Acceptable deviation on a vintage mechanical watch?
My vintage watches deviate from just 2 seconds or so a day (bravo Rolex Day Date) up to nearly two minutes (naughty Cartier Santos.) I’m a real stickler for the time being precisely correct - so it does annoy me a bit (and the santos was sent for a service today..) - But other people I talk to don’t really mind or just reset the time regularly..
So how do you feel about it?
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Justin
Fairly new to watch collecting. Super fast collecting journey! I've had a bit of everything, small gold pretty watches, large rugged watches, vintage British field watches. From Casio to Patek and eve...
London
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I like my mechanicals to run under 5 spd, and I enjoy regulating them when needed. But I would cut more slack for a vintage piece that I didn’t wear too often.
Depends on the piece, specialty watches that I only wear on the weekend or special occasions ie. Dive for pool or exercise, dress to go out, etc. can deviate as much as 15 - 20 seconds and won't bother me since I'll only wear them a few days and will stop anyway making me having to reset them next time I wear them.... My everyday piece however can't, gives me extreme OCD and anxiety to have my daily deviate even 5 seconds because that'll add up quickly, so now I just wear a quartz.
We must have different ideas of vintage, as my vintage watches don't hack, so how would I even know if it was off less than a minute or two a day without keeping it running for several days straight?
About two minutes is probably the most I'd accept. What any of mine are, I don't know. Not enough to cause any concern. Running seconds free you of much futile neuroses.
I always set my watches fast so it doesn't really worry me...if you aren't 5 minutes early for the meeting...you're late!
+/- 1 minute for every 40 years of age of the watch. If seconds bother you then vintage may not be your game.
How old is this Cartier? Has it been serviced regularly? Why are you expecting it to be modern levels of accuracy if it’s vintage?
I always set my watches fast so it doesn't really worry me...if you aren't 5 minutes early for the meeting...you're late!
I imagine this task taking several weeks, or with a dedicated team on retention.
If I choose to leave the house with one of my vintage pieces, I’m anticipating being in a hurry.
Up to five minutes is acceptable, even though my dirtiest, not serviced since the 70s or 80s soviet nuggets are capable of +/- 30-ish