Just for a bit of historical perspective, I have a verge fusee pocket watch, made in...wait for it....1695. After a decent service it is accurate to 30 seconds per day, and I am full of wonder at the skill of the watchmaker who built this watch by hand without the benefit of any modern technology, a watch which 320 years later is able to keep up with one built yesterday.
It's a pocket watch, so I'm curious if it being larger and able to be more robust because of that, allows for the greater tolerances of older stuff to match up with the significantly smaller movements of modern wristwatches. How accurate is a modern built fusee made with the precision of modern manufacturing?
I have to admit that a watch's accuracy is of paramount importance to me. I had a Jaeger-LeCoultre that was gifted to me when I graduated from law school. While it was a beautiful watch, I had to routinely sync it to the phone company time service. I bought an Accutron which was much more accurate. I then became a fan of Casio G-Shocks which were even more accurate. I migrated to the versions which sync'd to the atomic clock, but the signal was problematic. Now I have a Casio Edifice which can synchronize with my cell phone via Bluetooth multiple times each day. It has proven to be the most accurate watch I've ever owned. It is also quite a beautiful watch.
I've had 3 Seikos with the entry level 7s26. The first ran +0.5 out of the box and after regulation the others ran +1.3 and +1.8 s/day respectively. This is average over several days. There was larger variations on single days, but when well wound (aka. worn in a regular fashion, not being on rotation) these entry level automatics are quite stable at those rates. Accurate enough!
Yes, quartz watch is cheaper, but once its broken, its very hard to fix the movement. Mechanical watches can be fixed, same watch last 20year 30 years. Divide tat cost by 20-30 years.....it becomes afforable. Imagine passing yr eg.SKX007,seamaster, rolex, islander, etc. u bought when u were a young woking adult, to yr son, 30years later. If u bring yr boy up right....he'll treasure tat watch.
My Alpanist Diashock with a 6R15 movement is 20 sec slow per day, which is very unimpressive yet my Sarb 033 is 4 sec fast per day. I wander about 6R15 diashocks as other people have had issues with that movement as well.
I never had an automatic watch and was about to purchase one. Thanks to this honest video I knew what I should expect and I can't live with these ranges of inaccuracy. I will remain at the quartz side.
Good video. I have an early 2000s Breitling SuperOcean blue dial. I set it eleven days ago when I had to adjust it for the end of November, a 30 day month. I just checked it against the atomic clock and in those days it is 37 seconds ahead. That means the watch is gaining 3.5 seconds in 24 hours. Pretty darned accurate for an automatic watch.
Great explanation! Thank you Mark because you explained questions that were not well answered by others. At last someone who understands the realistic behaviours of mechanical watches. Some expect Quartz accuracy which is totally impossible.
Accuracy is very relevant to position and it varies from watch to watch. factoring movement design and quality, it is more or less effected by gravity and resulting changes in the friction of various points and the axis of the balance wheel. Magnetism will effect accuracy regardless, and usually results in a fast watch.
Would you agree with me that an automatic watch will keep better time accuracy if the user wears it and is more active such as going walking regularly instead of wearing it and sitting in watching tv.
I had a year old Rolex YachtMaster and a two year old Omega just out of service. Both these watches were keeping +2, +3 seconds per day, respectively. I traded those two watches last month for 2010 Daytona, steel, black dial. The Daytona had been very slightly and expertly polished, and had been serviced. The Daytona is gaining five seconds per day. That shit me off, but then I realized, as you said, what five seconds per day is with respect to all the seconds total in one day. Conclusion - the Daytona comes within -4/+6 chronometer requirements. In other words, the Daytona is dead-on accurate, I love it.
To me accuracy is not much of a big deal. My first decent watch was Omega Planet Ocean 8500 and after a year of non-stop wearing and several time zone changing (it has a jumping second hand) it gained only 52 seconds. And couple weeks ago I got an SKX009J as a present and I can't be happier! Of course it is not as nearly accurate as swiss premium but it does its job and looks amazing.
One lesson I learned with mechanical watches is that they make excuses why they fail to meet their own specs. This happened with me with my Grand Seiko. They find +10 to +13 sec a day acceptable
As soon as you pulled out that Aplinist I said out loud, "Oh my God that's gorgeous", and then you proceeded to say you don't care for it. Haha. I love that everyone has different tastes.
I've recently bought my first automatic watch, and I was a bit disappointed with the accuracy,, it gains around 4 seconds a day,.. After watching this video, I'm much happier, !! Thank you so much,,
It is fascinating how your experiences affect your perspective. I grew up wearing quartz watches. When I had some money I purchase a brand new Omega Seamaster. It was my daily watch for 15 years. It’s accuracy was within the spec of an automatic watch. Which made it, by a huge margin, the worst watch I have ever owned. I have since rediscovered the Casio’s of my youth. I now have a Casio collection. All are radio controlled. It is awesome to wake up in the morning, look at your watch box, and all these watches that you haven’t wore in a month are all telling exactly the same and correct time. I would kindly recommend to my fellow watch enthusiast to broaden you horizons.
Thank you for this video! I was one of those people who panicked when my first automatic watch was losing 10 seconds a day. Your video was very reassuring.
I have a new Seiko SNZG13 with a 7S36 movement I "grey imported" because it's not a regular UK market watch and in the past 5 days it has gained 15 seconds which I think is extremely good.
