Self adjusting watches

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Self adjusting watches

Post by DavecUK »

When I was a kid I always dreamed about a particular complication and even how it might be done to make mechanical watches more "accurate" or a more accurate fit to the wearers habits. We all know roughly what the watches we wear gain or lose on a daily basis, regardless of what a timegrapher or COSC certificate says. The complication I wanted was two pin pushers that would click a little dial with black or red numbers going from 1 - 6 with halfway divisions. If you know your watch gains 2.5 seconds per day you can press so that the numbers go into the red to 2.5, or vice versa if it loses.

I have wondered about this for many years and I am sure it must be possible mechanically to "hack" the movement for those counts (e.g. x times the beat rate). More surprising is I have never even heard of an attempt to do this. Or even one to try moving the regulation of the balance wheel from the exterior of the watch via pushers, if the auto hacking is too difficult.
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by magicman »

Well i was just about to go to sleep, but this has got the mind going.
Found this simple article, would said pushers, just need to link to/adjust the regulator ?
https://wahawatches.com/how-to-regulate-your-own-watch/

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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by what-time-is-it »

It doesn't have pushers, but the Bulova Accutron Calibrator comes with a tool that allows you to tweak the movement.

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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by watchaholic »

That is a intriguing idea, if I understand you correctly. Would be IMO a great complication to be viewed from the back. My personal preference is for some of these things to be included in the design, but leave the dial deceptively uncluttered.
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by DavecUK »

what-time-is-it wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 11:04 pm It doesn't have pushers, but the Bulova Accutron Calibrator comes with a tool that allows you to tweak the movement.
Ah...that one flew under the radar...wow, might have to look for one of those. In response to comments, I thought little pen pushers just to avoid accidental movement and to fade into the case, although Bulovas idea is probably easier to implement, it does affect the aesthetic, but not too much.

I always envisaged a few ways of doing it....the Bulova way was one (like on some of the old grandfather clocks which had a regulation lever on the front dial/face). The other way was to simply jump the movement for +/-n sec per day, loosing time would be easy, but gaining would be hard, so a much more difficult complication.

I also liked the idea of having the calibration information on the back under a display case back. The Bulova......yeah, if it's got a decent 28,800 movement then I may well want one.

The reason I dreamed of this a kid, I noticed my watch gained or lost time depending on position at night, but in those days people were aware, I certainly was that the same watch worn by different people, kept different time. It did however, seem remarkably consistent as we tend to be creatures of habit. I later learned the better the movement the less affected by the wearer. The first time my old Rolex was serviced in Singapore, when they returned it they said that I could come back in a few weeks, tell them what I felt it was gaining/loosing and they would adjust the watch to me for free and that this was quite common over there. I didn't bother of course because I would be returning to a much cooler climate, which again affects the rate of a watch.

My surprise is that more manufacturers have not done the same as Bulova and even more surprised it's not on the Bulova website any more? I'd love to see CW do something to add this feature to the SH21.
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by nbg »

I imagine that brands who could build such a complication would be reluctant to do so. :wink:

“We have produced a complication that allows you to readily correct the daily inaccuracy in the expensive movement in your expensive watch”. :problem:

I do though think that it would be a cool complication! :)

Think I will stick to ensuring that at least a few of my watches are such that if I check the time, having worn the watch for a couple of weeks, it will only be out by a couple of seconds. :)

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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by DavecUK »

nbg wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:45 amThink I will stick to ensuring that at least a few of my watches are such that if I check the time, having worn the watch for a couple of weeks, it will only be out by a couple of seconds. :)

Neil
I guess that's fine for quartz, but for Mechanicals the self adjustment would be a cool idea. I wouldn't expect the Bulovas to be regulated to quartz accuracy, but at least they can be adapted to the wearers lifestyle.
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by nbg »

DavecUK wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:01 am
nbg wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:45 amThink I will stick to ensuring that at least a few of my watches are such that if I check the time, having worn the watch for a couple of weeks, it will only be out by a couple of seconds. :)

Neil
I guess that's fine for quartz, but for Mechanicals the self adjustment would be a cool idea. I wouldn't expect the Bulovas to be regulated to quartz accuracy, but at least they can be adapted to the wearers lifestyle.
It was a couple of mechanicals that I had in mind. :)

Generally with mechanical watches I find it far more frustrating if they drop a few seconds a day, regardless of position off the wrist, than one that gains a few each day.

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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by TigerChris »

nbg wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 5:03 pm Generally with mechanical watches I find it far more frustrating if they drop a few seconds a day, regardless of position off the wrist, than one that gains a few each day.

