Acceptable precision loss for a quartz in 6 months?
I used to absolutely not bother about the accuracy of my quartz watches, simply assuming that they are all super-accurate, adjusting them once in a blue moon when switching timezones and then a little more frequently since the advent of daylight saving time (I hate that BTW).
But then I started collecting watches, including quartz, including digital quartz... And when I adjust a bunch of them, just after a BST/GMT switch, I can not help but notice differences big enough to bother me.
So, given the duration of 6 months, i.e. the duration of a period of daylight saving time or its dual (nightlife wasting time?), what would you consider an acceptable deviation, and what is still an excellent deviation - for a quartz?
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Balthazar
UK-based German expat. Likes cheap watches. Not bothered about brands.
Member since
Last active: 3 hrs ago
A min good for me, but 99% of my quartz are about 2 to 3 second's a month.
Sub-minute accuracy over a prolonged time is of no real importance. I'm not doing secret agent logistics that would require that. I do get slightly annoyed when I find the watch is off by ten or fifteen seconds after several months, but it obviously had no impact on my life in that time.
I take the 15 seconds per month, i. e. 1:30 per 6 months. My other quartz watch is atomic...
yup, depends on the movement - there is quartz and there is quartz. also think about the age and quality of the battery in there.
Of course it depends on the movement, but whether you judge the watch or the movement is neither here nor there. I noticed my Casios to be generally precise, but my Chinese ones varied a lot, with one of my digital SKMEIs knocking on the 5 minute door.
Well, perhaps I should have used 6 minutes as the upper bound, as this is the "superlative chronometer" standard for this time period.
I am not actually sure what my worst quartz is, I haven't monitored that yet, but currently I'm setting my quartzes to accurate time, and the next time we lose nightlife wasting time I will take stock.
BTW, I also own an apparatus that directly measures quartz precision, but that only works with analogue quartz.
I've noticed my cheap G Shock 5600s can be 2-3 minutes off after maybe 3-4 months... I honestly think my Rolexes are better, probably only a few seconds a month ...
I also have some Master of G shocks with atomic so I think they are always dead on, my Grand Seiko spring drive is way better than all of them, maybe 1 or 1.5 seconds per month
since I discovered the Citizen AQ4091-56L, even the 10 seconds per annum from my Grand Seiko SBGN003 seems borderline sloppy.
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