Recommend a home testing machine

[In-Cog-Neeto]

Good people

Can you please give me some recommendations for a decent timegrapher machine I can use at home?

[watchmavan]

I have a lepsi scope. Very happy with it and I can take it with me if I'm looking at any vintage watches or pre-owned pieces.



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[mullman]

I use this for determining the best simple regulation method for my watches. Very good for the price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0081SSJZG..._14f2DbYNW291F


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[Rolexoman]

My suggestion would be to take whatever watch you are wanting to check and just let it rest in the same position each day after wearing and then check after a few days to see if it gains or loses time, this method is not as quick to identify whether a particular piece is fast, slow or flat but it keeps that $$$ in your pocket to put toward another watch.

I to looked at getting a timegrapher but then I thought ok my watch is fast or slow so now what...I then knew I was not going to crack the cast to address it and I would only obsess about it being fast or slow and constantly be checking time.

[fsprow]

First, I would not worry about getting a Timegrapher etc.unless you are handy at dealing with delicate items and are willing to regulate the timekeeping yourself.

Second, do not open a watch under warranty. You may void it.

If you want to proceed, buy a cheap Chinese Timegrapher and watch a youtube video on its use. Buy one of the cheap sets of Rolex back removal tools.

If the watch doesn't have a free sprung balance but rather a screw or levers to adjust timekeeping, again consult youtube on how to proceed. Very simple.

If it has a free sprung balance with microstella screws you are in a different level of skill but if you want to proceed buy an inexpensive tool to do so on eBay. Be careful -- you could cause expensive repairs quite easily.

Check the timekeeping in several positions and adjust accordingly.

When you are happy, clean the o-ring groove, and put a very small amount of silicone grease on the o-ring and reinstall the back.

Do not be obsessive - do this once and don't keep opening and readjusting.

Hope this helps.

[dchernikoff]

There is a cheap solution that may get what you want. Frederique Constant makes a device that you clip on your watch and plug into a iphone, and it displays the beat rate and amplitude in real time, and graphs it too. It was only like $46 and I can't comment on how accurate it is.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frederiqu...xoC7lgQAvD_BwE

-Dan

[watchmavan]

Originally Posted by dchernikoff

There is a cheap solution that may get what you want. Frederique Constant makes a device that you clip on your watch and plug into a iphone, and it displays the beat rate and amplitude in real time, and graphs it too. It was only like $46 and I can't comment on how accurate it is.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frederiqu...xoC7lgQAvD_BwE

-Dan

And I've got one I'm moving on if anyone is interested PM me.


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[keepitsimple]

tg 0.5.0 available as a free download for Windows (maybe other OS too, not sure)

Add a clip-on guitar pickup microphone (remove the foam pad) very very cheap from ebay or similar.

Turn your mic input right up.

Detects bph.
Shows: running SPD, amplitude (need to set the lift angle) beat error, and unlike the cheaper timegrapher machines, also a visual of the movement waveform - like an escapement analyser.

Needs the PC to be calibrated against a known accurate quartz watch - has a facility to do that.

I tried it just out of interest. I have a cheap-end timegrapher, and the results are pretty darn close, although a watch that is dead straight on a timing machine, can look a tiny bit wobbly on the software.

That may be because the granularity of the display or the software in the timing machine hides tiny errors, (a computer screen has much finer resolution) or possibly the fact that this software is sharing resources with the rest of the PC is going to introduce some variations.

Anyway - dead cheap and worth a try. Wouldn't be easy to use for regulation without a proper timing machine type mic. stand though.

Standard warning about any device that tests mechanical watches - if you are even a tiny bit OCD, you may never be happy again after checking what you thought was a fanastically well running watch......

[robmack]

Use the FC clip microphone (posted earlier) with Watch-o-scope (free) on PC. Watch-o-scope discussion on Watch Repair Talk.