I have to admit that a watch's accuracy is of paramount importance to me. I had a Jaeger-LeCoultre that was gifted to me when I graduated from law school. While it was a beautiful watch, I had to routinely sync it to the phone company time service. I bought an Accutron which was much more accurate. I then became a fan of Casio G-Shocks which were even more accurate. I migrated to the versions which sync'd to the atomic clock, but the signal was problematic. Now I have a Casio Edifice which can synchronize with my cell phone via Bluetooth multiple times each day. It has proven to be the most accurate watch I've ever owned. It is also quite a beautiful watch.
Just for a bit of historical perspective, I have a verge fusee pocket watch, made in...wait for it....1695. After a decent service it is accurate to 30 seconds per day, and I am full of wonder at the skill of the watchmaker who built this watch by hand without the benefit of any modern technology, a watch which 320 years later is able to keep up with one built yesterday.
It's a pocket watch, so I'm curious if it being larger and able to be more robust because of that, allows for the greater tolerances of older stuff to match up with the significantly smaller movements of modern wristwatches. How accurate is a modern built fusee made with the precision of modern manufacturing?
I've had 3 Seikos with the entry level 7s26. The first ran +0.5 out of the box and after regulation the others ran +1.3 and +1.8 s/day respectively. This is average over several days. There was larger variations on single days, but when well wound (aka. worn in a regular fashion, not being on rotation) these entry level automatics are quite stable at those rates. Accurate enough!
I never had an automatic watch and was about to purchase one. Thanks to this honest video I knew what I should expect and I can't live with these ranges of inaccuracy. I will remain at the quartz side.
Good video. I have an early 2000s Breitling SuperOcean blue dial. I set it eleven days ago when I had to adjust it for the end of November, a 30 day month. I just checked it against the atomic clock and in those days it is 37 seconds ahead. That means the watch is gaining 3.5 seconds in 24 hours. Pretty darned accurate for an automatic watch.
Thank you for this video! I was one of those people who panicked when my first automatic watch was losing 10 seconds a day. Your video was very reassuring.
Great explanation! Thank you Mark because you explained questions that were not well answered by others. At last someone who understands the realistic behaviours of mechanical watches. Some expect Quartz accuracy which is totally impossible.
My Alpanist Diashock with a 6R15 movement is 20 sec slow per day, which is very unimpressive yet my Sarb 033 is 4 sec fast per day. I wander about 6R15 diashocks as other people have had issues with that movement as well.
I've recently bought my first automatic watch, and I was a bit disappointed with the accuracy,, it gains around 4 seconds a day,.. After watching this video, I'm much happier, !! Thank you so much,,
I had a year old Rolex YachtMaster and a two year old Omega just out of service. Both these watches were keeping +2, +3 seconds per day, respectively. I traded those two watches last month for 2010 Daytona, steel, black dial. The Daytona had been very slightly and expertly polished, and had been serviced. The Daytona is gaining five seconds per day. That shit me off, but then I realized, as you said, what five seconds per day is with respect to all the seconds total in one day. Conclusion - the Daytona comes within -4/+6 chronometer requirements. In other words, the Daytona is dead-on accurate, I love it.
I set my Alpinist yesterday using wwv time tick and checked it after work today . It's running -2sec. I really didn't expect it to run that well. Nice job Seiko!
As soon as you pulled out that Aplinist I said out loud, "Oh my God that's gorgeous", and then you proceeded to say you don't care for it. Haha. I love that everyone has different tastes.
Accuracy is very relevant to position and it varies from watch to watch. factoring movement design and quality, it is more or less effected by gravity and resulting changes in the friction of various points and the axis of the balance wheel. Magnetism will effect accuracy regardless, and usually results in a fast watch.
Every 4hz seiko can be regulated incredibly well. I have skx009 with 4r36 movement. The escapement system changed to 6r20's escapement and the mainspring too to spron 510. My friend did it. He is watchmaker at the seiko ad. This skx gain 12s/day dial up and dial down. In every vertical position 0s/day. On my wrist 0.5-1s/day gain. Amazing i think. My another 28.800 watxh is sarw009 6r27. Came from factory on wrist +1-1.5 s/day, rest in vertical +2s/day dial up and down 14s/day. I think it is more than expected. I love them. Cheers
The most amazing time keeper in my collection is a circa 1955 Certina automatic. It has a 17 Jewel 21-0114 movement, it is in original condition, and it is only about +20 seconds per day. I love old watches for their history and style, but holy cow, this one is almost an iPhone killer! Love the videos, Mark...always learn so much. Thank you!
I have a Heimdallr 6105 homage with a Seiko NH35 in it. After a few weeks of ownership it seems to be running - 2 seconds per day. I'm pretty darn pleased with that.
I have a new Seiko SNZG13 with a 7S36 movement I "grey imported" because it's not a regular UK market watch and in the past 5 days it has gained 15 seconds which I think is extremely good.
To me accuracy is not much of a big deal. My first decent watch was Omega Planet Ocean 8500 and after a year of non-stop wearing and several time zone changing (it has a jumping second hand) it gained only 52 seconds. And couple weeks ago I got an SKX009J as a present and I can't be happier! Of course it is not as nearly accurate as swiss premium but it does its job and looks amazing.
It is fascinating how your experiences affect your perspective. I grew up wearing quartz watches. When I had some money I purchase a brand new Omega Seamaster. It was my daily watch for 15 years. It’s accuracy was within the spec of an automatic watch. Which made it, by a huge margin, the worst watch I have ever owned. I have since rediscovered the Casio’s of my youth. I now have a Casio collection. All are radio controlled. It is awesome to wake up in the morning, look at your watch box, and all these watches that you haven’t wore in a month are all telling exactly the same and correct time. I would kindly recommend to my fellow watch enthusiast to broaden you horizons.
Hello Mark. Thanks for your Vid. I really enjoyed watching it and it has helped me understand a few important things. Yesterday I took ownership of a Seiko 4R36 calibre turtle 200mm divers watch. You state the 4R36 is not as refined as the more expensive models in Seikos range. As you say, in my Manuel there is no mention of any +or- tolerances in loss or gaining of time. So I am very surprised to discover that after setting mine last night to an atomic clock, after 24 hours mine has lost 1 second. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones am I? As for a run of the MIL calibre to be this accurate must be some kind of miracle, I'm a happy man. Thank you Mark 👍😊👍
I've never understood what people see in the Alpinist either. Totally agree about that model Bambino being so nice. I was not sure about the rose gold when I bought it but but it goes with so many clothes colors. The strap color is what really sets it off.
