watch accuracy

I only set my time when I wear it. If you’re rotating between a couple of watches you should have 40 hour battery reserve before the watch dies and you’ll have to set it again. 10-15 seconds a day is pretty good for a mechanical watch. If you want less than -4/+6 seconds a day you’re looking at COSC certification, so you’re going to pay for that level of accuracy.

If setting the time is no bueno try a solar powered quartz.

I like setting the time on my automatic watches. Gives me a reason to interact with the time piece

Are you seeking perfection? Not sure I understand.

More expensive watches that are COSC certified are off by -4/+6 seconds per day. Would you set the time on those daily? After all, they'd be off by as much as 6 seconds! 😮

So what I'm trying to understand is why there's such a difference in your life from 6 seconds to 15 seconds?

If you want absolute accuracy, get an atomic watch. 😉

The only one I keep wound is the Seiko 5 with the old 7S26 movement because it has that day/date jazz. It is a low precision movement (+/-45 sec/day spec) and has been dropped a bunch so every two or three days it needs to be set back a minute or two.

It also depends on how the movement has been adjusted. I haven’t unscrewed the crown of my BB58 since I bought it and initially set the time back in May. By resting the watch either dial up (+1 spd) or crown down (-.5 spd), I can “self-regulate” it to keep accurate time.

I set mine as I pick it up for rotation. If I wear it for a couple of days I don't set it again. If I was wearing it for longer periods I'd probably reset it when it's a couple of minutes out. I'd never dream of changing it for 15s, what is the point?

Do you need to know the time more accurately than within 15s? If asked for the time I always round to (nearly/just passed) the quarter hour. If looking for myself I tend to see it in 5 minute chunks.

Also note that their expectation of +/- 10/15 doesn't mean yours will be at that rate, and it's easy enough to regulate if it's poor.

I rotate watches daily so never the same one two days in a row (or rarely). Accordingly, I set the time each time I open the box.

There are 86,400 seconds in a day. 10-15 seconds off indicates that the mechanical movement is operating at a 99.99% accuracy rate.

C'MON man!!!

Swiss are better than Japanese for precision. Seiko has parameters that are some of the worst in the watch world. Set those twice a day

I think you may need to re-calibrate (get it? heh heh) your expectations. Automatic watches are, especially at the mid-level Hamilton price tier, aesthetic first, then practical. It seems to be understood that anyone demanding absolute accuracy at this point in history would use their phone.

I set them when I wear them.

My Seiko runs +/-4 spd depending on position, so I just store it in the position needed to speed or slow it down. My Timex has a Seagull movement that is +20 to 25 spd… I set it 30 seconds early and it’s fine for 3 days… and I usually don’t wear it more than three days at a time 😊

Sounds like you need a quartz watch with the ability to sync to the atomic clock. There are a bunch of Casio and Citizen models that can do this.

I don't usually wear one of my mechanical watches for more than a day or two at a time, so typically I set it when I put it on then don't set it again until the next time I wear it

I wear a different watch almost every day. So they are generally out of power when I put them on. I enjoy interacting with my watches by setting them and giving them a quick wind.

If you're looking for increased precision, Hamilton makes a quartz version of most of their models. They're less expensive and more precise.

I set the time on the watch I wear for the day, and that needs setting because I do not keep them wound and I own a bunch. I don't bother with the accuracy beyond the minute level, not even with quartzes. If I needed that (which I never have) I own a couple of radio-controlled watches.

With quartzes I normally do not set the time outside of a battery change, except for a couple of cheap quartzes with lousy accuracy.

My Tudor if I wear it consistently loses 1.5-2 seconds a day so maybe once a month, my ball is similar. My Bell and Ross is 7 seconds a day so maybe twice a month and my Montblanc has no seconds hand, so just when I notice it’s wrong.

Sorry, I don’t really have any skin in the game anymore owning a Spring Drive and a 9F movement…

🥲

I usually reset the time on my watches when it's more than 1 minute off. As many others said - if absolute accuracy matters a lot to you, then you probably should not be looking at mechanical watches in the first place.

I set my omega 51 days ago and its a minute and 20 seconds fast, probably wont set it again until the time change in early november. For me if its within a minute or two thats good enough, as long as the watch isnt slow.

