Watch accuracy tolerances - one for the watch peeps?

[Jez]

Guys, just a quick question re a watch my father has given me; is losing around 1 minute a week within what you would expect of an automatic high end watch?

The best watch ive had up until now was a £500 (at the time) cheapy Hugo Boss item, but that never lost as much as a second.

Short but sweet, thought i'd ask here to save the embarrassment of troubling my dad about it.

 

[Jez]

Well for COSC certification (which most more expensive watches have) a chronometer needs to have a daily rate of -4/+6 seconds. You're looking at a maximum loss of about 30 seconds per week for a certified watch.

However the daily rate can of course change with age, wear and use. If you're worried have it sent for a service.

Its not actually a loss, its running fast by up to a minute per week. Is this unusual for it to be this way round?

 

[Jez]

If its gaining time, then lay it vertical (with crown facing up) at night and it should gain a lot less time..... or just get it regulated/serviced.

Cheers for the tip, i will try it

Well we arn't talking split second are we, if he didn;t ajust it then he'd be almost an hour early by the end of the year.

A minute, not an hour

 

[Jez]

1x52 =52 minutes

Oh sorry, read it as though you thought it was gaining an hour per week!

So the consensus here is that i should leave it crown up for a while and see how it goes?

 

[Jez]

Losing a minute a week? Really?

I have a Seiko kinetic, and that loses no where near that much. I don't think I ever adjust it except during day light savings etc...

I know it probably loses some time, but it defo doesn't lose a 1min a week!

I have a seiko kinetic too, its spot on. Oh well, i will try the suggestion above.

 

[Jez]

A little off topic, but there are several watches on the market that sync with radio signals from atomic clocks if you really need accuracy. One example is the Citizen Skyhawk JY0000-53E - priced quite reasonably as well.

I'm really not bothered by reasonably priced, or 100% accuracy. So thats not for me I was just wondering if my watch is broken or not

 

[Jez]

if I speant £200 on a watch I'd expect it to be perfect

I think that is exactly what people are getting at, i have a ~£500 watch which is perfect, and a ~£300 one which is also. I can only assume that they both use cheap quartz mechanism's.

The watch which is losing time i can only assume to be a proper mechanical one.

Does seem silly i agree, but the time gain doesnt actually bother me, the purpose of the thread was to see if people would deem the watch to have an issue, as i know there are other owners of mechanical watches here.