I recently received an Orient Saturation Diver with a 40N5A movement. Upon checking the accuracy with an app, I've noticed that the watch maxes out at just over the + spec whilst horizontal face up, and around the max - spec whilst on the wrist (Booklet says +25/-15). Now the interesting thing is that over the course of 24 hours the average is about -1 or better so far. So basically, I'm thinking that the accuracy specs given are based on how much a watch could gain in any particular position. So whilst a watch might be losing time whilst on the wrist, in my Orient's case, it's gaining time back whilst sitting horizontally faced up over overnight. Just a note, I measured the accuracy for other positions but this position balances out the time best for me. :) Thanks for all of your vids Mark. Very helpful and informative. I recently adjusted my orient's bracelet including the pin and collars, and saved myself 20 dollars or so. :D
Hi buddy. Like most of your viewers I am Asperger’s. But I don’t care; in fact, I don’t mind it at all. No! I love it!. And I am an owner of a Citizen Promaster automatic 200 meter(Miyota), and after having set it a couple of weeks ago, with great patience and perseverance, over the course of 14 days (with the assistance of a cocktail stick and a jeweller’s loup) it is now, after now 15days, two seconds slow IN TWO WEEKS (Worn all the time even in the shower) And I love it to bits. It is one of my collection of about 14 watches and this is probably the best clockwork I have ever owned in my life. Two seconds in two weeks? I am going to pass this down to my son and grandchildren. Thank you for your video. Loved it.
I periodically get anywhere between 1.5 to 6 seconds per day on my Bambino. I have no doubt that the others are comparable. I have to commend Marc, on being such a trustworthy and open retailer. I will be recommending him to all my friends.
Excellent explanation about the accuracy of mechanical watches. I have a number of Omega watches. The Speedmaster Mark II is affected by my activity during the day. I have had it going between -4 to about +8. It has been averaging about +3 to +4 per day. I have the newer Planet Ocean with the coaxial movement. This one has been keeping to within about 2 to 3 seconds per day plus or minus. I have some Omega watches from the 1960s. These are keeping to about 6 to 10 seconds per day mostly plus depending on my activities. My quartz watches are keeping better than 5 to 6 seconds per month. I have some that are keeping to better than 5 seconds per month.
Marc your videos are wonderful. A big thank you. May I make one suggestion. Many reviews compare and comment a about the strength of the lume. Wonderful. What I rarely see is a comment about how long the lume lasts per night. That is very important when judging how helpful the lume in each watch that has lume is.
Mark I bought my first Seco automatic, it is the SNKG I think about $150. I’ve been wearing it three days and so far it’s been the most five seconds slow one second fast this thing is incredible
Hey Mark, in your COSC video, you should definitely mention rolex. And show yours. I still have no idea how they can make their watches +2/-2. That's incredible.
I recently bought a Tudor Pelagos LHD, and I was truly staggered to find that it loses aprox 0.75 of a second during the day whilst worn, and then it gains 0.75 of a second during the night whilst lying face up. I've only ever had much cheaper autos, which ran fast, anywhere between 10 secs per day to a minute plus...Seiko, Rotary, Seiko 5, Fake omega with ETA movement ( most accurate of my cheaper watches actually ). So the Tudor is far more accurate than my Casio digital !! Like I say, I was truly staggered ... Checked it multiple time a day against an atomic watch and gmt sites online. Frankly I'm in awe of that kind of mechanism. Best wishes...J
My first automatic watch and still the only one so far is a $50 Vostok Amphibia. Bought it brand new off of Ebay 8 months ago. Factory rated -20s to +60s/day. Out of the box, it ran +30s/day. I decided to #YOLO and tried adjusting it, my first time messing with a watch. Was luckily quite successful , +10s/day ever since. I wear it every day. What a great little piece, lucky me
Love your videos, Marc. My Marathon JDD averages -1s/day, and of course my Islanders do very well, too (plus or minus 5s/day). Definitely good enough for my purposes.
Another super episode, Mark! I know from trying it myself that regulation is tedious and difficult. There is so much more to this topic; I hope you add to it as time and interest allow.
Got a Steinhart Ocean one 39mm gmt with a constant 7.2 seconds a day, i won't open her up and it's good enough for me. If i want perfection i got my phone:) After this clip i am even more impressed:)
Yes, quartz watch is cheaper, but once its broken, its very hard to fix the movement. Mechanical watches can be fixed, same watch last 20year 30 years. Divide tat cost by 20-30 years.....it becomes afforable. Imagine passing yr eg.SKX007,seamaster, rolex, islander, etc. u bought when u were a young woking adult, to yr son, 30years later. If u bring yr boy up right....he'll treasure tat watch.
I have a Lum Tec 600m with a Miyota 9015 at 28,800 and it gains around +2 secs per week! That's right 7 days I was astonished at the accuracy of this watch. Very smoothed second hand sweep. All of them may not be this accurate and I may just be lucky but so far I have no complaints. I probably just jinxed myself!
I fall in the same group that's been very lucky with the 7s26. When I first got it, I didn't notice any appreciable time gain or loss for about 4 days, which amazed me, but now about 2 weeks later it seems to consistently lose about 6 seconds every two days. I think this may potentially be a result of my wearing habits however. Every other day I let it sit dial up for about 6 or 7 hours, which makes it run fast to bring it back up to accurate time.
I have Citizen NY0040 that I got last year as a gift. Few days ago I tested its accuracy so I set it according to atomic time and waited full month to check accuracy... It was +22 sec. Impresive!
You might laugh if you read this, relating to not believing the slimfast ad..lol. I got just 2 weeks ago, a Seiko 5 Sports SRPD51K2. I measured it on my friends Weishi timegrapher machine and it was giving +1 to + 2 seconds a day. He was surprised to say the least. Me, not really knowing that much wasn't that impressed, now I am. Anyway, I decided to measure it against the atomic clock over 3 days, and I kid you not, the watch was just 5 seconds ahead after 72 hours. I had to check again that they hadn't given me a Rolex by accident...lol. Even better, the dial and chapter ring lines up perfectly.. I think I'm never going to give away this watch!!
