Exercising while wearing an automatic watch, question please.

engol

Anyone that wears an automatic watch, do you exercise while wearing it, and if so does it run faster as a result?

After a period of regular exercise over the past month I've noticed my (new) watch has gained 4 minutes.

Is this ok? Or a defect with the watch? It's my first automatic.

Thanks for any help.

Wibbs

+/- 7 seconds a day is actually pretty impressive for a mechanical movement if you think about the stats. If a watch is working 99.9% perfectly, then it would be off by a minute and a half per day. Mad or what. So when your mechanical watch keeps time within 7 seconds a day that isn't too bad. Chances are if its halfway decent as a movement, you could get that even better. EG I have a 1916 watch that over 6 months is actually more accurate than a couple of quartz watches I have. Oh sure on a daily basis it gains or loses 5 odd seconds, but can gain 3 or 4 at night, but the quartz ones gain or lose consistently. If it gains only one second a day, it'll keep on gaining. 30 seconds a month. So over 6 months or a year, the mechanical can be actually more accurate becuase it may gain and lose equally.

engol

Ok you guys obviously can give me something to think about on this. I got it in September so well within warranty. What I might do is keep a closer eye on it for the next month or two alternating taking it off and leaving it on for exercise (30 mins cross trainer 5 or 6 days a week plus a swim one day a week) It's a Datejust. Cheers for the help.

marcus1971

If you purchased this watch new you should have gotten the instructions, chrono cert, warranty info etc., there are clear instructions there explaining how to "self-regulate" your watch.
If you bought it used and do not have the care instructions:

engol

marcus1971 wrote: »

If you purchased this watch new you should have gotten the instructions, chrono cert, warranty info etc., there are clear instructions there explaining how to "self-regulate" your watch.
If you bought it used and do not have the care instructions:

I did buy it new, and I do have the manual, and I did read it; I managed to miss the above however. Thanks for the tip. I'll incorporate that in to my routine, keeping a closer eye.

engol

Hi there. Me again. I had another read of my manual and there's nothing like the above in it. At all. In fact the manual is very minimal, just tells how to set it etc. Although it does give the above instructions as to how to clean the watch, there is nothing at all relating to "simple regulation"

Should I take the above as reliable as it pertains to a Datejust do you think?

marcus1971

engol wrote: »

Hi there. Me again. I had another read of my manual and there's nothing like the above in it. At all. In fact the manual is very minimal, just tells how to set it etc. Although it does give the above instructions as to how to clean the watch, there is nothing at all relating to "simple regulation"

Should I take the above as reliable as it pertains to a Datejust do you think?

It should work on any mechanical watch to one degree or another, nothing special really, just taking advantage of gravity.


.... you should also be aware that heat/cold affects the timekeeping and the fact that a new watch may need a few months to settle in, .

You have to understand that your automatic watch will, on average, come nowhere near even the cheapest quartz watches in accurate timekeeping, I can understand the assumption that a Rolex watch, especially considering the price, would be better than any watch you ever had until now as far as timekeeping goes... this is simply not the case. The accuracy of mechanical (automatic/manual wind) watches is measured in seconds per day, regular quartz watches are measured in seconds per month and high end quartz watches in seconds per year.

A COSC cert is considered the diamond standard for swiss watches as far as tested accuracy is concerned and their parameters are -4/+6 seconds per day (Each uncased movement is individually tested for fifteen days, in five positions, at three different temperatures)

More here.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COSC

Wibbs

engol wrote: »

I did buy it new, and I do have the manual, and I did read it; I managed to miss the above however. Thanks for the tip. I'll incorporate that in to my routine, keeping a closer eye.

The positional stuff should have some effect, but more likely with an older watch. Probably why the manual for your new Rolex didn't mention it.

StealthRolex

It should have an effect even with the newer models.

While there have been upgrades internally to improve accuracy the only way to automatically negate the effects of gravity is to install a tourbillon - something that his not yet in their commercial range.

Wibbs

And to really sort it you have to do something like this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbLITIynCgA

YOu'll need to ransom Bill Gates first mind.:D

engol

Wibbs wrote: »

And to really sort it you have to do something like this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbLITIynCgA

YOu'll need to ransom Bill Gates first mind.:D

Sorted. Have him in my basement right now.

Really great stuff lads. I did only ask if I should take it off/leave it on while exercising though lol. In fairness more than anything this is why I've always wanted a datejust, the mechanics are just so fascinating.

engol

Just coming back to this for if anyone is interested. I've been taking the watch off while exercising, apart from swimming and leaving it in the box at night (so upright "display" position).

In the 20 days since the original post, it has gained 2 seconds.

That's pretty ok right? I'll update again in another month or so but reckon this is a vast improvement on the 7 seconds a day I was getting before. I'm going to conclude that I should take it off while exercising based on this hugely scientific study.:cool:

StealthRolex

engol wrote: »

Just coming back to this for if anyone is interested. I've been taking the watch off while exercising, apart from swimming and leaving it in the box at night (so upright "display" position).

In the 20 days since the original post, it has gained 2 seconds.

That's pretty ok right? I'll update again in another month or so but reckon this is a vast improvement on the 7 seconds a day I was getting before. I'm going to conclude that I should take it off while exercising based on this hugely scientific study.:cool:

Anything from 40s slow to 1m 40s fast is on the money so +2s is slightly better than pretty ok

I think you have ;)a keeper

Wibbs

Over the course of a year that could well beat most non time signal quartz watches for accuracy. 2 seconds a month, so 12 seconds a year is very very good. Like close to Harrison's Chronometer good(+/- 6 seconds a year).

engol

Wibbs wrote: »

Over the course of a year that could well beat most non time signal quartz watches for accuracy. 2 seconds a month, so 12 seconds a year is very very good. Like close to Harrison's Chronometer good(+/- 6 seconds a year).

Not quite a month though, only 20 days. Will have to keep an update and see how it does now. Only trouble is the change of the month. I always seem to feck it up and end up changing the time at the same time. I'll be extra careful this time though.

Any tips on that? What time of the day is best to change, am I suppose.

MiCr0

my perpetual calendar is going to be wrong in 2100 :-(

engol

MiCr0 wrote: »

my perpetual calendar is going to be wrong in 2100 :-(

You think you're going to have to worry about that?

Wibbs

Maybe the fecker knows something we don't.... <_< >_>