Every 4hz seiko can be regulated incredibly well. I have skx009 with 4r36 movement. The escapement system changed to 6r20's escapement and the mainspring too to spron 510. My friend did it. He is watchmaker at the seiko ad. This skx gain 12s/day dial up and dial down. In every vertical position 0s/day. On my wrist 0.5-1s/day gain. Amazing i think. My another 28.800 watxh is sarw009 6r27. Came from factory on wrist +1-1.5 s/day, rest in vertical +2s/day dial up and down 14s/day. I think it is more than expected. I love them. Cheers
Its luck. I had a Seiko monster that was +1 on my wrist and -1 at night off my wrist so would lose virtually no time. Then had an orient ray 2 and that arrived +10 from the shop. Regulated it myself with no special tools or machines to +3 a day. Then it started to become unpredictable, losing some and gaining some. But Jesus it worked out that it loses almost nothing overall. It is fussy what position it is left overnight, I found flat on its back the best for me
Seiko SRP turtle is more precise than the marinemaster300. SRP, about +1 or +2 per day. Marinemaster 300 ,+10 to +20 per day. Both watches,out from the box.
Marc your videos are wonderful. A big thank you. May I make one suggestion. Many reviews compare and comment a about the strength of the lume. Wonderful. What I rarely see is a comment about how long the lume lasts per night. That is very important when judging how helpful the lume in each watch that has lume is.
I have a Heimdallr 6105 homage with a Seiko NH35 in it. After a few weeks of ownership it seems to be running - 2 seconds per day. I'm pretty darn pleased with that.
I'll stick with quartz, solar and multiband 6, 5 months passed and i didn't pushed a single button to adjust the time and it still runs second to second with my laptop...
Hello Mark. Thanks for your Vid. I really enjoyed watching it and it has helped me understand a few important things. Yesterday I took ownership of a Seiko 4R36 calibre turtle 200mm divers watch. You state the 4R36 is not as refined as the more expensive models in Seikos range. As you say, in my Manuel there is no mention of any +or- tolerances in loss or gaining of time. So I am very surprised to discover that after setting mine last night to an atomic clock, after 24 hours mine has lost 1 second. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones am I? As for a run of the MIL calibre to be this accurate must be some kind of miracle, I'm a happy man. Thank you Mark 👍😊👍
I set my Alpinist yesterday using wwv time tick and checked it after work today . It's running -2sec. I really didn't expect it to run that well. Nice job Seiko!
all my mechanicals run within 10 seconds a day or they get returned... theres plenty that do, even 6r seikos. certainly anything with a selitta or ETA... and anything over $1,000 i expect COSC or better... quartz better be within 10 a month...
i have seiko skx007j which i purchased 7 years back from seiko dealer. watch is keeping time with +9sec accuracy. do i have to get it serviced? or keep it using until it loses time more than 20sec.
Hey Mark, in your COSC video, you should definitely mention rolex. And show yours. I still have no idea how they can make their watches +2/-2. That's incredible.
I recently bought a Tudor Pelagos LHD, and I was truly staggered to find that it loses aprox 0.75 of a second during the day whilst worn, and then it gains 0.75 of a second during the night whilst lying face up. I've only ever had much cheaper autos, which ran fast, anywhere between 10 secs per day to a minute plus...Seiko, Rotary, Seiko 5, Fake omega with ETA movement ( most accurate of my cheaper watches actually ). So the Tudor is far more accurate than my Casio digital !! Like I say, I was truly staggered ... Checked it multiple time a day against an atomic watch and gmt sites online. Frankly I'm in awe of that kind of mechanism. Best wishes...J
My first automatic watch and still the only one so far is a $50 Vostok Amphibia. Bought it brand new off of Ebay 8 months ago. Factory rated -20s to +60s/day. Out of the box, it ran +30s/day. I decided to #YOLO and tried adjusting it, my first time messing with a watch. Was luckily quite successful , +10s/day ever since. I wear it every day. What a great little piece, lucky me
I've never understood what people see in the Alpinist either. Totally agree about that model Bambino being so nice. I was not sure about the rose gold when I bought it but but it goes with so many clothes colors. The strap color is what really sets it off.
You might laugh if you read this, relating to not believing the slimfast ad..lol. I got just 2 weeks ago, a Seiko 5 Sports SRPD51K2. I measured it on my friends Weishi timegrapher machine and it was giving +1 to + 2 seconds a day. He was surprised to say the least. Me, not really knowing that much wasn't that impressed, now I am. Anyway, I decided to measure it against the atomic clock over 3 days, and I kid you not, the watch was just 5 seconds ahead after 72 hours. I had to check again that they hadn't given me a Rolex by accident...lol. Even better, the dial and chapter ring lines up perfectly.. I think I'm never going to give away this watch!!
My psycho is slow by 32 seconds a day but specification is -35 + 45. I like the perfectly accurate watch so in the morning I said it 10 seconds fast it loses just over a second an hour, I find that absolutely perfect in fact, the more you have to adjust the watch the closer bond you have with it. I feel fun automatic you must have hacking otherwise you just don't know where you are.
Buy a watch repair kit and magnifiers and learn how to regulate. My Seiko 5 was 30 secs slow/ day, now 4 secs slow. Took me 3 tries. I do have incredibly stable hands and I’m not done adjusting
If your mechanical watch thats brand new gets more than 10 seconds off per day you got scammed or you need to get a better one. That spec sheet is so misleading and most watches have their own different movements anyway.
I have 4 watches 3 automatic 1 my dads 1930s my dads runs slow it was Serviced free by a friend of my brother I don’t were in that much I may take it and have it adjusted my 3 automatics run plus or Minus 1 Minute a day which I am happy with one of the most accurate is my Bulova sea king which is accurate to 10 seconds a year but if a Want really Accuracy I were one of my Bluetooth watches
My Chris Ward C8 Vintage Pilot watch has an ETA 2824-2 and is +12 to +18 secs a day, depending on how I wear it, or whether I just wind it and leave it (face up) in a drawer. Not bad but could be better. BUT if I manually wind it, after 40-50 winds I can feel, and see, the rotor spinning as I gently turn the crown to wind (is this normal automatic ‘clutch’ behaviour, to stop it over-winding?). I also get a faint metallic tinkling noise maybe 40% of the time when moving my wrist, like the rotor is loose. Can’t see anything wrong through. My silver Orient Bambino (from you! Thanks!) is even better accuracy: +6 to +8 secs a day. Close to COSC!