My SARB017 gets about +2 seconds a day. It was getting about +4 but after I owned it a few weeks it seemed to "settle in", this seems to be a common story among owners of SARBs. I had a watch guy put it on his $10k machine and he said it was running perfectly with no beat error. There is a reason people go nutty over the SARBs, they are (or were) incredible for the money.
I have a SNK809 with 7S26 movement in it. I've been timing it since I got it in the beginning of this year, and it's running consistently +15 seconds/day. I've been adjusting it every 2 weeks, I'll put it 1 minute faster, and after a cycle of 14 days it'll be running about 2-3 minutes late. I'm happy with my Seiko 5, it has been consistent and reliable.
recieved my Orient Ray II from you a little more than a week ago and I have to say its been amazingly accurate and consistant. I do take it off ,I dont sleep with a watch on like some may so the past 10 days or so with approximately 8hrs per those days I dont think its lost more than 2 seconds, not bad at all huh? guess I got a good one thx! and thx for the great information
Would you agree with me that an automatic watch will keep better time accuracy if the user wears it and is more active such as going walking regularly instead of wearing it and sitting in watching tv.
I got a watch for my birthday. It has an NH35a movement. The specs are very conservative from Seiko. In my brief and unscientific observation, it actually gains about 5 seconds per day.
You know Marc, you have not aged a day. Its 2021, late 2021 at that. Cheers to that! PS I used to care about accuracy, even regulated my Aquis in six positions... now I could care less, the only time it bothers me is when I'm wearing two watches. Then you never know what the time is.
My 3045 'Grand Diver' INVICTA arrived poorly adjusted. After a 'magic touch' to the racket, I am spinning it between -1and +1seconds 24 hours !!! Imo the NH35A is the winner among a lot of calibers much more expensives.
nice to see someone take on this subject. well done & interesting. I am not an accuracy freak but still find it interesting and do enjoy my accurate watches (I have a santos dumont that is both attractive & amazingly accurate but no seconds hand!, similar for an airman, conversly a seiko 6r15 that loses a lot but still love it & my other seikos etc etc). I feel there is a certain amount of luck involved. really enjoying your channel
Great informative vid Marc. Made me realise why I have a Bulova UHF military alongside my mechanicals, apparently 10secs a year, for £95. Still appreciate the autos though.
Thank you Marc for this very informative video on automatic timekeeping, really enjoyed watching it. I only own two automatics both of which are at the lower price range. I have a Seiko 5 which was my first purchase which I have had a few years now and the other which I purchased last year being a Orient 3 star model FEM0401RU9 which I purchased from Ebay UK. The accuracy of this watch compared with the Seiko 5 is amazing, certainly glad that I bought the Orient. I use it mainly as a dress watch as the gold/brown dial on it looks really classy. Thanks again Marc.
I'll stick with quartz, solar and multiband 6, 5 months passed and i didn't pushed a single button to adjust the time and it still runs second to second with my laptop...
I've soured on mechanical watches many, many years ago, with my first mechanical dress watch, a Poljot, which was ~ 3 minutes off per day, and no one could do anything about it. I wore quartz watches for a few decades afterward. I am just beginning to warm up to mechanical watches again as I hope to retire some time in the foreseeable future, so pinpoint accuracy may not be as important. For now I have been watching a lot of videos about mechanical watches to educate myself, and I find yours to be very informative.
Another great video Mark. I was given a fake Panerai watch which I timed accuracy because I wanted to say how bad it was. It's got a Asian 2824 clone movement. To my supprise it was +2 seconds a day and has been running reliably for 6 months now.
One lesson I learned with mechanical watches is that they make excuses why they fail to meet their own specs. This happened with me with my Grand Seiko. They find +10 to +13 sec a day acceptable
My psycho is slow by 32 seconds a day but specification is -35 + 45. I like the perfectly accurate watch so in the morning I said it 10 seconds fast it loses just over a second an hour, I find that absolutely perfect in fact, the more you have to adjust the watch the closer bond you have with it. I feel fun automatic you must have hacking otherwise you just don't know where you are.
Thank you so much for this video! I am struggling with this after having been spoiled by smartphone clocks and atomic clock controlled quartz watches... I try to learn to appreciate my SNK803. But it runs +76 to over +80s/d (according to timegraph) because it became magnetised, I reckon. It irks me. I wish one could affordably get the advantages of quartz with the beautiful sweep of mechanical movements but alas the seiko spring drive movements are far out of my budget range... Well, I love the sweep so I will continue to try to learn to accept what feels to me is gross inaccuracy.
Watch deviation behaves as a linear random walk. Sometimes the variations will cancel out, other times they compound. A slight bias toward gaining or losing time will tip the scale more and more over time. If you leave the watch alone until correcting the date display for 30 vs 31 vs 28 days on the first of each month, then you can expect your modern, budget, mechanical / automatic watch to be between 3 and 5 minutes of atomic time towards the end of the month.
I bought a Orient Bambino Open-heart from you and it's with-in 2 or 3 seconds a day although I haven't worn it much. (at-least that's what I'm getting.) Overall I'm more than happy with that.
Longitude is one of my favourite TV productions and I have a copy on DVD. I also live only about 15 miles from Greenwich and enjoy seeing the John Harrison clocks when I visit the Maritime Museum.
My Chris Ward C8 Vintage Pilot watch has an ETA 2824-2 and is +12 to +18 secs a day, depending on how I wear it, or whether I just wind it and leave it (face up) in a drawer. Not bad but could be better. BUT if I manually wind it, after 40-50 winds I can feel, and see, the rotor spinning as I gently turn the crown to wind (is this normal automatic ‘clutch’ behaviour, to stop it over-winding?). I also get a faint metallic tinkling noise maybe 40% of the time when moving my wrist, like the rotor is loose. Can’t see anything wrong through. My silver Orient Bambino (from you! Thanks!) is even better accuracy: +6 to +8 secs a day. Close to COSC!
I have Geckota flieger with Seiko's NH35 (basically same as 4R35 in Seiko's own watches). It runs about -5 to + 10 per day depending how much I use it and in what position I put it on my nightstand. I just adjusted the time and it had gone 45 seconds ahead since the last time I adjusted it about 3 weeks ago. Not bad for cheap Japanese movement.
