I had this at the watchmaker for 10 weeks. They who do a stellar job with Tri Compax said this was a challenge. It keeps great time but last night it stopped. I hand wound and reset. Keeping perfect time this morning. It's going back to the shop for an evaluation but question...Is the micro rotor a completely reliable auto wind or does one need to give more wrist shakes than with a standard automatic?

 

This might sound like a trite answer, it's not. If you think the problem is that the watch isn't seeing enough movement, wear it on your right wrist for a day (assuming you're right handed).

 

Not a fan! I have a Hamilton with that movement in it. Busted rotor post! Try to find a replacement!

 

I much prefer good quality, normal-sized rotors, and partly because I can really feel the action of the rotors. Micro-rotors are not as reliable in my experience, but, to be fair, I have only owned a few.

 

I suppose it depends on the quality of movement in the first place along with other factors being age, service history etc. I've only ever owned one watch with a micro rotor and I've never had to give it extra wrist action.

 

As I recall this micro rotor watch has its own set of challenges. Is Chunky still in witness protection?

 

I own a Hamilton Thin-o-matic that was my grandfather's retirement watch from Bell Labs. I need to have it serviced, as the crystal and seconds hand popped off at one point. I found the seconds hand but it got pretty badly bent in the process. I am reasonably sure it is one of the micro-rotor variants, but it's been quite a while since I looked at it.

 

Thanks all. It's back in the shop waiting for the lead guy to return from holiday. I don't think they were terribly happy to see it back in the shop. I'm a good customer so.....................

 

Funny, I have my grandma’s Buren Starlite (which is basically the same as the Thin-o-matic, same movement) that had the exact same two issues.

I can’t say about technical qualities of micro rotor movements but I like them. One of my Universal cal 215 occasionally stops when I put it down too, but it hasn’t been serviced yet, I suspect the hands may be touching when lying flat.

 

My two UG microrotors do seem to require a bit more wrist time than avergae to properly wind. I've fpund that if I plan to wear the same watch all day, they wind well. But if I only plan to wear it part of the day, they don't wind as well as my full sized rotor

One of my watches was serviced recently. The other is in right now, so we'll see.

Still are fantastic watches though!

 

I've had the exact same problem.

Bought a stellar Polerouter microtor from @TTB, put it on a timegrapher app and it ran beautifully. Lots of amplitude, great rate and little beat error.

... But then it stopped... so did my heart (well almost). Handwinding was fine, but not realy via the microtor I gathered. Brought it to my watchmaker for inspection. After carefully examining it for over 2 weeks week his conclusions were:

- Ran perfectly (like my timegrapher scores indicated)
- Power reserve for over 40 hours or so
- Ran perfectly by rotor winding alone on a watchwinder, again with plenty of power reserve.

Maybe the cal. 215 microtors are less efficient in winding or less suitable for semi-hybrinating office dwellers like myself.

 

I also had the same problem with various Polerouters over the years. My watchmaker said the micro-rotor is not efficient enough from normal wrist movements. The suggested way is to manually wind fully and then let the micro-rotor take over.

 

I suspect that will be the conclusion as well. Still at my watchmaker.

 

Hi Larry, different experience here, my bumper needs help, but the microrotor nevers stopped....