Is absolute precision really that important?

Depends on how you rotate watches, if I had a mechanical watch that I wore for weeks on end I'd want it under 10 seconds a day. If I'm switching watches every day, or every other day, I don't really care that much. 

In the end, for most people a watch is a luxury/toy, so they want it to be precise simply because it's an option that exists. Just like most people who "need" 200m WR, or ISO dive rating...  

For me a watch is more of a nice looking tool than practical jewellery. Therefore, it is essential. 

We have our phone to tell the exact time. COSC or similar certifications are not a must for me. I'm happy if the watch is kind of accurate. 

Not essential that my watch be hyper accurate, though terrible accuracy is a problem. For me, setting the exact time to the second and seeing how the watch is performing is another way to interact with my watch and part of the fun.

I don't use my phone to tell the time, mostly I don't even carry it with me. So my watch still has this tool function. I do not need perfect accuracy, but when it's out by two minutes I need to reset the time, and doing this less often is desirable. 

For my high end pieces, I want COSC or better because I tend to wear them enough where I'm never winding them. Therefore, I don't want them to deviate too much over time. But for my lower end watches, I couldn't care less how accurate they are. It really does matter how much I will wear the watch. If frequently, then I want good accuracy. If rarely, then it doesn't matter as the watch might hit the wrist once a month.

I think it Depends on Your occupation. If Your daily tasks demand high precision and timing of things that may be an issue but for most of us  +/- 30 seconds a day is sufficient enough  

Having excellent accuracy is neat, and I enjoy tracking it. But realistically, I’m ok up to +/-10 spd. I tend to rotate my watches a lot, and often set my watch every morning anyway.

It's rather the best functional metric but personally it's more a preference and convenience. Actually, decent accuracy is a luxury as it's one less thing to worry about. Never mind that quartz offers this luxury in spades. 

Of course I have watches that don't even hack, so you adopt a different mindset. But I love love love having several watches lying next to each other perfectly synchronized to the second. It's a point of pride.

When your bill is paid with gains from capital markets, every second counts. But then you have accurate time on your computer or phone. So, yeah...

I think for me a good rule of thumb is the more you spend the more accurate the piece should be. I'm still firmly entrenched in the "entry level" phase of my collecting journey so accuracy isn't the biggest thing I look at but I understand people that want the highest possible accuracy just to be able to say their watch is the among the most accurate available.  

Although I completely understand that a mechanical watch just cannot be as precise as good Quarz watch, let alone an atomic clock, I want my watches to be as precisely running as possible. Because of that, I bought a Timegrapher and regulate my watches myself. Brought all of them down to +2 seconds per day or better.

I am an accurate snob, i love an accurate watch as it shows the watchmakers careful movement consideration and regulatory precision. I know quartz movement will always be more accurate, but i also love innovation from the like of grand seiko that merge the best of the 2 worlds. 

Depends on the watch,but generally  I don't mind  any watch being +/- 20 seconds off. If it's 20 seconds slow I just set it a minute fast and I can be within a minute of NIST time for 6 days in a row. If 20 seconds fast set it 1 minute slow.

If absolute accuracy is needed only radio-controlled can come close.

If you want real accuracy then just go for a gshock with multiband 6. Nothing beats it! :) 

Not a huge deal to me, but it would be a perk I suppose. It wouldn't be a deal breaker if I didn't have that high accuracy as long as what I have isn't off by a crazy amount, but if I'm torn between two watches and one has better accuracy it's a factor to consider. 

Want accuracy then buy a quartz.

in a mechanical watch its nice but so much can make it less accurate from positional error to lack of servicing . Equally leaving near anything magnetic will make it run weird.

i am a hobbyist watchmaker and although I setup the accuracy as good as possible after a service I really only use that as a gauge for how well it’s perfoming. You can tell by timegrapher readings if any part might be failing.

For regular use, I look for within 10 seconds a day. I’m awe-striken, though, when I have a mechanical watch that runs within 1 second a day. It’s not that I expect it, but it’s almost an act of technological and climate magic when it happens.

I've wondered about this too - and I'd love to see the average relationship between accuracy and price.  I imagine diminishing returns hits hard.  I can see the fun aspect of seeking perfection, but if that isn't your thing there really is no reason to value precision much at all.  For me, I don't.  I rarely look at my watch to see what time it is...

Its funny - I just got a spring drive and it’s made me excited to track how closely it follows the atomic time.  Mostly since the reports are that it’s astoundingly precise.

But prior to now, with all my +\- 5 or 10 second per day watches I didn’t really care a whit, (except if they were running way fast or slow) I imagine even if I had a COSC or METAS certified watch I wouldn’t bother to precisely track the accuracy.

• I suppose if I owned a ‘beat meter’ or whatever they’re called, then the testing would be fun and I’d probably track accuracy on all my watches.

I don’t really mind if they’re plus/minus a minute a day. Where I do mind is, if I buy a new watch and it’s chronometer certified - even then I’d only be mildly concerned during the warranty period. If I had a vintage chronometer and it was not running to specs then ‘meh’.

It really only ever comes up as a point in discussions I have with non-watch people about how clever humans are/were in making these little technological advances (when they’re not killing each other or the planet, of course….)

the main consideration is how often you'd have to reset the watch, which is related to how "out" of time you can accept. I generally like to be within 30 seconds of the time so if a watch is 10 seconds out, I can set it fast or slow and always be 30 seconds within the atomic time while resetting the watch every 6 days or so. if the watch is more than +- 10 spd i'll just be happy with within 1 minute of the time so I don't have to reset it every few days

I agree, 10 seconds a day is acceptable to me, for an inexpensive daily driver kinda watch. But a guy doesn't have to spend that much money to get something that is certified. See Formex Essence, Tissot Ballad, to name a couple. 

OMG, you are a genius! How come I never thought of that. It makes perfect sense. Thank you. 

A citizen gps satellite wave is one of my cheaper watches but which I use to tune the time for the other ones. 

It doesn't really matter to me if all my watches are off by a minute or three (since I use my electronic devices to schedule and stick to meeting times) but for the aesthetic pleasure of watching a row of analog watched all tick/sweep in unison, it does.

For me, it's like buying a high-end sports car. 95% of the people who own those, will not need the performance. But to own a precision machine, capable of such things, is awesome.

My GS is accurate to half a second a month. This is a mechanically powered watch, with an electronic regulator built-in, outperforming pretty much every quartz watch that is not made by Grand Seiko.

Do I need this level of accuracy? Of course not. But I love that I own something so incredibly engineered, and built.

I don't rely on my watch for the time. My phone is more or less perfectly accurate.

I rotate my watches when I wear them, is not a big deal only maybe if I'm traveling. Unless is something important for me then I want to be really precise. But most parts I care less.

I can handle being off a minute or 2, I change watches enough. 

Watches should be reasonably accurate, at least marking the same hour. One of my friends routinely displayed up to 10 or more of his collectables on his nightstand often without dusting the surface even in a perfunctory manner, upsetting his wife when she found time from her regular chores to dust but became annoyed at moving his timepieces. Apparently she noticed on one occasion all watches displayed a marginally different time, sweeping the collection into the bin beside the bureau to demonstrate a point. He was allowed to keep his timepieces after the divorce, she the nightstand and even the house. I am careful not to upset the Mrs.