There are no "vibrations per minute" and no such thing as "accuracy" for TIMEPIECES. And since any "error" is a PERCENTAGE of the length of "time" of the OSCILLATING mechanical escapement with SECONDS always being "created" by X oscillations of the balance while minutes, hours and days are MULTIPLES of "seconds" and progressively "smaller" multiples, an "X seconds per day" error is not the same error "percentage" as the "error" in so-called "beats per hour". And when you divide "beats per hour" by 3600 - the number of seconds in an "hour", you won't get an even number of "beats per second" because an escapement has two "beats" per oscillation of the balance and those "beats" occur at the "beginning" and "end" of an oscillation. And the reason there is no "spec" for "accuracy" ia because "accuracy" is not a "scale". Any time there is a "range" of acceptable "error" there is no "accuracy". A "watch" does not "measure" time. It "keeps" time and any "test" that doesn't last at LEAST the full "power reserve" is pointless and useless.
I have a Lum Tec 600m with a Miyota 9015 at 28,800 and it gains around +2 secs per week! That's right 7 days I was astonished at the accuracy of this watch. Very smoothed second hand sweep. All of them may not be this accurate and I may just be lucky but so far I have no complaints. I probably just jinxed myself!
I just got a brand new SRPD27 and brand new SRP777 and out the box both of them are pretty slow, the SRP777 loses over a minute and the SRPD27 loses 30 seconds a day, I’ve wound them and worn them for a few hours each and placed them both dial up and recorded my findings 3 times to be as stated.. I have them fully wound and set aside one more time for another test... I don’t know if I can live with watches running this slow.
my seiko srpd91 loses half a second a day/ gains 2 secs no joke, I think it is crazy how 4r36's usually run +45-45. I kind of think that they over exaggerate their times, so they don't perform worse.
in real life the 4R36 perform much better, mine is getting 4 - 5s a day. My 7S26 is also getting more or less 15s a day, accuracy gets better if you wear it during the day and store it in the night, my 7S26 are like a bit sensitive to position, if its the piece i am wearing for the week, the accuracy could get close to the 4R36, but with no hacking, setting the watch is quite troublesome.
Hey mark. I have a question about the accuracy of my invicta pro diver 8926ob. If it is running about 10secs fast and I take it off to go to bed, when I wake up it’s lost a few seconds. It’s now 4secs fast. Is this normal or is my watch needing to be taken to a watchmaker.
Mine is a cheap Automatic from China, Forsining for only 35 U$ (bought last year). It similar to Patek Phillipe Chronograph Geneve with date, day, month and 24 hour display. I had manually tuned it with handphone stopwatch for 3 days and now, wolaaa .....: The accuracy is pretty good, +15 sec/day in Horizontal and -10 in Vertical position. I wind it up 10 to 11 turns every 6AM and 6PM a day. Combine that position and wearing it for work, it can achieve_, +/- 5 sec a day,. After a month of using, my watch still exactly the same hour and minute with world clock reference.
Paying a lot of money on automatics and yet ending up 5 minutes ahead or behind after a week. That sucks man. I'm not in the habit of correcting time after one week or so. I think people should save money and buy quartz.
Strange? I just got a Certina Action DS diver with a ETA powermatic 80 movement. Testing by running it crown down winding it every other day (80h power reserve). Using the app WatchCheck and im at an avarage rate at +0.5 s/d over a 5 day test. Maximum deviation is +1.4 s/d. Granted the WatchCheck app has an error margin me hitting the button exactly but that is max by a 0.5 sec or so. Is the ETA movement that accurate?
My 3045 'Grand Diver' INVICTA arrived poorly adjusted. After a 'magic touch' to the racket, I am spinning it between -1and +1seconds 24 hours !!! Imo the NH35A is the winner among a lot of calibers much more expensives.
I have a couple Seiko automatics that keep about +7 and -5 a day pretty good right? I bought a Lüm-Tec, which gives free lifetime adjustments with their watches. I've kept it wound for two weeks now and it's maybe 1 second off in two weeks. Amazing. I've heard that they keep a tighter tolerance on their regulations than Rolex, and so far, I can say it's most likely true.
I wear an old 1950's Benrus 3 star... and i'd say it's accurate +-30 sec a day. I'd be comfortable with +- a minute a day but damn, that's pretty stupid accurate for a 50$ automatic. I'm actually amazed by how reliable a 70 year old watch can be... Never buying a quartz again, i'll reserve those for outdoorsy stuff from now on.
SlimFast commercial that lost 200LBS in 4 days had me rolling lol! To me, if any mechanical watch under $1k USD can average within 25 seconds a day +/-, I'm happy as a clam at high tide.
I had a Rolex Submariner ten years ago and had to sell. Ten years later I purchased a budget automatic Squale 1545 and faced daily frustration. I’m gonna sell and stick with quartz unless my finances allow for a new Rolex Submariner.
It is impossebile mission to go for an 45min walk from room temperature to around 0 celsius outside with any Seiko or similar brand movement on the wrist under 1,000 $ and not gain or loose a minute with most accurate movement you have,Prove me wrong AND ill send you new monster 027 for free.Were talking automatic movements,afcorse..I rest my case
You know Marc, you have not aged a day. Its 2021, late 2021 at that. Cheers to that! PS I used to care about accuracy, even regulated my Aquis in six positions... now I could care less, the only time it bothers me is when I'm wearing two watches. Then you never know what the time is.
All that apart, Mechanical along with quarts watches can and should be calibrated by a expert, Regardless of what's written on a piece paper says!! The question is when accuracy is important which watch system do you choose? High end like seiko or citizen GPS??
