New Guy with a New Moonwatch - Advice Needed

This is my first post so let me introduce myself. I am a watch enthusiast ‘wannabe’. I own a few ETA automatic watches in the $500-$600 range, a couple Japanese automatics, and Longines Conquest Quartz VHP, and a few other quartz watches. I have had my eye on a Moonwatch for a long time, at least 10 years. I finally broke down and purchased a new 2022 hesalite 3861 watch on Chrono24. It came with outer box, watch case, and cards (pictographs certificate, master chronometer card, and warranty card dates October 2022). I have 14 days starting today to look over the watch and return it needed.

I visually inspected the watch and there are no scratches, scuffs, etc. What are some things I need to check during the 14 day inspection period to make sure the watch doesn’t have any mechanical issues?

I checked the chronometer by letting it run a couple of minutes to check two things:

1. How well the minute hand on the 30 minute dial transitions from one minute to the next. It transitions right when the second hand on the second dial reaches 60. It less than a second for the minute hand to make the transition unlike some of the YouTube videos I've seen.

2. How well the hand on the 12 hour dial resets to the 12 position after resetting the chrono. It resets well enough, off ever so slightly. But this is not very noticeable because I plan to leave the chrono second sweep hand in the reset position, i.e., 12 o'clock, during normal wear. The tail end of the second sweep hand covers the top of the hand on the 12 hour dial so the fact that the hand is off ever so slightly of the 12 mark is not very noticeable. So this is not a big concern for me.

Thanks….

Welcome and congrats! I'm also new here. Purchased the same watch new on Chrono24 about 3 months myself and still staring at it constantly. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I kept an eye on what kind of time it was gaining against an atomic clock when I first got it. I observe about +2 a day. METAs tested my piece at +1.8 so spot on. I also ran the chrono a lot to make sure it was working fine.

I found one "defect" with mine that I noticed after I'd sized the bracelet and started wearing it. Don't know that I would have gone through the hassle of a return even if I'd noticed it right away. Underneath the outer edge of the crystal by the bezel mine has about 6 black specs in the span of ~2 millimeters that can be observed at a certain angle in the proper light. I can't see them during day to day wear. It's only if I look closely and get the angle right. Somebody else posted a picture of about the same thing recently but I can't find the post. I found the below post that is kind of similar (on a different watch) but way more pronounced and larger area. I stuck the edge of a piece of paper down between the crystal and bezel and it looks like it's stuck on the outside bottom of the crystal but I can't scrape it off with paper. Maybe I'll try with something else, probably not.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/dust-dirt-under-domed-crystal.146638/#post-2000617

Anyway, bit of a wild goose chase but maybe something to look for on yours. Sorry I don't have pictures. I can't get it to show using a phone camera.

Where'd you come by that avatar?

I saved this one in 2010, from State magazine. Just curious.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I'll post some pics of the watch this weekend. I will start checking the time daily starting tomorrow around noon and keep a log of the variation for each day. I set the watch today at noon using the NIST website. I have a few radio controlled watches and I found the website to be spot on. I know this not the most scientific but it should give me a reasonable approximation. I have a Weishi timegrapher in the closet. I may break that out. Out of curiosity, I checked time a few minutes ago and it look to be within a second of the NIST website.

Regarding my avatar, I googled emu and found a random pic on the Internet. I have had this for years and years and use it on all the forums that I join. I’ve actually seen someone else on a different forum use the same pic.

Here are a couple of pics, one of the watch and one of the METAS test results. I have comparing the time per the watch and the NIST website every night for the past week and the watch has been consistently running about a second fast per day. I know this is not very scientific but I believe it gives me an approximation within a second or so of accuracy. This has exceeded my expectations. I am used watches with unregulated ETA movements. This Speedmaster keeps time as well as a basic quartz watch. Keep in mind I have a desk job so I don’t move around as much during day as a lot of people. Also, I take a few seconds to wind the watch everyday.

I know I shouldn’t overwind the watch. How do I tell when the watch is fully wound? Will I hit a point where the crown won’t rotate anymore?

Thanks….

You’ll feel a hard stop. Let it die down completely and the haptic feedback from the crown will let you know that it’s close to fully wound and then it just stops. Congrats on the timepiece!

Thanks guys. I wound the watch fully being careful not to put too much pressure on stem after it was fully wound. I guess I will develop a feel for this over the next week since I will wind it once a day.

I will re-sync the watch tomorrow with the NIST website and check daily to see how much time is gained each day when winding fully. My previous checks were done when the watch was only partially wound.

Thanks….