GMT-Master II accuracy question

[dchernikoff]

I got a Series-K GMT II from a seller here on TRF, and the watch came in mint condition, physically. Really beautiful not a scratch on it, doesn't look like it's ever been polished either. Even though the warranty card says 2003 I suspect it wasn't worn much and just sat in the box since it is so pristine. When I first started wearing it, I was disappointed to find it ran about 20 to 25 seconds fast each day. But now after a few weeks, it seems to be getting more accurate. I saw the thread about "self regulating" and so now I keep it on my nightstand on it's side with crown facing up -- supposedly the best position for Rolex's that run fast. Maybe that helped? Now it seems to be around 5 to 10 seconds fast, which is getting within the range of not being annoying.

My question is, does this make sense? Does a watch "break in" or "get used to it's new owner" over time? Or am I just imagining it and it will start to gain too much time again eventually? I kind of don't want to shell out another $600 to get it refurbished right now, still recovering from the initial purchase, lol.

This is my first Rolex so I'm still getting to know the watch. Thanks for your advice.

-Dan

[Friar]

I'll let those with far more experience than I have respond to whether this makes sense. But I can share that my Explorer and Explorer II lose the most time resting vertically with 12:00 up.

[FTX I]

If it's a 2003 watch with no service history I'd suggest to send in. But to answer your question my first Sub used to run + 20-25 a day out of the box and some months later +1 in 10 days.

[AlTinkster92]

I have the same GMT, mine runs fast as well... have tried the crown up thing and it did help. Time for service one day I guess..

[bbressler]

I recently got a K serial 16710 in great physical condition from a trusted seller as well. It was 12-15 seconds/day fast, even when crown up at night. Had it regulated and went back to running fast again, so finally gave in and took it for service after a couple months. Yeah, it sucks but you have to bake in that service cost when buying a 10+ year old watch with no known service history. If it's only 5-10 seconds fast I'd just wear it and enjoy it for a few months before servicing.

[mike]

At 10+ years a service is something that shouldn't be overlooked, however it seems many confuse consistency with accuracy. A watch that runs a consistent 10 seconds fast a day is very accurate. It just needs to be regulated.

Depending on your wearing habits, etc.... might try a regulation by a watchmaker that understands Rolex movements.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by mike

At 10+ years a service is something that shouldn't be overlooked, however it seems many confuse consistency with accuracy. A watch that runs a consistent 10 seconds fast a day is very accurate. It just needs to be regulated.

Depending on your wearing habits, etc.... might try a regulation by a watchmaker that understands Rolex movements.

X2 on that one Mike.

[bearone2]

crown up doesn't necessarily lose time , each rolex is different, mine doesn't advance or lose time with crown up or crystal down.

[dchernikoff]

Thanks for all the great advice. I will have it serviced eventually -- just want to enjoy it for a while, and see if the accuracy gets any better (or worse).

Here's a really dumb question. Where and how do I get it serviced? Just take it to the local Rolex AD and have them send it in? Or do I contact the service center directly? I'm in Northern California, don't know if there's a service center out here. There is a high-end jewelry store near me that is an AD, so I can go to them. Just wondering how much premium they will tack onto the service cost...

Thanks again.

-Dan

[Tools]

Did you fully wind it so that it is in the top part of it's power torque curve ??

There Is a Rolex Service Center on Post Street in San Fran..

[dchernikoff]

Originally Posted by Tools

Did you fully wind it so that it is in the top part of it's power torque curve ??

There Is a Rolex Service Center on Post Street in San Fran..

I did wind it when I first got it -- 40 turns. But my problem is it runs fast (10 to 20 seconds a day), so I wasn't sure if I wanted it fully wound...

Thanks for the info on the Rolex Service Center in SF!

-Dan

[Speed]

The watch is meant to be wound.

If you are close to San Francisco and can "walk it in" to the RSC do it. Great bunch of folks.

Not a lot of reasons to go through an AD IMO.

[dchernikoff]

I got the WatchTracker app on my iphone and have been keeping track of the time. Thought I'd do that BEFORE winding it fully, just to be able to compare. It is remarkably consistent. Gains 14.5 seconds per day, with a variance of only +0.4, -0.3 seconds per day! Wow, I'm very happy with that type of accuracy, extremely impressed actually. Of course gaining 14.5 seconds a day is not acceptable -- too much accumulation over a week's time and that will really bug me and defeats the purpose of a precision watch. But now I know that it's capable of keeping accurate time, just a matter of regulation. I'm going to try winding it fully and keeping it fully wound for a week, and see what that does to the accuracy and consistency.