Love your videos, Marc. My Marathon JDD averages -1s/day, and of course my Islanders do very well, too (plus or minus 5s/day). Definitely good enough for my purposes.
I got a watch for my birthday. It has an NH35a movement. The specs are very conservative from Seiko. In my brief and unscientific observation, it actually gains about 5 seconds per day.
The most amazing time keeper in my collection is a circa 1955 Certina automatic. It has a 17 Jewel 21-0114 movement, it is in original condition, and it is only about +20 seconds per day. I love old watches for their history and style, but holy cow, this one is almost an iPhone killer! Love the videos, Mark...always learn so much. Thank you!
Excellent explanation about the accuracy of mechanical watches. I have a number of Omega watches. The Speedmaster Mark II is affected by my activity during the day. I have had it going between -4 to about +8. It has been averaging about +3 to +4 per day. I have the newer Planet Ocean with the coaxial movement. This one has been keeping to within about 2 to 3 seconds per day plus or minus. I have some Omega watches from the 1960s. These are keeping to about 6 to 10 seconds per day mostly plus depending on my activities. My quartz watches are keeping better than 5 to 6 seconds per month. I have some that are keeping to better than 5 seconds per month.
I bought a Orient Bambino Open-heart from you and it's with-in 2 or 3 seconds a day although I haven't worn it much. (at-least that's what I'm getting.) Overall I'm more than happy with that.
I could have bought a La Vallie watch with a 2892A2 movement in it for $279 but I was unfamiliar with the brand and didn't care about the movement. Did I blow it?
I think most people who watch UA-cam Watch Videos are Watch Enthusiast who would have several watches, who generally speaking would change there watch daily or several times a week. So when they change there watch good chance they would need to reset it, if mechanical or automatic as reserve power could have run out. So seconds would not be an issue as watch would not be on wrist long enough to be minutes to fast or to slow.
Got a Steinhart Ocean one 39mm gmt with a constant 7.2 seconds a day, i won't open her up and it's good enough for me. If i want perfection i got my phone:) After this clip i am even more impressed:)
My Seiko recently-new SNZG13K1 with 7s36 movement is only less than three weeks old, and at present seems to gain around 6 seconds a day. And although there's no hacking, you can gentle-reverse twist the crown slightly to arrest the forward motion of the second hand, enough to let it be re-synched if that's needed. A slightly newer SNDC81P1 quartz chronograph has in about ten days' ownership not shown ANY movement away from GMT. That'll do me. No doubt it'll drift slowly over time. But although I like that accuracy, fact is I'm a retired old fart with zero need for instant-timing of - anything these days... And the heartbeat of that balance wheel'd watch pleases me far more than the clinical accuracy of the quartz model. So much so I found a nice elderly model 5 on Ebay - there's no shortage of them. It'll be here in a few days. Looks like I might have to get a hold of one of those watch-cases soon, the sort that holds - how many, I wonder?
My SARB017 gets about +2 seconds a day. It was getting about +4 but after I owned it a few weeks it seemed to "settle in", this seems to be a common story among owners of SARBs. I had a watch guy put it on his $10k machine and he said it was running perfectly with no beat error. There is a reason people go nutty over the SARBs, they are (or were) incredible for the money.
Just for a bit of historical perspective, I have a verge fusee pocket watch, made in...wait for it....1695. After a decent service it is accurate to 30 seconds per day, and I am full of wonder at the skill of the watchmaker who built this watch by hand without the benefit of any modern technology, a watch which 320 years later is able to keep up with one built yesterday.
Simply amazing! Would love to see a photo if you would email it.
Ben Ben how much you paid for it?
@@islandwatch I thought it meant fuse so I looked it up. Interesting:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusee_(horology)
@@eeyyaakk6801 Very expensive my friend because as you know, Time (especially if it is accurate) is Money!
It's a pocket watch, so I'm curious if it being larger and able to be more robust because of that, allows for the greater tolerances of older stuff to match up with the significantly smaller movements of modern wristwatches. How accurate is a modern built fusee made with the precision of modern manufacturing?
I have to admit that a watch's accuracy is of paramount importance to me. I had a Jaeger-LeCoultre that was gifted to me when I graduated from law school. While it was a beautiful watch, I had to routinely sync it to the phone company time service. I bought an Accutron which was much more accurate. I then became a fan of Casio G-Shocks which were even more accurate. I migrated to the versions which sync'd to the atomic clock, but the signal was problematic. Now I have a Casio Edifice which can synchronize with my cell phone via Bluetooth multiple times each day. It has proven to be the most accurate watch I've ever owned. It is also quite a beautiful watch.
I've had 3 Seikos with the entry level 7s26. The first ran +0.5 out of the box and after regulation the others ran +1.3 and +1.8 s/day respectively. This is average over several days. There was larger variations on single days, but when well wound (aka. worn in a regular fashion, not being on rotation) these entry level automatics are quite stable at those rates. Accurate enough!
With the daily salary can buy a quartz watch that running more accuracy than a mechanical watch cost a yearly salary. 😊
Yup, and you can wear sack clothing and terrible shoes for cheap, horses for courses 🤔
Yes, quartz watch is cheaper, but once its broken, its very hard to fix the movement. Mechanical watches can be fixed, same watch last 20year 30 years. Divide tat cost by 20-30 years.....it becomes afforable. Imagine passing yr eg.SKX007,seamaster, rolex, islander, etc. u bought when u were a young woking adult, to yr son, 30years later. If u bring yr boy up right....he'll treasure tat watch.
yup, then you have to change the battery every 4 years, and lose love for the watch cause it has no S O U L lol
Or you buy an orient kamasu and you're wishes are forfilled
@@SeamasterSryder the servicing alone for an omega is a couple of hundred dollars. Mechanical watches are a niche hobby. Cost concerns are secondary
and again we learned something valuable for our hobby, thank you Mark
Thanks for watching.
