Hi All, I’ve just recently joined the forums and this is my first post but I’ve been lurking in the background for some time. Also made a few enquiries in the For Sale section. Ever since I was a kid I was never really big on watches. The amount of watches I’ve owned could be counted on one hand. I had a Casio with a cool blue backlight but that got stolen and then I had a Swatch. I wore the hell out of that eventually stringing it around my neck on a chain because both the lugs on one end broke. I stopped wearing watches after the chain broke because it was then just easier to use the clock on a mobile phone. When I entered university, my dad got me a 150bucks Tissot but I never wore it and it was locked up in my drawer (I still relied on my mobile phone). That was more than 10 years ago. I then got myself a G-Shock (Mudman) a couple of years back but that’s because I worked at a plant for a couple of years where mobile phones were prohibited. I found my old Tissot some time back (and yes, it was still in minty mint condition and now part of my rotation) and for some reason it made me interested in getting myself a “nice” watch. I did some research and settled on a used Speedmaster Reduced off eBay. Well I’m one of those that found it slightly small for my liking, even though my wrists are on the smaller size (~6.4inches). I then impulsively purchased another used full size Speedmaster Pro and am glad to say that the presence suits me more – maybe it was because of the years of wearing a G-Shock that I was conditioned to seeing a larger device on my wrist. I have a question which I hope the forum can help me with. The sweeping chrono hand on the Pro seems to judder. Staring at it, I could almost see a "tick-tick-tick-tick" motion (of course not as pronounced as a quartz). The sweeping hand on my Speedy Reduced just rotates so much smoother. Is this normal? The sweeping hand also jumps a bit when I press the chrono button but I understand that’s normal and the minute counter also slowly creeps from 0 to 1 and then jumps when the sweeping hand passes 59 seconds, which again Mr. Google tells me is normal. For those who may not have seen, the Speedy Reduced minute counter moves smoothly from 0 to 1 as the sweeping hand makes a full rotation. All in all, I’m very happy with the Speedmaster watches' look and hope any issues above can be resolved with a service. Thanks in advance.
Great first post and welcome! Please share some photos of your watches. A video comparing the chrono hands would help us see what you are describing.
The moonwatch has 21,600 beats per hour The speedy reduced (cal 3220) is 28,800 beats per hour. So, yes, the reduced will seem smoother.
My Seamaster 300 doesn't have a perfectly smooth second hand, smoother than a quartz of course, but not perfectly smooth.
No watch is perfectly smooth, the higher the beat rate and smaller dials will make it appear smoother. Even the vaunted Rolex sweep is not smooth.
I remember reading that the Seiko Spring Drive has a perfectly smooth sweep. I've never owned one and stand to be corrected.
Yup your right, I forget to include the small subset of not Quartz nor mechanical watches and their hybrids. The Spring drive is not really a mechanical or a quartz watch but a kinda cool hybrid. The Accutrons and similar pre-quartz tuning fork watches are similar as they both have super smooth sweeps, but are not quartz or mechanical. Nice video of an Accurton Skip to 4 minutes on this video to see how the Spring Drive works.
@Foo2rama I really enjoyed the Seiko video...very informative. Watchmaking is such an art form, it still amazes me. Thanks for sharing.
We have a Quartz clock in the kitchen which has a perfectly smooth second hand. Can anybody explain this?
Hi All, Thanks for all the replies. Was away for past week hence the delay. I also enjoyed that video. I guess with all the experience oozing around this forum, you guys must be right to say that no watch is ever smooth. I've seen one or two other youtube videos and the sweeping hand does move in a slightly juddery fashion. For the time being I won't be doing anything to the watch but just enjoy it. If anything wonky happens, I'll just bring it in for a service, which is something I've factored in when buying used anyway. Again many thanks for the replies. Thanks.
Yes. Someone went through the effort of manufacturing a continuous movement quartz powered engine that had a one cicle per minute rotation.
Also check out this video, which is a slow-motion comparison of 18000bph, 28800bph, and Spring Drive movements: The slow-motion video emphasizes how what appears to be a "smooth" motion, really isn't.
As stated it all depends on the frequency at which the watch "ticks". A 28800 means that the watch will actually "tick" 8 times per second (8x60x60=28800 per hour).