Nomos Ahoi 561, DUW 3001 movement, -15 seconds per day...never varies.... I feel less annoyed by that now, not an inexpensive piece. Great video! Not bad enough to have opened up.
another lesson learned. I am at a phase of my watch learning adventure exactly about acuracy. I have a log book where I check the accuracy of my watches. learning a few things in the way...
Marc thanks for another very informative video I always wondered how the accuracy of wrist watches was calculated. I am a subscriber to this channel please keep up the good work and may 2018 be better then 2017 Happy New Year !
I think most people who watch CZcams Watch Videos are Watch Enthusiast who would have several watches, who generally speaking would change there watch daily or several times a week. So when they change there watch good chance they would need to reset it, if mechanical or automatic as reserve power could have run out. So seconds would not be an issue as watch would not be on wrist long enough to be minutes to fast or to slow.
Has anyone returned their Orient mechanical watch because the word "mechanical" is misspelled on the instruction booklet? :) This is a terrific video series for a watch collector like myself.
Thank you Mark! Great video as always. So, I actually have a question (maybe a future Watch and Learn)? But here it goes, my automatic mechanical watch collection is growing, from $500 to $10,000 watches all sit in the same safe. Are watch winders necessary? Is it better to keep an auto watch always running or is it OK to let it stop and wind it before wearing it? Is stopping an auto watch for a long time bad for it (1+ months)? Why are some watch winders $100 and others $1,000+? Does the speed matter? Do they introduce unwanted wear on the auto rotor? I would love an episode answering these questions as I'm contemplating getting a "good" winder but I'm not certain if it's really beneficial (apart from eliminating the need to set the watches prior to use, which I think is half the fun)! Thank you!
I'll be brief! 1) no, winder's aren't necessary. 2) they are happiest when running, but if they're going to stop for a month that isn't the end of the world. More than that, I'd recommend a winder or you give it a wind for a few days. 3) winder prices are mostly in the technology. If you skimp on a winder, you'll know it. It will be noisy and/or the motor will die. 4) Speed is not so important as is winding direction.
Long Island Watch, thank you very much. So keeping the watch stopped is not a big deal. That's good to know. Will the extra winding cause unwanted stress on the rotor if kept winding for a long time?
LOVED your Video. Wow, those are wonderful watches. You have a great taste. I myself also have a few Auto´s myself: Deep Blue DayNight Suba; Fossil Me3008; Hamberg & Sohne Calendar; Nautec No Limit (Seiko 5 Mov.)
The Tissot manual states that non chronometer certified mechanical watches should be about -10 to +30. They use ETA movements. I think it was running +12 when I got it.
My Seiko recently-new SNZG13K1 with 7s36 movement is only less than three weeks old, and at present seems to gain around 6 seconds a day. And although there's no hacking, you can gentle-reverse twist the crown slightly to arrest the forward motion of the second hand, enough to let it be re-synched if that's needed. A slightly newer SNDC81P1 quartz chronograph has in about ten days' ownership not shown ANY movement away from GMT. That'll do me. No doubt it'll drift slowly over time. But although I like that accuracy, fact is I'm a retired old fart with zero need for instant-timing of - anything these days... And the heartbeat of that balance wheel'd watch pleases me far more than the clinical accuracy of the quartz model. So much so I found a nice elderly model 5 on Ebay - there's no shortage of them. It'll be here in a few days. Looks like I might have to get a hold of one of those watch-cases soon, the sort that holds - how many, I wonder?
I have to admit that a watch's accuracy is of paramount importance to me. I had a Jaeger-LeCoultre that was gifted to me when I graduated from law school. While it was a beautiful watch, I had to routinely sync it to the phone company time service. I bought an Accutron which was much more accurate. I then became a fan of Casio G-Shocks which were even more accurate. I migrated to the versions which sync'd to the atomic clock, but the signal was problematic. Now I have a Casio Edifice which can synchronize with my cell phone via Bluetooth multiple times each day. It has proven to be the most accurate watch I've ever owned. It is also quite a beautiful watch.
Just for a bit of historical perspective, I have a verge fusee pocket watch, made in...wait for it....1695. After a decent service it is accurate to 30 seconds per day, and I am full of wonder at the skill of the watchmaker who built this watch by hand without the benefit of any modern technology, a watch which 320 years later is able to keep up with one built yesterday.
Simply amazing! Would love to see a photo if you would email it.
Ben Ben how much you paid for it?
@@islandwatch I thought it meant fuse so I looked it up. Interesting:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusee_(horology)
@@eeyyaakk6801 Very expensive my friend because as you know, Time (especially if it is accurate) is Money!
It's a pocket watch, so I'm curious if it being larger and able to be more robust because of that, allows for the greater tolerances of older stuff to match up with the significantly smaller movements of modern wristwatches. How accurate is a modern built fusee made with the precision of modern manufacturing?
I've had 3 Seikos with the entry level 7s26. The first ran +0.5 out of the box and after regulation the others ran +1.3 and +1.8 s/day respectively. This is average over several days. There was larger variations on single days, but when well wound (aka. worn in a regular fashion, not being on rotation) these entry level automatics are quite stable at those rates. Accurate enough!
I never had an automatic watch and was about to purchase one. Thanks to this honest video I knew what I should expect and I can't live with these ranges of inaccuracy. I will remain at the quartz side.
you will still be late.
Can't live with your watch being 20 seconds off?
@@andres-gu8yu I laughed way harder at this than I intended to
refreshing to see an actual honest person from ny
Lol. Where do you live?
Good video.
I have an early 2000s Breitling SuperOcean blue dial. I set it eleven days ago when I had to adjust it for the end of November, a 30 day month. I just checked it against the atomic clock and in those days it is 37 seconds ahead. That means the watch is gaining 3.5 seconds in 24 hours.
Pretty darned accurate for an automatic watch.
Thank you for this video! I was one of those people who panicked when my first automatic watch was losing 10 seconds a day. Your video was very reassuring.
Great explanation! Thank you Mark because you explained questions that were not well answered by others. At last someone who understands the realistic behaviours of mechanical watches. Some expect Quartz accuracy which is totally impossible.
and again we learned something valuable for our hobby, thank you Mark
Thanks for watching.
My Alpanist Diashock with a 6R15 movement is 20 sec slow per day, which is very unimpressive yet my Sarb 033 is 4 sec fast per day. I wander about 6R15 diashocks as other people have had issues with that movement as well.