My Alpanist Diashock with a 6R15 movement is 20 sec slow per day, which is very unimpressive yet my Sarb 033 is 4 sec fast per day. I wander about 6R15 diashocks as other people have had issues with that movement as well.
I never had an automatic watch and was about to purchase one. Thanks to this honest video I knew what I should expect and I can't live with these ranges of inaccuracy. I will remain at the quartz side.
you will still be late.
Can't live with your watch being 20 seconds off?
@@andres-gu8yu I laughed way harder at this than I intended to
Good video.
I have an early 2000s Breitling SuperOcean blue dial. I set it eleven days ago when I had to adjust it for the end of November, a 30 day month. I just checked it against the atomic clock and in those days it is 37 seconds ahead. That means the watch is gaining 3.5 seconds in 24 hours.
Pretty darned accurate for an automatic watch.
Great explanation! Thank you Mark because you explained questions that were not well answered by others. At last someone who understands the realistic behaviours of mechanical watches. Some expect Quartz accuracy which is totally impossible.
Accuracy is very relevant to position and it varies from watch to watch. factoring movement design and quality, it is more or less effected by gravity and resulting changes in the friction of various points and the axis of the balance wheel. Magnetism will effect accuracy regardless, and usually results in a fast watch.
Would you agree with me that an automatic watch will keep better time accuracy if the user wears it and is more active such as going walking regularly instead of wearing it and sitting in watching tv.
i have noticed my watch keeps better time when on my wrist vs when on the winder. not sure why.
I had a year old Rolex YachtMaster and a two year old Omega just out of service. Both these watches were keeping +2, +3 seconds per day, respectively. I traded those two watches last month for 2010 Daytona, steel, black dial. The Daytona had been very slightly and expertly polished, and had been serviced. The Daytona is gaining five seconds per day. That shit me off, but then I realized, as you said, what five seconds per day is with respect to all the seconds total in one day. Conclusion - the Daytona comes within -4/+6 chronometer requirements. In other words, the Daytona is dead-on accurate, I love it.
To me accuracy is not much of a big deal. My first decent watch was Omega Planet Ocean 8500 and after a year of non-stop wearing and several time zone changing (it has a jumping second hand) it gained only 52 seconds. And couple weeks ago I got an SKX009J as a present and I can't be happier! Of course it is not as nearly accurate as swiss premium but it does its job and looks amazing.
One lesson I learned with mechanical watches is that they make excuses why they fail to meet their own specs. This happened with me with my Grand Seiko. They find +10 to +13 sec a day acceptable
As soon as you pulled out that Aplinist I said out loud, "Oh my God that's gorgeous", and then you proceeded to say you don't care for it. Haha. I love that everyone has different tastes.
Hi Mark!
I live in Stockholm, Sweden where it can get -10°C in the winter. How will that affect the accuracy of my watch?
That will be a future WNL!
Really only that? In winter an average of - 10°is usual even in Spain, maybe less days than in Sweden.
Yes, but your body is a thermal machine of 36.6°C, so I would care more of this than the environment's temperature!
I've recently bought my first automatic watch, and I was a bit disappointed with the accuracy,, it gains around 4 seconds a day,.. After watching this video, I'm much happier, !! Thank you so much,,
John Waddington my Feiko runs almost 2 minutes a day fast
+4 is not bad and very easy to correct with a pull of the stem. -4 is a pain to correct in that same time. + is always better.
I have a 101 year Elgin railroad grade pocket watch. A coupe of seconds a day consistently. A fun watch and a fun history.
Every 2824-2 movement I've owned has been crazy accurate: often less than ±1s/d.
Not typical, but awesome!
Charles Carr I had Breitling SOH +2s/day
Mine gets as low as +2 per day. Roughly averages 4
+25 to -15 a day ?? how is that possible, must be a mistake; i need 5 seconds *per month* tops, which one does that? thanks
It is fascinating how your experiences affect your perspective. I grew up wearing quartz watches. When I had some money I purchase a brand new Omega Seamaster. It was my daily watch for 15 years. It’s accuracy was within the spec of an automatic watch. Which made it, by a huge margin, the worst watch I have ever owned. I have since rediscovered the Casio’s of my youth. I now have a Casio collection. All are radio controlled. It is awesome to wake up in the morning, look at your watch box, and all these watches that you haven’t wore in a month are all telling exactly the same and correct time. I would kindly recommend to my fellow watch enthusiast to broaden you horizons.
Thank you for this video! I was one of those people who panicked when my first automatic watch was losing 10 seconds a day. Your video was very reassuring.
I have Gigandet Sea Ground with miyota movement. It runs +2,75 seconds/day. Nice
I have a new Seiko SNZG13 with a 7S36 movement I "grey imported" because it's not a regular UK market watch and in the past 5 days it has gained 15 seconds which I think is extremely good.
Every 4hz seiko can be regulated incredibly well. I have skx009 with 4r36 movement. The escapement system changed to 6r20's escapement and the mainspring too to spron 510. My friend did it. He is watchmaker at the seiko ad. This skx gain 12s/day dial up and dial down. In every vertical position 0s/day. On my wrist 0.5-1s/day gain. Amazing i think. My another 28.800 watxh is sarw009 6r27. Came from factory on wrist +1-1.5 s/day, rest in vertical +2s/day dial up and down 14s/day. I think it is more than expected. I love them. Cheers
I have chinese watches off by seconds per month
I also have a Marathon JDD with a Sellita SW220 that loses about -4 to 5 secs a day. Which isn't bad but no where near the Miyota!
That's awesome; that is chronometer grade.
