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Watches! What do y'all have on your wrists?

617

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Perhaps, but their specification [spring drive] is +/- 15 secs per month. IME, that's the same real-world performance I see from any quartz, even cheap Casio/Timex models.
It's possible they outperform this specification. Certainly, most mechanical movements outperform their specifications when carefully adjusted. For example the Miyota 9015 spec is -10 / +30 / day. I have 2 watches with this movement and with careful adjustment their real-world performance is +3 / -1 per day.
Not grand seiko spring drive, grand seiko quartz. Caliber 9f.

"QUARTZ | MOVEMENT | ABOUT | Grand Seiko" https://www.grand-seiko.com/us-en/about/movement/quartz

Pretty cool that Seiko takes such pride in a non disposable quartz movement. Monitors temperature 540 times a day. Has an adjustment dial on the movement if it runs fast or slow.

The spring drive, automatic and high beat calibers are quite accurate but not worlds better than eta or whatever. The smooth movement of the spring drive is pretty cool though, but it's worth remembering that back before quartz watches, people spent extra on watches with a 1s/beat automatic movement. Not something you see much today.
 

Blumlein 88

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Perhaps, but their specification [spring drive] is +/- 15 secs per month. IME, that's the same real-world performance I see from any quartz, even cheap Casio/Timex models.
It's possible they outperform this specification. Certainly, most mechanical movements outperform their specifications when carefully adjusted. For example the Miyota 9015 spec is -10 / +30 / day. I have 2 watches with this movement and with careful adjustment their real-world performance is +3 / -1 per day.
Accuracy isn't the reason for many of these watches so I'm wondering how much do we worry about that. I have an old Seiko LCD quartz watch I wore daily for 30 years. It always gained 3 seconds per month and still does. I had one of the old TI watches with the glowing tritium dial which was dead on. It started going blank randomly about once or twice a month after 5 years. I have it in a drawer somewhere.

A more recent watch is a Citizen Eco-drive which to my dismay loses 6 seconds per month. Or at least I think it was 6 seconds per month. After I retired I more or less quit wearing a watch until recently getting a smart watch. Which is always perfectly in time as long as it talks to my phone.
 

GD Fan

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First post, hope you're all staying safe. I was originally trained as a watchmaker and they've been a soft spot for me for many years. Here's one of them.
View attachment 106750
Welcome! As a watch maker you have definitely found the right place around here. Looking forward to your input and insights.
 

MRC01

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... Pretty cool that Seiko takes such pride in a non disposable quartz movement. ... Has an adjustment dial on the movement if it runs fast or slow. ...
Sweet. I've never seen that [adjustable rate] in a quartz, but always wanted it.

Accuracy isn't the reason for many of these watches so I'm wondering how much do we worry about that. ...
That depends on who "we" is! For me, I'm fascinated how good these little machines can get, want to explore the limits. Also, it's a fun and educational challenge to learn exactly how they work and how to adjust them, apply that knowledge and see the results. It's just fun to tweak stuff.

For example, here are two watches using standard cheap Japanese movements. The Seiko on the left uses a 7S26, the Zelos on the right uses a Miyota 9015. I last synced them 4 days ago and they've drifted 2 secs apart in that time. That is near-quartz accuracy, much better than their specifications.
1610990077837.png

When new, the Seiko drifted anywhere from +9 to -17 seconds each day. The Zelos was more consistent at +6 to +9 secs per day. That is just the nature of a cheap movement like the 7S26, making it a real challenge to adjust. Now they're both +/- 2 sec/day.
 

617

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MRC01

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... my daily driver, seiko snl029 kinetic, probably due a new capacitor, 12 years old
Nice. I always wondered what those unusual watches looked like for real out in the wild.

I doubt it needs a new capacitor. I have a 21 year old diver kinetic auto-relay that still works perfectly with the original capacitor. It's probably not storing its original rated power, but works well enough. It's been sitting for 2 months so just now I picked it up, gave it a shake, and the hands (which had stopped almost 2 months ago to save power) spun around to +15 secs from exact time.
1611072855281.png
 

sq225917

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I say daily driver, I only wear it at 5he weekend, it scratches my keyboard.
 

nick-v

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Tissot Veloci T Automatic today.

I've been wearing this one with the original black rubber strap for 6 or 7 years, but I just ordered a Tissot stainless steel strap that I was pretty sure would work for it and put it on today. I actually love the look of the black rubber strap, but I hate having to clean it with a toothbrush after every couple days that I wear it. My skin seems to have a reaction with it and it smells like sweat if I don't clean it after every day or two that I wear it (TMI?)

