversight on my part! It's a Longines 528 with a standard regulator. The 'regulator screw' is merely for decoration.

 

Merely for decoration? I’d want to look at that. Chances are that turning that screw (notice the schematic showing + and -, and the image of the slot in the screw head), is how you move the regulator without moving the stud carrier.

 

Hard as it is to believe, it's true. I've attempted to turn it with a jeweller's screwdriver to no avail, and looked at it under stronger 30x and 60x magnification. That it's engraved is not up for debate. Welcome to the cost cutting 1970's.

 

The picture below is a Longines 633.1. You have an adjustment for rate by turning the screw with the green arrow - you can just about see the +/- markings on the stud carrier. Yours looks to have the same system and I think the "fake screw" is there to tell you which way to turn the green screw to adjust the rate - as shown on your cock, clockwise would be positive so, that'll increase the rate. You could check and let us know. I doubt that it's a cost cutting exercise as it would cost more to put it there than putting nothing at all.

The red arrow shows how the green screw is linked to the regulator. You can probably see some teeth there on the regulator part and there are matching teeth on the green screw. When you turn the green screw, you vary the distance between the stud and the regulator so, if you move the regulator by hand, you will also move the stud because of these teeth. The green screw is more like a machine head on a guitar - it won't go in and out, just turn.

This is quite a neat system in some ways as you can change the beat error after setting the rate and they will always be linked - I (and I'd imagine Al and Canuck) usually set the beat error and then the rate so, not much to gain.

Be very, very careful as if you slip off the green screw, you have a high chance of damaging the hairspring...

Cheers, Chris

 

Thank you very much for that clear and informative explanation, @ChrisN I'll do some tweaking and report back.

 

This is why knowing the movement and having a photo is important - this isn't a "standard" regulator, if there really is such a thing.

Unlike many modern regulating systems where the regulator arm and stud carrier arm are friction coupled, and held in place by the shock setting, this watch has what I will call a "Triovis style" regulator - I only call it that style because I'm not 100% sure this is an actual brand name Triovis regulator.

As noted the markings on the balance cock are not there for decoration, but to tell you what way to turn the regulating screw to go faster or slower. I was looking for a diagram of this system, but then realized my Nomos has it, so took this photo under the microscope to show it in more detail:



You can see the teeth easily in this photo on the screw and on the regulating arm...

So in some cases those friction coupled systems can get stuck together so both arms move when you move one as you described. If someone had given you the typical advice to hold the stud carrier while moving the regulating arm (that's how you deal with those), it would not have turned out well on this watch at all.

Cheers, Al

 

@Archer, thank you!

I hadn't come across this type of regulator before and upon first glance it looked similar to the simple regulators used in movements like the low end Seiko or Miyota-Citizen movements. Perhaps simple was a more appropriate word than standard regulator. I should have looked a little harder.

 

Not a problem - not everyone recognizes the different types of regulating systems out there. But watchmaking and repair is about the details!