Cheap watches and accuracy
I like three things...I like a good looking watch, I like an accurate watch, and I like to wear my watches without worrying about them getting damaged.
I buy a lot of watches off Aliexpress and I am not ashamed of it. As you can see from my list, a little tweaking and you can make a $40 watch very accurate. It has become my Saturday morning ritual to take a watch and get it within +/- 2 secs a day. Sometimes this is a quick operation and sometimes it takes an hour or so.
As you can see I still have three to work on here. I can't tell what it was like to get the one to a perfect 0.0. That one is my holy grail.
These are all 24 hour readings. I have found Seiko N35 and N34's to be the best.
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It's nice to see you comfortable with the AliExpress brands, and I agree wholeheartedly. You wear what you want, and enjoy it. 👍
Can you say which timegrapher you use please? I’d like to do this same thing.
Can you say which timegrapher you use please? I’d like to do this same thing.
I am using the cheap thing off Aliexpress that cost about $30. Usb and hooks to computer. software is free.
Just wanted to add...all of these watches were off 10-20 seconds out of the box.
All of these are either Seiko NH35's or NH34's. I only buy the cheap watches that have these two movements and they are in abundance.
Anyone wanted to do this there is one rule that you can't break...never touch the BEAT ERROR lever. I have tried twice and both watches were trashed. As long as you only mess with the speed lever you are OK.
I watched this...I still don't touch that lever. I messaged two movements up bad without even trying hard.
All I can say for sure if watch quit running on both of them...anything above adjusting speed is currently out of my realm...but I am learning.
Do you test in multiple positions (example: dial up, 9 o’clock up, and 6 o’clock up)? Do you check amplitude and bear error even if you don’t tweak them?
Do you test in multiple positions (example: dial up, 9 o’clock up, and 6 o’clock up)? Do you check amplitude and bear error even if you don’t tweak them?
I suggest keeping things a simple as possible. You don't want to go down that rabbit hole. You will lose years of your life really quickly.
I try to always get beat error .5 or below. I only regulate dial up. I always lay watch with dial up at night. I can usually stay +2secs a day for over a week. I rarely wear one watch more than that at a time. This works for me. I do have a real machine to regulate now and have been successful changing beat error..but it is still pretty risky. I have ruined a few movements. Definitely a learning curb.