New Watch Accuracy

[RKA]

I have owned a new Submariner (M) since April of this year. My question is about what I should expect in accuracy in this my first Rolex.
I recently set the watch to world time and wound it 30-35 times. In 24 hours it is 12 seconds fast. In 48 hours it is 18 seconds fast, in 72 hours almost 25 seconds fast.
I honestly don't know...is this acceptable in Rolex world?
I wear watch every day but do not sleep with it on. If I don't wind watch every 3-4 days it will stop.
Again, not sure if this is acceptable. I have talked to some who own other models who tell me if they wear watch every day they can go weeks without winding.
Your comments, advice and experience with mechanical watches most welcome.

[mborkow]

your watch should run no faster than +6 seconds per day. Anything faster than that and you should have the watch serviced.

[LRHogFan]

If you are wearing the watch during a large part of the day then you shouldn't have to wind it to keep it running.

[BigHat]

Originally Posted by RKA

I have owned a new Submariner (M) since April of this year. My question is about what I should expect in accuracy in this my first Rolex.
I recently set the watch to world time and wound it 30-35 times. In 24 hours it is 12 seconds fast. In 48 hours it is 18 seconds fast, in 72 hours almost 25 seconds fast.
I honestly don't know...is this acceptable in Rolex world?
I wear watch every day but do not sleep with it on. If I don't wind watch every 3-4 days it will stop.
Again, not sure if this is acceptable. I have talked to some who own other models who tell me if they wear watch every day they can go weeks without winding.
Your comments, advice and experience with mechanical watches most welcome.

The COSC spec for running fast is +6 secs per day. I would advise you let it run for a month or so. We have running gun battles around here about whether or not a Rolex needs to settle in. I think most would advise giving it more time. You can see that you really aren't uniformly 12 secs fast per day and in aggragate not too bad right now at +8.3.

The reason I chimed in though is that 3-4 days without wear or winding we stop all of these watches. You are just running through the established power reserve so no worries there.

Sorry, I see you are wearing though. Pretty active? You need about 600 turns of the rotor to keep it wound. Many feel wearing maintains status quo but doesn't really add power reserve. So you may be "bleeding off" more power reserve each night than you are generating during the day. I'm a winder guy and nearly always crank it up when I adjust the time so don't have any similar wear experience to you though.

Edit: See the thread today on accuracy assessments. The time source you are using could be giving you erronous data and a guy posted an excellent suggestion there on PC time accuracy steps.

[Tools]

I'm not sure how you are checking our accuracy, but those figures are all over the place and definitely not-acceptable in the Rolex world..

The standard for a chronometer is -4 seconds to +6 seconds in 24 hours but realistically, your Rolex should only gain or lose 2 or 3 seconds per day..

If it is fully wound it will run for about 42-48 hours, so yes.....if you don't wear it or wind it, it will stop after a couple of days..

If you wear your self-winding watch every day then, in theory, you should never have to wind it.. The reality is most of us are not that active and it will slowly lose it's full reserve and settle somewhere around 20-30 hours of wind... so it probably wouldn't hurt to wind it a bit every time you change the date..

[RKA]

Thanks so much for the input. I do wear watch everyday but usually around house or office. I guess I am not active enough to keep wound.
I am disapointed that watch gains so much in short period of time. I check it against world time on computer.

[East Bay Rider]

Everyday wear about the house and office should be enough to keep it wound, especially if you've hand wound it as well. I would say there's something wrong and it needs to be serviced. And it needs to be a heck of a lot more accurate than that as well.
These are the stories that give "Non Rolex" folks fuel for their fires against Rolex. This needs to be fixed ASAP so that you can enjoy this watch.

[tom33455]

a Rolex is tested in many positions - for example flat (crystal up & crystal down) and on end (crown up and crown down). A particular movement will gain or lose depending on its resting position. I'm sure one of our knowledgeable members can tell you what the test results were for your Ca. andif you find the time gain/loss bothersome, you might consider taking it off at night and placing it in a position that will help correct the amount of gain/loss per day. Just a thought...............whatever it happens to be, enjoy your fine, fine timepiece and don't let its eccentricities get in between you and your love of your Rolex.

[SLS]

If your watch is not being worn long enough or you are just not active enough throughout the day, your power reserve may be low and as a result your balance amplitude will be decreased, thus causing you watch to gain time.

Based on wearing habbits & patterns, and automatic watch may gain or lose time within a 24 hour period. If you check the watch every three hours you may notice that at times it is gaining or times that it is losing. So I would reccomend checking the time every 24 hours on the hour against something like time.gov to see exactly how your watch is gaining or losing. Your computer will automatically update itself, possibly throwing off your time table. I would start this timing process with a fully wound watch and log your times daily.
~Scott

~Scott

[Gil F.]

Originally Posted by SLS

If your watch is not being worn long enough or you are just not active enough throughout the day, your power reserve may be low and as a result your balance amplitude will be decreased, thus causing you watch to gain time.

Based on wearing habbits & patterns, and automatic watch may gain or lose time within a 24 hour period. If you check the watch every three hours you may notice that at times it is gaining or times that it is losing. So I would reccomend checking the time every 24 hours on the hour against something like time.gov to see exactly how your watch is gaining or losing. Your computer will automatically update itself, possibly throwing off your time table. I would start this timing process with a fully wound watch and log your times daily.
~Scott

~Scott

I agree. It's best to use time.gov and check your watch every 24 hours at around the same time to keep a log of seconds gained. Give the watch a month or so, but check it regularly. It should be at least consistent, even if it gains more than +6/day.

I wear my watch every day but normally take it off each night. There are some positions that help gain less time (for me, crown down). If you wear your watch daily, you should have more than enough activity to power the watch on a continuous basis without winding.

Good luck. In my view, owning a Rollie is an achievement and a blessing. You shouldn't settle for less than as-advertised performance. The Rolex Service Center will correct this issue at no charge even though you'll be without your watch for a few weeks.

[Z-Sub]

Since you have the watch for 3 months and still gaining a lot of time then you may need to have it regulated by Rolex.
Agree with others use www.time.gov and make a log.

[Andad]

To quote Matt - Big Hat (no cattle)

Edit: See the thread today on accuracy assessments. The time source you are using could be giving you erronous data and a guy posted an excellent suggestion there on PC time accuracy steps.

Make sure your time source is accurate - like - to the second.