I've recently bought my first automatic watch, and I was a bit disappointed with the accuracy,, it gains around 4 seconds a day,.. After watching this video, I'm much happier, !! Thank you so much,,
John Waddington my Feiko runs almost 2 minutes a day fast
+4 is not bad and very easy to correct with a pull of the stem. -4 is a pain to correct in that same time. + is always better.
I had a year old Rolex YachtMaster and a two year old Omega just out of service. Both these watches were keeping +2, +3 seconds per day, respectively. I traded those two watches last month for 2010 Daytona, steel, black dial. The Daytona had been very slightly and expertly polished, and had been serviced. The Daytona is gaining five seconds per day. That shit me off, but then I realized, as you said, what five seconds per day is with respect to all the seconds total in one day. Conclusion - the Daytona comes within -4/+6 chronometer requirements. In other words, the Daytona is dead-on accurate, I love it.
I set my Alpinist yesterday using wwv time tick and checked it after work today . It's running -2sec. I really didn't expect it to run that well. Nice job Seiko!
As soon as you pulled out that Aplinist I said out loud, "Oh my God that's gorgeous", and then you proceeded to say you don't care for it. Haha. I love that everyone has different tastes.
Accuracy is very relevant to position and it varies from watch to watch. factoring movement design and quality, it is more or less effected by gravity and resulting changes in the friction of various points and the axis of the balance wheel. Magnetism will effect accuracy regardless, and usually results in a fast watch.
Every 4hz seiko can be regulated incredibly well. I have skx009 with 4r36 movement. The escapement system changed to 6r20's escapement and the mainspring too to spron 510. My friend did it. He is watchmaker at the seiko ad. This skx gain 12s/day dial up and dial down. In every vertical position 0s/day. On my wrist 0.5-1s/day gain. Amazing i think. My another 28.800 watxh is sarw009 6r27. Came from factory on wrist +1-1.5 s/day, rest in vertical +2s/day dial up and down 14s/day. I think it is more than expected. I love them. Cheers
The most amazing time keeper in my collection is a circa 1955 Certina automatic. It has a 17 Jewel 21-0114 movement, it is in original condition, and it is only about +20 seconds per day. I love old watches for their history and style, but holy cow, this one is almost an iPhone killer! Love the videos, Mark...always learn so much. Thank you!
Glad you are enjoying, thanks for watching.
20s a day isn't amazing
I have a 101 year Elgin railroad grade pocket watch. A coupe of seconds a day consistently. A fun watch and a fun history.
I have a Heimdallr 6105 homage with a Seiko NH35 in it. After a few weeks of ownership it seems to be running - 2 seconds per day. I'm pretty darn pleased with that.
I have a new Seiko SNZG13 with a 7S36 movement I "grey imported" because it's not a regular UK market watch and in the past 5 days it has gained 15 seconds which I think is extremely good.
To me accuracy is not much of a big deal. My first decent watch was Omega Planet Ocean 8500 and after a year of non-stop wearing and several time zone changing (it has a jumping second hand) it gained only 52 seconds. And couple weeks ago I got an SKX009J as a present and I can't be happier! Of course it is not as nearly accurate as swiss premium but it does its job and looks amazing.
Thank you for this. The best watch information channel on CZcams by a mechanical engineer who knows what he's talking about.
Thank you so much!
It is fascinating how your experiences affect your perspective. I grew up wearing quartz watches. When I had some money I purchase a brand new Omega Seamaster. It was my daily watch for 15 years. It’s accuracy was within the spec of an automatic watch. Which made it, by a huge margin, the worst watch I have ever owned. I have since rediscovered the Casio’s of my youth. I now have a Casio collection. All are radio controlled. It is awesome to wake up in the morning, look at your watch box, and all these watches that you haven’t wore in a month are all telling exactly the same and correct time. I would kindly recommend to my fellow watch enthusiast to broaden you horizons.
Hello Mark.
Thanks for your Vid.
I really enjoyed watching it and it has helped me understand a few important things.
Yesterday I took ownership of a Seiko 4R36 calibre turtle 200mm divers watch.
You state the 4R36 is not as refined as the more expensive models in Seikos range.
As you say, in my Manuel there is no mention of any +or- tolerances in loss or gaining of time.
So I am very surprised to discover that after setting mine last night to an atomic clock, after 24 hours mine has lost 1 second.
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones am I?
As for a run of the MIL calibre to be this accurate must be some kind of miracle, I'm a happy man.
Thank you Mark 👍😊👍
I've never understood what people see in the Alpinist either. Totally agree about that model Bambino being so nice. I was not sure about the rose gold when I bought it but but it goes with so many clothes colors. The strap color is what really sets it off.
Glad to see someone else is in my boat, at least a bit.
I recently received an Orient Saturation Diver with a 40N5A movement. Upon checking the accuracy with an app, I've noticed that the watch maxes out at just over the + spec whilst horizontal face up, and around the max - spec whilst on the wrist (Booklet says +25/-15). Now the interesting thing is that over the course of 24 hours the average is about -1 or better so far.
So basically, I'm thinking that the accuracy specs given are based on how much a watch could gain in any particular position. So whilst a watch might be losing time whilst on the wrist, in my Orient's case, it's gaining time back whilst sitting horizontally faced up over overnight. Just a note, I measured the accuracy for other positions but this position balances out the time best for me. :)
Thanks for all of your vids Mark. Very helpful and informative. I recently adjusted my orient's bracelet including the pin and collars, and saved myself 20 dollars or so. :D
Hi buddy. Like most of your viewers I am Asperger’s. But I don’t care; in fact, I don’t mind it at all. No! I love it!. And I am an owner of a Citizen Promaster automatic 200 meter(Miyota), and after having set it a couple of weeks ago, with great patience and perseverance, over the course of 14 days (with the assistance of a cocktail stick and a jeweller’s loup) it is now, after now 15days, two seconds slow IN TWO WEEKS (Worn all the time even in the shower) And I love it to bits. It is one of my collection of about 14 watches and this is probably the best clockwork I have ever owned in my life. Two seconds in two weeks? I am going to pass this down to my son and grandchildren. Thank you for your video. Loved it.
That's awesome accuracy; great job!!!
The seconds hand at that Zeppelin at 4:12 is epic!