I'm really liking the all-stainless look so far.

Tissot.jpg
 
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maxxevv

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Nice. I always wondered what those unusual watches looked like for real out in the wild.

I doubt it needs a new capacitor. I have a 21 year old diver kinetic auto-relay that still works perfectly with the original capacitor. It's probably not storing its original rated power, but works well enough. It's been sitting for 2 months so just now I picked it up, gave it a shake, and the hands (which had stopped almost 2 months ago to save power) spun around to +15 secs from exact time.
View attachment 107134

I have the exact same one. Same vintage too as I got it in '00.

The capacitor died a few years back as the watch was very much on rotation with about 3 watches at any one time. So it wasn't getting sufficient time getting charged while in use. Had it changed.


My only complaint with it is that it can't really be charged with a watch winder nor any of the induction chargers. The later Kinetic movements can be easily charged with a Phillips Imageo induction charger.
 

MRC01

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... My only complaint with it [Seiko kinetic auto-relay] is that it can't really be charged with a watch winder nor any of the induction chargers. The later Kinetic movements can be easily charged with a Phillips Imageo induction charger.
Yet these watches have a feature intended to obviate the need for a watch winder. When unused, they stop moving the hands to conserve energy while they continue tracking time. You can put one away in a drawer, pick it up a year later, give it a shake and the hands will rotate to the correct time.
 

Vict0r

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Smiths PRS40. :)

sprs40.jpg
 

digitalfrost

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The IWC pilots are amazing.

I've been in home office for a year now. Feels kinda silly to have spent to much on watches. No need to wear them at home. Still glad I got em, but they just gather dust atm.
 

MRC01

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I recently learned that mechanical watches becoming magnetized is "a real thing". My friend has a Girard Perregaux Ferrari watch, which uses an ETA 2892 movement with a stopwatch complication. For watch porn, it looks like this:
1616601832286.png


The local watch guy wanted some ridiculous sum to regulate it, so I did it for him. It ran reliably just much too slow. It was clean inside, didn't seem to need disassembly or lubrication so I simply adjusted the beat and speed. The 2892 has a fine-adjust for speed regulation which is a very nice touch - I wish the Miyota 9015 had that! Got beat to 0.0 to 0.2 ms across all positions and speed at +/- 2 sec per day. Face up (fastest position) at +2 and crown up (slowest position) at -2. It was running great for a few weeks. Then suddenly it started running fast 45-60 seconds per day.

I held it near a compass to test and it would swing the compass almost 180 degrees! I have an old wand-style tape deck demagnetizer, so I used it on this watch, slowly swirling around the case front & back and smoothly slowly pulling it away. Got it to where it doesn't move the compass more than 5 degrees. And, the speed went back to its old +/- 2 sec per day.

What was the magnetizing culprit? His microwave oven!

Lessons learned:
  • Mechanical watches can and do get magnetized, and it does affect their regulation.
  • Microwave ovens (and perhaps other household appliances) have powerful magnets that can magnetize watches.
  • You can demagnetize a watch with any old wand-style tape deck demagnetizer.
 

nick-v

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This one's a little chewed up, it's been my "daily driver" for around 6 or 7 years.

Citizen Skyhawk A/T Titanium

Love this watch though, no need to worry about any mechanical movements or batteries, or setting the date/time. I can pick it up after not wearing it for weeks or months and it sets itself to exact Atomic time & date as it synchronizes with the atomic tower every night. I sent this in to Citizen when I bought it to have the mineral crystal glass replaced with the Sapphire Crystal. I should really send it back to have the inner and outer bezels replaced.

IMG-20210324-213220-01.jpg


Skyhawk-AT-Titanium.jpg
 
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Sugarbubble

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I think I have the rarest Rolex. I will post a pic if I figure out how. Also wear a Tag, but mostly don’t wear a watch at all. Sigh. Cell phones.
 

Frank Dernie

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This one's a little chewed up, it's been my "daily driver" for around 6 or 7 years.

Citizen Skyhawk A/T Titanium

Love this watch though, no need to worry about the battery, or setting the date/time. I can pick it up after not wearing it for weeks or months and it sets itself to exact Atomic time & date as it synchronizes with the atomic tower every night. I sent this in to Citizen when I bought it to have the mineral crystal glass replaced with the Saphire Crystal. I should really send it back to have the inner and outer bezels replaced.

Skyhawk-AT-Titanium.jpg
I have one of those. I used it for years when I was travelling for work but since I retired 10 years ago it has mainly been on the windowsill of my bedroom keeping perfect time. Excellent bit of kit!
 
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