Making your watch faster or slower

[rilu]

Originally Posted by veefour

Hope this will help.

that is a good sheet there, "i like it".
we must remember that watch can varry widely in all 6 positions. if the hairspring or balance aren't perfectly poised it can have huge diferences in all vertical positions. horizontal positions usually aren't effected by this poising error. usually dial up and dial down are going to be verry close to the same rate unless the pivots are flat. so for example in seconds per day dial up(DU) could be +2, dial down (DD)0, crown up(CU) +4,crown down(CD) -2, crown left(CL)-3. so if it runs fast you would put it crown down and if slow you would put it dial up or crown up. if your daily rates are DU+3,DD+3,CU+1,CD+2,CL+2, in this case it wouldnt matter how you put it because all positions are positive and so close you would never see a diference, same thing if all numbers are negative. if the balance is not poised or hairspring off center you could get DU+10,DD+8,CU+14,CD-15CL-1,CR+3, this usually ocurs in vintage watches though. then it would be alot easier to test the positions.

in these watches with poising errors like these, if these are the daily rates when the amplitude of the balance is above 220, they will be reversed when the abplitude is below 220 in vertical positions only.so then making CU-14 and CD+15. hope this helps a little.

[xjeeunitx]

I have heard that this method won't work on recent year models. I have a Z serial Explorer II, and none of the positions work.

[Z-Sub]

It works for all of my watches. but you need to leave the watch in a certain position for at least 8 hr to see the difference.

[tomc1944]

Works perfectly on all my Rolex watches.

[akhamdani]

I noticed also that it works.

[Sarastro]

Works marginally well at best for me. I have an OP Date which has always run 10 seconds per day fast. I recently picked up an Air King which ran 5 seconds slow PER WEEK. I let it run down and when I restarted it, it now runs 10 seconds fast per day also. The dealer I talked to gave me a convincing argument that you must be very very careful when restarting a watch - you begin by slowly rotating it around until it starts to guarantee even dispersal of lubricants. If you start like I likely did, by winding, you can knock it out of whack and it will NEVER run accurately again until it's recalibrated by Rolex service. I am beginning to think that he might be correct. So how many oscillations difference is there between one running correctly and what I have? It isn't a lot, obviously, but it seems like I'm stuck with it until these get serviced.

I have now purchased a winder. Wish I'd done it right from the get-go. That Air King would still be as accurate as my Omega Co-Axial.

[f16570]

Works perfectly well for me, crown up every night and the watch is always +2 from DAB clock every morning.

[Tools]

This method DOES work for most mechanical watches; it uses basic fundamentals of physics that do not change... This document used to be packed in the box with the earlier 18,000 beat movements,

It is true that it does not appear to work on modern 28,800 fast-beat movements.. The fast beats tick at almost twice the speed of those earlier movements, and also have much stronger mainsprings, so where you might have gained a second at night with an early watch, the change might only be a fraction of a second with a new model.........something you can't really measure except over time..

This method is not likely to correct a watch that is out by several seconds, but if used routinely when you know if your watch is slow or fast, it is a good habit to get into so your watch is more precise over the long term...

.........

[f16570]

Interesting thought Larry, I have placed my watch crown up for the last 6 months (more or less) and it seams to be "perfect" with this manual regulation. The odd occasion I have slept with the watch on it definetly gains a couple of seconds, but once left crown up over night then I loose the gained seconds.

[Sparky CRNA]

I understand the physics, but I have to admit my 116200 was not showing any change from this method it was +7 or more everyday no matter which position I put it in overnight. I had it regulated to +2 and it has been a little more sensitive. Maybe it is only apparent when the watch is within COSC -4/+6 spec. Interesting thought. The amount of time the watch rests in the position may have a lot to do with it also. If I did not wear it for a day and a half then it might be more noticable. JMHO.

Sparky

[Juggernaut]

Just so that I'm on the same page, when the Rolex instruction form says "to gain a few seconds": they mean to speed it up, right? and "losing a few seconds" means that you're slowing it down.
Correct?

[JBat]

^^Yes

[sleddog]

This method seems to work well for all of my 4....Although I only wear one at a time!!!