I periodically get anywhere between 1.5 to 6 seconds per day on my Bambino. I have no doubt that the others are comparable. I have to commend Marc, on being such a trustworthy and open retailer. I will be recommending him to all my friends.
Excellent explanation about the accuracy of mechanical watches. I have a number of Omega watches. The Speedmaster Mark II is affected by my activity during the day. I have had it going between -4 to about +8. It has been averaging about +3 to +4 per day. I have the newer Planet Ocean with the coaxial movement. This one has been keeping to within about 2 to 3 seconds per day plus or minus. I have some Omega watches from the 1960s. These are keeping to about 6 to 10 seconds per day mostly plus depending on my activities.
My quartz watches are keeping better than 5 to 6 seconds per month. I have some that are keeping to better than 5 seconds per month.
Marc your videos are wonderful. A big thank you.
May I make one suggestion. Many reviews compare and comment a about the strength of the lume. Wonderful. What I rarely see is a comment about how long the lume lasts per night. That is very important when judging how helpful the lume in each watch that has lume is.
The best watch reviewer without a doubt.
every time i watch your Watch and Learn series, i learn something new even i thought i already knew
That's what I do them for :)
I own a Seiko SRP773 for a couple of months now and consistently out of the box until now I've been getting 2 minutes a week. I love this watch.
It can be regulated down a bit.
Mark I bought my first Seco automatic, it is the SNKG I think about $150. I’ve been wearing it three days and so far it’s been the most five seconds slow one second fast this thing is incredible
Hey Mark, in your COSC video, you should definitely mention rolex. And show yours. I still have no idea how they can make their watches +2/-2. That's incredible.
freakasaur100 ans usually preforn even better
Don't worry, I will. :)
I recently bought a Tudor Pelagos LHD, and I was truly staggered to find that it loses aprox 0.75 of a second during the day whilst worn, and then it gains 0.75 of a second during the night whilst lying face up. I've only ever had much cheaper autos, which ran fast, anywhere between 10 secs per day to a minute plus...Seiko, Rotary, Seiko 5, Fake omega with ETA movement ( most accurate of my cheaper watches actually ). So the Tudor is far more accurate than my Casio digital !! Like I say, I was truly staggered ... Checked it multiple time a day against an atomic watch and gmt sites online. Frankly I'm in awe of that kind of mechanism. Best wishes...J
OH ! Forgot to add. Love the channel and this series especially.
Thank you :)
I have Gigandet Sea Ground with miyota movement. It runs +2,75 seconds/day. Nice
My first automatic watch and still the only one so far is a $50 Vostok Amphibia. Bought it brand new off of Ebay 8 months ago. Factory rated -20s to +60s/day. Out of the box, it ran +30s/day. I decided to #YOLO and tried adjusting it, my first time messing with a watch. Was luckily quite successful , +10s/day ever since. I wear it every day. What a great little piece, lucky me
Perfect!
Love your videos, Marc. My Marathon JDD averages -1s/day, and of course my Islanders do very well, too (plus or minus 5s/day). Definitely good enough for my purposes.
Another super episode, Mark! I know from trying it myself that regulation is tedious and difficult. There is so much more to this topic; I hope you add to it as time and interest allow.
Thanks for watching.
Every 2824-2 movement I've owned has been crazy accurate: often less than ±1s/d.
Not typical, but awesome!
Charles Carr I had Breitling SOH +2s/day
Mine gets as low as +2 per day. Roughly averages 4
Got a Steinhart Ocean one 39mm gmt with a constant 7.2 seconds a day, i won't open her up and it's good enough for me. If i want perfection i got my phone:)
After this clip i am even more impressed:)
Fabulous concise explanation. Thank you for the clarification.🤔👀
With the daily salary can buy a quartz watch that running more accuracy than a mechanical watch cost a yearly salary. 😊
Yup, and you can wear sack clothing and terrible shoes for cheap, horses for courses 🤔
Yes, quartz watch is cheaper, but once its broken, its very hard to fix the movement. Mechanical watches can be fixed, same watch last 20year 30 years. Divide tat cost by 20-30 years.....it becomes afforable. Imagine passing yr eg.SKX007,seamaster, rolex, islander, etc. u bought when u were a young woking adult, to yr son, 30years later. If u bring yr boy up right....he'll treasure tat watch.
yup, then you have to change the battery every 4 years, and lose love for the watch cause it has no S O U L lol
Or you buy an orient kamasu and you're wishes are forfilled
@@SeamasterSryder the servicing alone for an omega is a couple of hundred dollars. Mechanical watches are a niche hobby. Cost concerns are secondary
I have a Lum Tec 600m with a Miyota 9015 at 28,800 and it gains around +2 secs per week! That's right 7 days I was astonished at the accuracy of this watch. Very smoothed second hand sweep. All of them may not be this accurate and I may just be lucky but so far I have no complaints. I probably just jinxed myself!
You are one of those rare cases, LOL.
My new Hydroconquest Longines with L888,2 movemet based on ETA 2892.2 +0.5 sec in 4 days.. So far and 71hour reserve.. Very happy with it.
I fall in the same group that's been very lucky with the 7s26. When I first got it, I didn't notice any appreciable time gain or loss for about 4 days, which amazed me, but now about 2 weeks later it seems to consistently lose about 6 seconds every two days. I think this may potentially be a result of my wearing habits however. Every other day I let it sit dial up for about 6 or 7 hours, which makes it run fast to bring it back up to accurate time.
Still, great accuracy.
I just got an Alpinist Sarb017 second hand and it has gained 2 sec over 2 weeks. Variations of +/- 6 sec/ day. I think that's pretty darn good.
I have Citizen NY0040 that I got last year as a gift. Few days ago I tested its accuracy so I set it according to atomic time and waited full month to check accuracy...
It was +22 sec. Impresive!
that is quite good!
Long Island Watch I think so too.
You might laugh if you read this, relating to not believing the slimfast ad..lol. I got just 2 weeks ago, a Seiko 5 Sports SRPD51K2. I measured it on my friends Weishi timegrapher machine and it was giving +1 to + 2 seconds a day. He was surprised to say the least. Me, not really knowing that much wasn't that impressed, now I am. Anyway, I decided to measure it against the atomic clock over 3 days, and I kid you not, the watch was just 5 seconds ahead after 72 hours. I had to check again that they hadn't given me a Rolex by accident...lol. Even better, the dial and chapter ring lines up perfectly.. I think I'm never going to give away this watch!!
