What's your (in)accuracy tolerance?

For my non-HAQ quartz watches (rated at +/-15 s/month), I'm happy at +/- 5 s/month. For my non-chronometer mechanical watches (rated -20 to +40 spd), I'm happy with +/- 10 spd. I have a Timex MK1 Mechanical that was +7 spd for the first few months, but has drifted now to about +12 spd 🤨

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Am I being overly harsh expecting more from a cheap movement?

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I change my watch every day so I am much more tolerant on accuracy.  As long as I'm not gaining or losing minutes a day its fine.  I do check the accuracy though.

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Manufacturer stated policy divided by two, for me.  My thinking is that if manufacturers aren’t applying that kind of psychological thinking, then they’re bloody idiots.  

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Like @SurferJohn i change my watches everyday, sometimes twice a day to enjoy them all. Never paid attention to the accuracy. I am pretty sure they are accurate for the activities I do like guessing what time I should leave work and what time I should eat. Kidding aside, it depends on how important is it for you? 
I have one #casio atomic watch that adjusts every night which I think is most accurate watch I have after #applewatch  which is my most expensive alarm clock.

I always find myself checking time on my phone by default. I know sounds crazy.

That is a nice looking #timex 

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I value accuracy in a watch, not because I need to know time to the precise second, but because to me it is a sign of a product that is good at what it's main purpose is meant to be.  

All of the mechanical watches that I wear in regular rotation keep time within 6 seconds per day, and most are within 1-2 SPD. I only have one quartz watch that is part of my normal rotation, an Omega Speedmaster X-33 Skywalker which has gained 1 second in the 131 days since I purchased it, which works out to about 3 seconds per year. 

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For me, +-15 seconds per day is OK. It is OK to adjust my watch once in every 2-3 days, but not everyday.

However, not every watch could manage that so .. that is why my wife seeing me stuck in front of watch box everyday 😅😅

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I don’t pay attention to accuracy more than down to the minute so if it’s within that I’m fine with it. But if I relied on being on time for things to the second everyday like for work or something like that I’d be more strict but for me it’s not that big of a deal. 

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Accuracy only matters to me as it relates to my activity. I do use my wrist watch to check the time, and 99.9% of the time +/-60sec of accuracy works. That said I do expect a watch to perform within spec, for the warranty period. After that its less about accuracy and more about if I love the watch or not.

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Thanks for all the replies. I'll relax and enjoy the Timex since it is well within the -20 to +40 spec of an A-grade Seagull ST6. 

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I’m an time accuracy junky, and I have zero tolerance, which is why I have GPS/BT/RF controlled time syncing daily on my quartz movements. For mechanicals, I regulate them myself to be ~3s/day and at that, it makes me nvtz but it’s the best I can do for the 300 year old technology. I’m looking to buy some high end HAQ, and still waiting for my QT-8000B tester to get here, so I can super tune them to be +/- 5s/yr, and I’ll have to live with that. BTW, I got a Seagull ST1655 and ST1901 that both keep +/- 3s/day that I timegrapher tuned, I’m impressed, the keyless works is a tad janky but I can fix that 

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Tolerance as documented by manufacturer, plus I don't want to ever risk 15 second loss in a day if it's a watch I don't trust, or 15 seconds per week if it's a watch I do trust. Basically, I want them all to regulate themselves, and if they don't, I sonically vibrate them with negative syllables until the electro-mechanism vaporizes. For example, my 1990s Eco Drive E76 is not a particularly accurate watch at +- 30s/mo (my estimate) which is probably more meaningful to normal people than the manual's hedging +-15 on average with typical use. Not technically wrong but word of mouth / social media marketing seems, uh, more generous. 

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It may sound a little bit pretentious but my tolerance is < 4 seconds delta per day. Most of my watches are even within 2 spd. I regularly set my watches to the precise time at the latest when they drift more than 20-30 seconds in total.

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thedailynwa

It may sound a little bit pretentious but my tolerance is < 4 seconds delta per day. Most of my watches are even within 2 spd. I regularly set my watches to the precise time at the latest when they drift more than 20-30 seconds in total.

Ultimately, I'm usually "double-wristing" with an Apple Watch on the other wrist, so I have perfect time available.  I track my new purchases to see how they're doing. I have a watch I bought in April that has an NH35 in it that settled in about +5 spd on the wrist or flat, and about -3 spd stored 12-up... with "positional regulation" I haven't had to reset the time since June and it is currently 1 second off atomic (despite the movement having a date, the watch is no-date with a ghost position). Based on this experience, the well-within-spec Timex was disappointing, but I suppose that I really shouldn't expect chronometer performance from entry-level movements in sub-$100 watches (the NH35 watch was $88 and the Timex was $85).

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AFChris

Ultimately, I'm usually "double-wristing" with an Apple Watch on the other wrist, so I have perfect time available.  I track my new purchases to see how they're doing. I have a watch I bought in April that has an NH35 in it that settled in about +5 spd on the wrist or flat, and about -3 spd stored 12-up... with "positional regulation" I haven't had to reset the time since June and it is currently 1 second off atomic (despite the movement having a date, the watch is no-date with a ghost position). Based on this experience, the well-within-spec Timex was disappointing, but I suppose that I really shouldn't expect chronometer performance from entry-level movements in sub-$100 watches (the NH35 watch was $88 and the Timex was $85).

Positional regulation is a great way to keep your watch (almost) always within a single digit drift. The thing is that my watches are either in a winder (so the position changes constantly) or on my wrist - even at night. 🥲

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+/- 10sec per day mechanicals although published specs are more generous. 

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Just an update - with the cooler weather, my Timex MK1 Mechanical seems to be doing better at between +3 and +10 spd - I've been setting it 30s slow and letting it go 30s fast before resetting ... which is now every 1 to 2 weeks. Overall, still impressive for the $20-30 Tianjin/Seagull ST6103K movement (which is a tiny, machine-built ladies' movement from China that they designed in 1975 as a much cheaper domestic alternative to the ST5 "export" movement).