I set the time when the power reserve runs out. I have a few watches that have long power reserves and with my rotation, it stays quite precise and not deviated enough to be bothered. Also, I have no where to be on time right to the second so anything under +/-10 seconds will be more than enough for my day to day use and if I'm concerned then I just pick up one of my quartz watches.

If you are used to spring drive then any other watch is going to look not accurate enough.

Accuracy is the least of my concern when comes to watches as I wear them mostly for the design, feel and the story they tell. I have a 65yr old watch, works fine and can still maintain a respectable 50hr power reserve. The downside it gains 25-30 seconds a day and has poor water resistance even after servicing. Does that bother me? Absolutely not, in fact this is my favorite piece handed down by my late father. Perhaps I'm just laid-back, but what is a few seconds or even minutes in a day? Let our smartphones do the job while we continue to enjoy this hobby!

If I committed the funds to purchase a Hamilton then I would expect better.

All the big name and big volume movement makers should have the manufacturing down to a fine art. They have had enough experience by now.

I would be interested to see how the different makers go about the regulation of their movements on the production line. I get it, time is money, a cheaper movement will get less time spent on it.

Sometimes with a cheap watch you can get lucky and get something around 5spd out of the box. I have a Vostok that came like that.

The more you pay, the less that luck should be a factor.

Thank you for bringing that cool Junghans atomic watch to my attention! 🍻

Got my SM300 back from service in April, still running very close to spot on. I adjust it once every couple of weeks. I'm pretty obsessed with accuracy, that's why I spent so much on my Omega. I'm Ridiculous 🤣

One thing to remember is that accuracy is not static. It will depend on a number of factors, and it will drift over time, so you're always catching up.

There are ways to counter that, but it comes at a cost with relatively slight benefits. If somebody is a one-watch person it may make sense. If your watches are in rotation the benefits are marginal to non-existent.

If it is a pet peeve, I would get a high-accuracy quartz watch and forget about the issue.

Today I actually noticed my recent GMT build being 4 seconds fast. I wound and set it yesterday, but decided to wear a different outfit. (Keep in mind this is a $35 NH34 which I superficially regulated for a minute.) Either way, the 4 seconds didn't matter.

I feel if I spend $1k on a watch - then it should be super accurate. I should only worry about winding it and wearing it. I enjoy field watches and have several. But they are all quartz. They are cheap Timex field watches and are very accurate. But as others have pointed out - am I really watching the seconds? And if it's off a few seconds - does that really affect my life? I returned a seiko because the watch would not keep accurate time. So I guess the accuracy is very important to me.

Hamilton is a well known entry level Swiss company. Most of their watches exceed the spec, so I doubt you would need to reset it once a month if you wear it every day.

I built my own watch from ebay parts with Seiko NH35 movement and I wear it every day. I set it once every couple of weeks at most. And that is a watch that is less than $100.

But if you want a super accurate watch for about $1000, get a echo drive Citizen Atomic Time watch. Accurate within seconds a year and you need to change battery every 15 - 20 years.

Lately I have been wearing a Certina DS diver 38 with the powermatic 80 movement and is a pleasure to not have to set time for 5-6 months. When I use something with seiko nh35 every 2 weeks you need to adjust and for that reason I have decided not to buy seiko nh35 powered movement watches anymore! I hate to have constant unreliable time on a watch.

I only own two automatic watches - my Oris would retail at about £1500 if new these days, my Chopard obviously a lot more. Both seem to be rather more accurate than their respective stated limits, but I don't wear them for long enough periods of time to build a reliable picture about either. I would not expect either to come very close to the last 3 quartz pieces l bought and I was slightly surprised at how much those varied. My current daily 2022 Eterna with middling-spec ETA movement gains 5.5 seconds over a month, my work wear 2005 RW, (ISA movement) loses about double that rate and the 2013 Bering it replaced used to gain 5 seconds a week.

Barely, unless I’m changing the current rotation. My most worn watches are my Batman and Explorer II, both keeping excellent time (-0.5spd with the Batman at last check, 0spd with the Explorer II) with a 3-day PR, so with those two in rotation I alternate freely between them every couple of days without having to reset the time.

Depending on the movement, have you looked into trying to get the watch regulated? That might squeeze out a bit more accuracy.