My SARB017 gets about +2 seconds a day. It was getting about +4 but after I owned it a few weeks it seemed to "settle in", this seems to be a common story among owners of SARBs. I had a watch guy put it on his $10k machine and he said it was running perfectly with no beat error. There is a reason people go nutty over the SARBs, they are (or were) incredible for the money.
I have a SNK809 with 7S26 movement in it.
I've been timing it since I got it in the beginning of this year, and it's running consistently +15 seconds/day.
I've been adjusting it every 2 weeks, I'll put it 1 minute faster, and after a cycle of 14 days it'll be running about 2-3 minutes late.
I'm happy with my Seiko 5, it has been consistent and reliable.
Consistent and reliable are quite important in day to day wear.
recieved my Orient Ray II from you a little more than a week ago and I have to say its been amazingly accurate and consistant. I do take it off ,I dont sleep with a watch on like some may so the past 10 days or so with approximately 8hrs per those days I dont think its lost more than 2 seconds, not bad at all huh? guess I got a good one thx! and thx for the great information
That's awesome and amazing!
Thanks, Mark, another great instructional video.
Thanks for checking it out.
Would you agree with me that an automatic watch will keep better time accuracy if the user wears it and is more active such as going walking regularly instead of wearing it and sitting in watching tv.
i have noticed my watch keeps better time when on my wrist vs when on the winder. not sure why.
I got a watch for my birthday. It has an NH35a movement. The specs are very conservative from Seiko. In my brief and unscientific observation, it actually gains about 5 seconds per day.
You know Marc, you have not aged a day. Its 2021, late 2021 at that. Cheers to that!
PS I used to care about accuracy, even regulated my Aquis in six positions... now I could care less, the only time it bothers me is when I'm wearing two watches. Then you never know what the time is.
I also have a Marathon JDD with a Sellita SW220 that loses about -4 to 5 secs a day. Which isn't bad but no where near the Miyota!
That's awesome; that is chronometer grade.
My 3045 'Grand Diver' INVICTA arrived poorly adjusted. After a 'magic touch' to the racket, I am spinning it between -1and +1seconds 24 hours !!!
Imo the NH35A is the winner among a lot of calibers much more expensives.
Fantastic, informative video Marc. Well done!
Thanks.
Good info as always...love the orients,going to buy more of them!
Hi Mark, awesome video as usual! I'd love to see how these perform on your timegrapher to compare advertised accuracy against actual sample units.
nice to see someone take on this subject. well done & interesting. I am not an accuracy freak but still find it interesting and do enjoy my accurate watches (I have a santos dumont that is both attractive & amazingly accurate but no seconds hand!, similar for an airman, conversly a seiko 6r15 that loses a lot but still love it & my other seikos etc etc). I feel there is a certain amount of luck involved. really enjoying your channel
Yes, it is very much luck of the draw. Thanks for watching.
Great informative vid Marc. Made me realise why I have a Bulova UHF military alongside my mechanicals, apparently 10secs a year, for £95. Still appreciate the autos though.
Thank you Marc for this very informative video on automatic timekeeping, really enjoyed watching it. I only own two automatics both of which are at the lower price range. I have a Seiko 5 which was my first purchase which I have had a few years now and the other which I purchased last year being a Orient 3 star model FEM0401RU9 which I purchased from Ebay UK. The accuracy of this watch compared with the Seiko 5 is amazing, certainly glad that I bought the Orient. I use it mainly as a dress watch as the gold/brown dial on it looks really classy. Thanks again Marc.
Thank you for sharing.
I'll stick with quartz, solar and multiband 6, 5 months passed and i didn't pushed a single button to adjust the time and it still runs second to second with my laptop...
good perspective
Thank you.
I've soured on mechanical watches many, many years ago, with my first mechanical dress watch, a Poljot, which was ~ 3 minutes off per day, and no one could do anything about it. I wore quartz watches for a few decades afterward. I am just beginning to warm up to mechanical watches again as I hope to retire some time in the foreseeable future, so pinpoint accuracy may not be as important. For now I have been watching a lot of videos about mechanical watches to educate myself, and I find yours to be very informative.
Thanks for watching.
That watch was certainly magnetized. You can buy demagnetizers for a little price.
Another great video Mark. I was given a fake Panerai watch which I timed accuracy because I wanted to say how bad it was. It's got a Asian 2824 clone movement. To my supprise it was +2 seconds a day and has been running reliably for 6 months now.
LOL, amazing!
Probably a Seagull movement
One lesson I learned with mechanical watches is that they make excuses why they fail to meet their own specs. This happened with me with my Grand Seiko. They find +10 to +13 sec a day acceptable
My psycho is slow by 32 seconds a day but specification is -35 + 45. I like the perfectly accurate watch so in the morning I said it 10 seconds fast it loses just over a second an hour, I find that absolutely perfect in fact, the more you have to adjust the watch the closer bond you have with it. I feel fun automatic you must have hacking otherwise you just don't know where you are.
Thank you so much for this video!
I am struggling with this after having been spoiled by smartphone clocks and atomic clock controlled quartz watches...
I try to learn to appreciate my SNK803. But it runs +76 to over +80s/d (according to timegraph) because it became magnetised, I reckon.
It irks me. I wish one could affordably get the advantages of quartz with the beautiful sweep of mechanical movements but alas the seiko spring drive movements are far out of my budget range...
Well, I love the sweep so I will continue to try to learn to accept what feels to me is gross inaccuracy.
demagnetise it. Can buy equipment cheap on ebay
Watch deviation behaves as a linear random walk. Sometimes the variations will cancel out, other times they compound. A slight bias toward gaining or losing time will tip the scale more and more over time. If you leave the watch alone until correcting the date display for 30 vs 31 vs 28 days on the first of each month, then you can expect your modern, budget, mechanical / automatic watch to be between 3 and 5 minutes of atomic time towards the end of the month.
I bought a Orient Bambino Open-heart from you and it's with-in 2 or 3 seconds a day although I haven't worn it much. (at-least that's what I'm getting.) Overall I'm more than happy with that.
Thanks for a great lesson Mark, love that Sun & Moon, 20 minutes well spent 👏👏👏🎯🖒.