Its luck. I had a Seiko monster that was +1 on my wrist and -1 at night off my wrist so would lose virtually no time. Then had an orient ray 2 and that arrived +10 from the shop. Regulated it myself with no special tools or machines to +3 a day. Then it started to become unpredictable, losing some and gaining some. But Jesus it worked out that it loses almost nothing overall. It is fussy what position it is left overnight, I found flat on its back the best for me
“People go gaga over this” 🤣
Idk why either but there’s somehing about this watch
Seiko SRP turtle is more precise than the marinemaster300. SRP, about +1 or +2 per day. Marinemaster 300 ,+10 to +20 per day. Both watches,out from the box.
Marc your videos are wonderful. A big thank you.
May I make one suggestion. Many reviews compare and comment a about the strength of the lume. Wonderful. What I rarely see is a comment about how long the lume lasts per night. That is very important when judging how helpful the lume in each watch that has lume is.
I have a Heimdallr 6105 homage with a Seiko NH35 in it. After a few weeks of ownership it seems to be running - 2 seconds per day. I'm pretty darn pleased with that.
I'll stick with quartz, solar and multiband 6, 5 months passed and i didn't pushed a single button to adjust the time and it still runs second to second with my laptop...
Fabulous concise explanation. Thank you for the clarification.🤔👀
Hello Mark.
Thanks for your Vid.
I really enjoyed watching it and it has helped me understand a few important things.
Yesterday I took ownership of a Seiko 4R36 calibre turtle 200mm divers watch.
You state the 4R36 is not as refined as the more expensive models in Seikos range.
As you say, in my Manuel there is no mention of any +or- tolerances in loss or gaining of time.
So I am very surprised to discover that after setting mine last night to an atomic clock, after 24 hours mine has lost 1 second.
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones am I?
As for a run of the MIL calibre to be this accurate must be some kind of miracle, I'm a happy man.
Thank you Mark 👍😊👍
I set my Alpinist yesterday using wwv time tick and checked it after work today . It's running -2sec. I really didn't expect it to run that well. Nice job Seiko!
Even though my quartz watch loses a sec per month, i still want to wear my +12 sec/day automatic watch.
LOL, that should be on a T-Shirt.
Because quartz is too good for him.
My 2-month Orient loses about 10 seconds a week!
Good info as always...love the orients,going to buy more of them!
all my mechanicals run within 10 seconds a day or they get returned... theres plenty that do, even 6r seikos. certainly anything with a selitta or ETA... and anything over $1,000 i expect COSC or better... quartz better be within 10 a month...
i have seiko skx007j which i purchased 7 years back from seiko dealer. watch is keeping time with +9sec accuracy. do i have to get it serviced? or keep it using until it loses time more than 20sec.
Hey Mark, in your COSC video, you should definitely mention rolex. And show yours. I still have no idea how they can make their watches +2/-2. That's incredible.
freakasaur100 ans usually preforn even better
Don't worry, I will. :)
I recently bought a Tudor Pelagos LHD, and I was truly staggered to find that it loses aprox 0.75 of a second during the day whilst worn, and then it gains 0.75 of a second during the night whilst lying face up. I've only ever had much cheaper autos, which ran fast, anywhere between 10 secs per day to a minute plus...Seiko, Rotary, Seiko 5, Fake omega with ETA movement ( most accurate of my cheaper watches actually ). So the Tudor is far more accurate than my Casio digital !! Like I say, I was truly staggered ... Checked it multiple time a day against an atomic watch and gmt sites online. Frankly I'm in awe of that kind of mechanism. Best wishes...J
My first automatic watch and still the only one so far is a $50 Vostok Amphibia. Bought it brand new off of Ebay 8 months ago. Factory rated -20s to +60s/day. Out of the box, it ran +30s/day. I decided to #YOLO and tried adjusting it, my first time messing with a watch. Was luckily quite successful , +10s/day ever since. I wear it every day. What a great little piece, lucky me
Perfect!
Regulated my Vostok Amphibia to around +3 seconds a day
Can an ETA 2824 be hand wound if the watch is dead or will it damage the movement?
Yes, hand wind away!
I've never understood what people see in the Alpinist either. Totally agree about that model Bambino being so nice. I was not sure about the rose gold when I bought it but but it goes with so many clothes colors. The strap color is what really sets it off.
Glad to see someone else is in my boat, at least a bit.
Expensive mechanical watches are much less accurate than cheap quartz watches. However they are an industrial work of art; eye candy.
You might laugh if you read this, relating to not believing the slimfast ad..lol. I got just 2 weeks ago, a Seiko 5 Sports SRPD51K2. I measured it on my friends Weishi timegrapher machine and it was giving +1 to + 2 seconds a day. He was surprised to say the least. Me, not really knowing that much wasn't that impressed, now I am. Anyway, I decided to measure it against the atomic clock over 3 days, and I kid you not, the watch was just 5 seconds ahead after 72 hours. I had to check again that they hadn't given me a Rolex by accident...lol. Even better, the dial and chapter ring lines up perfectly.. I think I'm never going to give away this watch!!
My psycho is slow by 32 seconds a day but specification is -35 + 45. I like the perfectly accurate watch so in the morning I said it 10 seconds fast it loses just over a second an hour, I find that absolutely perfect in fact, the more you have to adjust the watch the closer bond you have with it. I feel fun automatic you must have hacking otherwise you just don't know where you are.
Buy a watch repair kit and magnifiers and learn how to regulate. My Seiko 5 was 30 secs slow/ day, now 4 secs slow. Took me 3 tries. I do have incredibly stable hands and I’m not done adjusting
If your mechanical watch thats brand new gets more than 10 seconds off per day you got scammed or you need to get a better one. That spec sheet is so misleading and most watches have their own different movements anyway.
Very good but my old 1949 Certina is -5 to +12 sec`s/day.