Neil
I’m the same. I’d rather gain 5 secs per day than lose 1. Much easier to just pull the crown out to hack it for a few secs now and again than it is to correct when running slow.
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by watchaholic »

TigerChris wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 5:37 pm
nbg wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 5:03 pm Generally with mechanical watches I find it far more frustrating if they drop a few seconds a day, regardless of position off the wrist, than one that gains a few each day.

Neil
I’m the same. I’d rather gain 5 secs per day than lose 1. Much easier to just pull the crown out to hack it for a few secs now and again than it is to correct when running slow.
Ditto for me. Problem I have is nearly everything in my daily rotation, with the majority of them being COSC certified, is they are more likely to be on the slow side rather than fast. Still within specs, but still slow. . My completely absurd solution....set it fast by approximately 10 sec, then after a day or two it is still up by a bit. :lol: Only kidding myself obviously, but aside from purchasing a timegrapher and further feeding my OCD, it seems to, at least partly satisfy. :ka:
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^ interesting! And a good original idea for a thread.

I am a great believer in understanding the rate of a watch. That is, the average amount that a watch will gain or lose over a given period if kept in the same conditions, i.e. worn or left dial up in a box, on a winder and so on.

I’m not too fussed about keeping it accurate to the second, but I like to keep them within a given window which might differ slightly for different watches. An example is my Speedmaster, which gains +8/9 seconds per day and has done so consistently throughout its life. If I set it 30 seconds slow, then after a week it will be around 30 seconds fast. I could in theory wear it for a month, retarding it by one minute every week and it would still be in a +/-30 window. Ish.

Personally I find that quite acceptable, though I understand that other people are more bothered about spot on accuracy.
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by TigerChris »

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2019 6:10 am ^^^ interesting! And a good original idea for a thread.

I am a great believer in understanding the rate of a watch. That is, the average amount that a watch will gain or lose over a given period if kept in the same conditions, i.e. worn or left dial up in a box, on a winder and so on.

I’m not too fussed about keeping it accurate to the second, but I like to keep them within a given window which might differ slightly for different watches. An example is my Speedmaster, which gains +8/9 seconds per day and has done so consistently throughout its life. If I set it 30 seconds slow, then after a week it will be around 30 seconds fast. I could in theory wear it for a month, retarding it by one minute every week and it would still be in a +/-30 window. Ish.

Personally I find that quite acceptable, though I understand that other people are more bothered about spot on accuracy.
Well, how about that, my ‘window’ is the same. As I’ve said earlier, I prefer my watches to run fast, however my ‘acceptable window’ is within 30 secs of actual time. Fortunately, for me, I have only 2 watches that run slow - my Black Bay (was -1 until recently, now -4 so maybe time for a service?) and my Hamilton Khaki Day/Date (-3). These don’t get worn for long enough periods for it to bother me so I just set them a few secs fast each time I wear them.
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by BobMunro »

It might be my ageing mind playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall an old tin alarm clock in my youth that had an exposed cut-out crescent in the back where you could move a bar up or down as required to make it run faster or slower.

I might be imagining that though!
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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by nbg »

BobMunro wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:58 am It might be my ageing mind playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall an old tin alarm clock in my youth that had an exposed cut-out crescent in the back where you could move a bar up or down as required to make it run faster or slower.

I might be imagining that though!
I am sure that I had one of those as well.

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Re: Self adjusting watches

Post by DavecUK »

BobMunro wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:58 am It might be my ageing mind playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall an old tin alarm clock in my youth that had an exposed cut-out crescent in the back where you could move a bar up or down as required to make it run faster or slower.

I might be imagining that though!
Yes I had one as a kid, probably what set me thinking about watches that could be adjusted from outside the watch.

As for whether a movement runs fast or slow, it really doesn't matter that much. The second hand in the past mainly being important for seeing if the watch was running, or timing things for short periods, the minute hand was more critical. If a watch gains, sure you can hack the movement weekly or whatever and wait 20 seconds but we never did that. If a watch gains or loses, at the end of a month you often have to change the date, at this time you can also change the minute hand. gains 4 or loses 4 per day, it's about 2 min per month. So you would set the watch either 1 min fast or 1 min slow at the end of the month you are out by 1 minute and adjust +/- 1 minute either way. That's how we always did things and it always worked out fine. you would never want to be buggering about with the crown every week.

I want one of the Bulova calibrators now, but the trouble is they will all have been sitting around for the last 4 or 5 years and not in temperature controlled environments....that said...I still may buy one. 25 Jewels, Sellita hi beat movement and £496 delivered...so tempting.
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