Thanks for allowing me onto your screen for a bit
Fantastic. Really makes you think. Shows you how amazing John Harrison was in his day.
Absolutely. Legendary.
Longitude is one of my favourite TV productions and I have a copy on DVD. I also live only about 15 miles from Greenwich and enjoy seeing the John Harrison clocks when I visit the Maritime Museum.
My Chris Ward C8 Vintage Pilot watch has an ETA 2824-2 and is +12 to +18 secs a day, depending on how I wear it, or whether I just wind it and leave it (face up) in a drawer. Not bad but could be better. BUT if I manually wind it, after 40-50 winds I can feel, and see, the rotor spinning as I gently turn the crown to wind (is this normal automatic ‘clutch’ behaviour, to stop it over-winding?). I also get a faint metallic tinkling noise maybe 40% of the time when moving my wrist, like the rotor is loose. Can’t see anything wrong through.
My silver Orient Bambino (from you! Thanks!) is even better accuracy: +6 to +8 secs a day. Close to COSC!
I have Geckota flieger with Seiko's NH35 (basically same as 4R35 in Seiko's own watches). It runs about -5 to + 10 per day depending how much I use it and in what position I put it on my nightstand. I just adjusted the time and it had gone 45 seconds ahead since the last time I adjusted it about 3 weeks ago. Not bad for cheap Japanese movement.
No bad at all; excellent in fact!
My Hamilton field automatic . H 10 movement is 2 sec +/ 5 per day . Great watch .
What did you even say?
Nomos Ahoi 561, DUW 3001 movement, -15 seconds per day...never varies.... I feel less annoyed by that now, not an inexpensive piece. Great video! Not bad enough to have opened up.
Thanks for watching!
another lesson learned. I am at a phase of my watch learning adventure exactly about acuracy. I have a log book where I check the accuracy of my watches. learning a few things in the way...
Now that's getting into it!
@9:34 Xlnt work! love these details you manage to dig up
Thanks! Took a bit of digging.
Hi Mark!
I live in Stockholm, Sweden where it can get -10°C in the winter. How will that affect the accuracy of my watch?
That will be a future WNL!
Really only that? In winter an average of - 10°is usual even in Spain, maybe less days than in Sweden.
Yes, but your body is a thermal machine of 36.6°C, so I would care more of this than the environment's temperature!
Marc thanks for another very informative video I always wondered how the accuracy of wrist watches was calculated.
I am a subscriber to this channel please keep up the good work and may 2018 be better then 2017 Happy New Year !
Thanks for checking it out!
Love my GS Spring drive watches...the accuracy is astounding! +/-1 sec a day.
I think most people who watch CZcams Watch Videos are Watch Enthusiast who would have several watches, who generally speaking would change there watch daily or several times a week.
So when they change there watch good chance they would need to reset it, if mechanical or automatic as reserve power could have run out. So seconds would not be an issue as watch would not be on wrist long enough to be minutes to fast or to slow.
Has anyone returned their Orient mechanical watch because the word "mechanical" is misspelled on the instruction booklet? :)
This is a terrific video series for a watch collector like myself.
Thank you Mark! Great video as always. So, I actually have a question (maybe a future Watch and Learn)? But here it goes, my automatic mechanical watch collection is growing, from $500 to $10,000 watches all sit in the same safe. Are watch winders necessary? Is it better to keep an auto watch always running or is it OK to let it stop and wind it before wearing it? Is stopping an auto watch for a long time bad for it (1+ months)? Why are some watch winders $100 and others $1,000+? Does the speed matter? Do they introduce unwanted wear on the auto rotor? I would love an episode answering these questions as I'm contemplating getting a "good" winder but I'm not certain if it's really beneficial (apart from eliminating the need to set the watches prior to use, which I think is half the fun)! Thank you!
I'll be brief!
1) no, winder's aren't necessary.
2) they are happiest when running, but if they're going to stop for a month that isn't the end of the world. More than that, I'd recommend a winder or you give it a wind for a few days.
3) winder prices are mostly in the technology. If you skimp on a winder, you'll know it. It will be noisy and/or the motor will die.
4) Speed is not so important as is winding direction.
Long Island Watch, thank you very much. So keeping the watch stopped is not a big deal. That's good to know. Will the extra winding cause unwanted stress on the rotor if kept winding for a long time?
No, no worries. I wouldn't run it 24/7, but don't be concerned about doing some extra spinning.
Thank you very much, I appreciate your time sir.
LOVED your Video. Wow, those are wonderful watches. You have a great taste. I myself also have a few Auto´s myself: Deep Blue DayNight Suba; Fossil Me3008; Hamberg & Sohne Calendar; Nautec No Limit (Seiko 5 Mov.)
This is why I’ve completely given up on mechanical watches. The high end watches I have are fine but who needs the headache
My manual wind after regulation is +4 s / d
Hmt 0231
very informative, can you tell us about the accuracy on quartz watches? are they all the same or there are more accurate quartz movements than others?
Thank for the information.
The Tissot manual states that non chronometer certified mechanical watches should be about -10 to +30. They use ETA movements. I think it was running +12 when I got it.
That's a broad range, for a Swiss Made watch.
Great video! Thanks Mark for all the research
Thank you!
Love these series Mark, great work!
Will do!
I love these videos, thank you so much!! SKX009 owner here 8-)
Thanks for watching.
I have a few watches. One is a Bulova automatic from 1950 . It runs great . Keeps good time . What more do I need .
Another great, informative video-Thanks Mark
Thank you.
My Seiko recently-new SNZG13K1 with 7s36 movement is only less than three weeks old, and at present seems to gain around 6 seconds a day. And although there's no hacking, you can gentle-reverse twist the crown slightly to arrest the forward motion of the second hand, enough to let it be re-synched if that's needed.
A slightly newer SNDC81P1 quartz chronograph has in about ten days' ownership not shown ANY movement away from GMT. That'll do me. No doubt it'll drift slowly over time.
But although I like that accuracy, fact is I'm a retired old fart with zero need for instant-timing of - anything these days... And the heartbeat of that balance wheel'd watch pleases me far more than the clinical accuracy of the quartz model.
So much so I found a nice elderly model 5 on Ebay - there's no shortage of them. It'll be here in a few days. Looks like I might have to get a hold of one of those watch-cases soon, the sort that holds - how many, I wonder?