I have 4 watches 3 automatic 1 my dads 1930s my dads runs slow it was Serviced free by a friend of my brother I don’t were in that much I may take it and have it adjusted my 3 automatics run plus or Minus 1 Minute a day which I am happy with one of the most accurate is my Bulova sea king which is accurate to 10 seconds a year but if a Want really Accuracy I were one of my Bluetooth watches
My Chris Ward C8 Vintage Pilot watch has an ETA 2824-2 and is +12 to +18 secs a day, depending on how I wear it, or whether I just wind it and leave it (face up) in a drawer. Not bad but could be better. BUT if I manually wind it, after 40-50 winds I can feel, and see, the rotor spinning as I gently turn the crown to wind (is this normal automatic ‘clutch’ behaviour, to stop it over-winding?). I also get a faint metallic tinkling noise maybe 40% of the time when moving my wrist, like the rotor is loose. Can’t see anything wrong through.
My silver Orient Bambino (from you! Thanks!) is even better accuracy: +6 to +8 secs a day. Close to COSC!
Any body explain me my Invicta 29179 (seiko Nh35a) has an error of 20 seconds a month. It is COSC specs?
Thanks, Mark, another great instructional video.
Thanks for checking it out.
I own 6 4R36/NH36 and 1 4R35 they are all within-10 to +5… the -10 is a 5KX and yes it Irritates
very informative, can you tell us about the accuracy on quartz watches? are they all the same or there are more accurate quartz movements than others?
There are no "vibrations per minute" and no such thing as "accuracy" for TIMEPIECES. And since any "error" is a PERCENTAGE of the length of "time" of the OSCILLATING mechanical escapement with SECONDS always being "created" by X oscillations of the balance while minutes, hours and days are MULTIPLES of "seconds" and progressively "smaller" multiples, an "X seconds per day" error is not the same error "percentage" as the "error" in so-called "beats per hour". And when you divide "beats per hour" by 3600 - the number of seconds in an "hour", you won't get an even number of "beats per second" because an escapement has two "beats" per oscillation of the balance and those "beats" occur at the "beginning" and "end" of an oscillation. And the reason there is no "spec" for "accuracy" ia because "accuracy" is not a "scale". Any time there is a "range" of acceptable "error" there is no "accuracy". A "watch" does not "measure" time. It "keeps" time and any "test" that doesn't last at LEAST the full "power reserve" is pointless and useless.
I have a Lum Tec 600m with a Miyota 9015 at 28,800 and it gains around +2 secs per week! That's right 7 days I was astonished at the accuracy of this watch. Very smoothed second hand sweep. All of them may not be this accurate and I may just be lucky but so far I have no complaints. I probably just jinxed myself!
You are one of those rare cases, LOL.
I just got a brand new SRPD27 and brand new SRP777 and out the box both of them are pretty slow, the SRP777 loses over a minute and the SRPD27 loses 30 seconds a day, I’ve wound them and worn them for a few hours each and placed them both dial up and recorded my findings 3 times to be as stated.. I have them fully wound and set aside one more time for another test... I don’t know if I can live with watches running this slow.
my seiko srpd91 loses half a second a day/ gains 2 secs no joke, I think it is crazy how 4r36's usually run +45-45. I kind of think that they over exaggerate their times, so they don't perform worse.
in real life the 4R36 perform much better, mine is getting 4 - 5s a day. My 7S26 is also getting more or less 15s a day, accuracy gets better if you wear it during the day and store it in the night, my 7S26 are like a bit sensitive to position, if its the piece i am wearing for the week, the accuracy could get close to the 4R36, but with no hacking, setting the watch is quite troublesome.
people is too obsessive with so simple things, they want to jump for them window because them watch is a few sec plus or less...who cares!
This is why I’ve completely given up on mechanical watches. The high end watches I have are fine but who needs the headache
Great WATCHES SEIKO WATCHES
refreshing to see an actual honest person from ny
Lol. Where do you live?
Hey mark.
I have a question about the accuracy of my invicta pro diver 8926ob. If it is running about 10secs fast and I take it off to go to bed, when I wake up it’s lost a few seconds. It’s now 4secs fast. Is this normal or is my watch needing to be taken to a watchmaker.
Mine is a cheap Automatic from China, Forsining for only 35 U$ (bought last year).
It similar to Patek Phillipe Chronograph Geneve with date, day, month and 24 hour display.
I had manually tuned it with handphone stopwatch for 3 days and now, wolaaa .....:
The accuracy is pretty good, +15 sec/day in Horizontal and -10 in Vertical position.
I wind it up 10 to 11 turns every 6AM and 6PM a day.
Combine that position and wearing it for work, it can achieve_, +/- 5 sec a day,. After a month of using, my watch still exactly the same hour and minute with world clock reference.
My computer's time gets off by over a second over the span of a day
Paying a lot of money on automatics and yet ending up 5 minutes ahead or behind after a week. That sucks man. I'm not in the habit of correcting time after one week or so. I think people should save money and buy quartz.
I'm confused about regulated vs timed?
Strange? I just got a Certina Action DS diver with a ETA powermatic 80 movement. Testing by running it crown down winding it every other day (80h power reserve). Using the app WatchCheck and im at an avarage rate at +0.5 s/d over a 5 day test. Maximum deviation is +1.4 s/d. Granted the WatchCheck app has an error margin me hitting the button exactly but that is max by a 0.5 sec or so. Is the ETA movement that accurate?
My 3045 'Grand Diver' INVICTA arrived poorly adjusted. After a 'magic touch' to the racket, I am spinning it between -1and +1seconds 24 hours !!!
Imo the NH35A is the winner among a lot of calibers much more expensives.
Would be nice if you got a time grapher and showed what your watches were actually doing
I have a couple Seiko automatics that keep about +7 and -5 a day pretty good right?
I bought a Lüm-Tec, which gives free lifetime adjustments with their watches. I've kept it wound for two weeks now and it's maybe 1 second off in two weeks. Amazing. I've heard that they keep a tighter tolerance on their regulations than Rolex, and so far, I can say it's most likely true.
OH ! Forgot to add. Love the channel and this series especially.
Thank you :)
I wear an old 1950's Benrus 3 star... and i'd say it's accurate +-30 sec a day. I'd be comfortable with +- a minute a day but damn, that's pretty stupid accurate for a 50$ automatic. I'm actually amazed by how reliable a 70 year old watch can be... Never buying a quartz again, i'll reserve those for outdoorsy stuff from now on.
SlimFast commercial that lost 200LBS in 4 days had me rolling lol! To me, if any mechanical watch under $1k USD can average within 25 seconds a day +/-, I'm happy as a clam at high tide.
I had a Rolex Submariner ten years ago and had to sell. Ten years later I purchased a budget automatic Squale 1545 and faced daily frustration. I’m gonna sell and stick with quartz unless my finances allow for a new Rolex Submariner.
It is impossebile mission to go for an 45min walk from room temperature to around 0 celsius outside with any Seiko or similar brand movement on the wrist under 1,000 $ and not gain or loose a minute with most accurate movement you have,Prove me wrong AND ill send you new monster 027 for free.Were talking automatic movements,afcorse..I rest my case
My manual wind after regulation is +4 s / d
Hmt 0231
You know Marc, you have not aged a day. Its 2021, late 2021 at that. Cheers to that!
PS I used to care about accuracy, even regulated my Aquis in six positions... now I could care less, the only time it bothers me is when I'm wearing two watches. Then you never know what the time is.
All that apart, Mechanical along with quarts watches can and should be calibrated by a expert, Regardless of what's written on a piece paper says!! The question is when accuracy is important which watch system do you choose? High end like seiko or citizen GPS??
Love your videos, Marc. My Marathon JDD averages -1s/day, and of course my Islanders do very well, too (plus or minus 5s/day). Definitely good enough for my purposes.
My new Hydroconquest Longines with L888,2 movemet based on ETA 2892.2 +0.5 sec in 4 days.. So far and 71hour reserve.. Very happy with it.
Ive got a 1$ watch and does about +12 seconds... per month.......
I got a watch for my birthday. It has an NH35a movement. The specs are very conservative from Seiko. In my brief and unscientific observation, it actually gains about 5 seconds per day.
The most amazing time keeper in my collection is a circa 1955 Certina automatic. It has a 17 Jewel 21-0114 movement, it is in original condition, and it is only about +20 seconds per day. I love old watches for their history and style, but holy cow, this one is almost an iPhone killer! Love the videos, Mark...always learn so much. Thank you!
Glad you are enjoying, thanks for watching.
20s a day isn't amazing
Excellent explanation about the accuracy of mechanical watches. I have a number of Omega watches. The Speedmaster Mark II is affected by my activity during the day. I have had it going between -4 to about +8. It has been averaging about +3 to +4 per day. I have the newer Planet Ocean with the coaxial movement. This one has been keeping to within about 2 to 3 seconds per day plus or minus. I have some Omega watches from the 1960s. These are keeping to about 6 to 10 seconds per day mostly plus depending on my activities.
My quartz watches are keeping better than 5 to 6 seconds per month. I have some that are keeping to better than 5 seconds per month.
I bought a Orient Bambino Open-heart from you and it's with-in 2 or 3 seconds a day although I haven't worn it much. (at-least that's what I'm getting.) Overall I'm more than happy with that.
I could have bought a La Vallie watch with a 2892A2 movement in it for $279 but I was unfamiliar with the brand and didn't care about the movement. Did I blow it?
I think most people who watch UA-cam Watch Videos are Watch Enthusiast who would have several watches, who generally speaking would change there watch daily or several times a week.
So when they change there watch good chance they would need to reset it, if mechanical or automatic as reserve power could have run out. So seconds would not be an issue as watch would not be on wrist long enough to be minutes to fast or to slow.
Got a Steinhart Ocean one 39mm gmt with a constant 7.2 seconds a day, i won't open her up and it's good enough for me. If i want perfection i got my phone:)
After this clip i am even more impressed:)
Okay video, but would have been a lot better if you actually tested them.
good perspective
Thank you.
I just got an Alpinist Sarb017 second hand and it has gained 2 sec over 2 weeks. Variations of +/- 6 sec/ day. I think that's pretty darn good.
So for a rather expensive automatic 15 seconds per day is very good. For a $50 Casio, 15 seconds per month is average. I own both and I'm ok with that
My Rolex SeaDweller 116600 gain 1 sec in 7 days.... Comparing to others...Its hard to beat
My Seiko recently-new SNZG13K1 with 7s36 movement is only less than three weeks old, and at present seems to gain around 6 seconds a day. And although there's no hacking, you can gentle-reverse twist the crown slightly to arrest the forward motion of the second hand, enough to let it be re-synched if that's needed.
A slightly newer SNDC81P1 quartz chronograph has in about ten days' ownership not shown ANY movement away from GMT. That'll do me. No doubt it'll drift slowly over time.
But although I like that accuracy, fact is I'm a retired old fart with zero need for instant-timing of - anything these days... And the heartbeat of that balance wheel'd watch pleases me far more than the clinical accuracy of the quartz model.
So much so I found a nice elderly model 5 on Ebay - there's no shortage of them. It'll be here in a few days. Looks like I might have to get a hold of one of those watch-cases soon, the sort that holds - how many, I wonder?
My SARB017 gets about +2 seconds a day. It was getting about +4 but after I owned it a few weeks it seemed to "settle in", this seems to be a common story among owners of SARBs. I had a watch guy put it on his $10k machine and he said it was running perfectly with no beat error. There is a reason people go nutty over the SARBs, they are (or were) incredible for the money.