To be honest, the past few days I've been thinking fondly of my crummy citizen quartz watch and how it hadn't gained any appreciable time over the last three years (I've never ever needed to adjust the time on it). It looks like crap but at least I could rely on it to get me to meetings on time -- and to me a watch must be first-and-foremost functional, with looks and style secondary. Thought I had made an expensive mistake. But now with this data I'm confident that my Rolex can still be a daily wearer and an asset instead of an annoyance -- just have to get it regulated (and probably serviced as well).

I'll report back how it does after 5 days in fully-wound state. Thanks everyone for the advice.

-Dan

[azguy]

Honestly, it doesn't need to be serviced until it stops running, take a trip into San Fran and have guys on Post Street regulate it, they'll dial it in to be amazingly close, especially since it's fast the same amount everyday.

Have them pressure test it at the same time, then wear, and enjoy...

ABC Watchwerks in LA regulated mine about a year ago after running consistently fast and it's amazing accurate now, K serial, too..

20140714_110346_resized.jpg

[bearone2]

i agree, my 16753 went almost 15 years before it stopped, with no surprises that any extra parts would be needed with the service.

[Racerdj]

My new Day Date II settled down a couple a seconds a day but yours might need regulation.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by dchernikoff

. . .
To be honest, the past few days I've been thinking fondly of my crummy citizen quartz watch and how it hadn't gained any appreciable time over the last three years (I've never ever needed to adjust the time on it). It looks like crap but at least I could rely on it to get me to meetings on time -- and to me a watch must be first-and-foremost functional, with looks and style secondary. Thought I had made an expensive mistake. But now with this data I'm confident that my Rolex can still be a daily wearer and an asset instead of an annoyance -- just have to get it regulated (and probably serviced as well).

I'll report back how it does after 5 days in fully-wound state. Thanks everyone for the advice.

-Dan

You can't compare a mechanical watch to a quartz. A mechanical watch only ticks 8 times per second while a quartz high end movement pulses at 262,144 "ticks" per second.. no contest.

You cannot pick-up 14 seconds a day no matter what you do; take it in and they will regulate it to a couple of seconds a day..

[Old Expat Beast]

Sounds like you need an OysterQuartz

[Andad]

Hi Mike,

A watch that runs consistantly 10 seconds fast each day has precision - how close the measured values are to each other value.

A watch that runs 0 seconds +/- each day is accurate - how close the measured value is to the true value.

Hi precision/low accuracy - hi precision/high accuracy - hi accuracy/low precision.

[dchernikoff]

Originally Posted by azguy

Honestly, it doesn't need to be serviced until it stops running, take a trip into San Fran and have guys on Post Street regulate it, they'll dial it in to be amazingly close, especially since it's fast the same amount everyday.

Have them pressure test it at the same time, then wear, and enjoy...

ABC Watchwerks in LA regulated mine about a year ago after running consistently fast and it's amazing accurate now, K serial, too..

Attachment 542949

That sounds like what I need to do. Any idea how long it would take to have it regulated by the service center? It is amazing how consistent it is!

Thanks.

-Dan

[bearone2]

it depends how busy the watchmaker is.

i was traveling & stopped in the new ben bridge facility in tacoma a month ago & the fellow who greeted me was the rolex watchmaker.

he used the calibration apparatus, while i watched thru the glass, made a minor adjustment, pressure checked while i waited & cleaned the band for no charge.

[dchernikoff]

Originally Posted by bearone2

it depends how busy the watchmaker is.

i was traveling & stopped in the new ben bridge facility in tacoma a month ago & the fellow who greeted me was the rolex watchmaker.

he used the calibration apparatus, while i watched thru the glass, made a minor adjustment, pressure checked while i waited & cleaned the band for no charge.

I called the Post Street, SF service center. They guy estimated $60-80 to regulate and pressure test, and I'd need to leave it for a week because they're so busy. "Assuming other things don't need fixing or replacing". Oh well, just need to bite the bullet and do it. Will take me half a day to go up there and drop it off, and another half day to go back and pick it up.

Oh, and so far with the watch fully wound it is tracking 15 seconds fast a day -- with still +- 0.3 second accuracy.

-Dan

[bbressler]

Originally Posted by dchernikoff

I called the Post Street, SF service center. They guy estimated $60-80 to regulate and pressure test, and I'd need to leave it for a week because they're so busy. "Assuming other things don't need fixing or replacing". Oh well, just need to bite the bullet and do it. Will take me half a day to go up there and drop it off, and another half day to go back and pick it up.

Oh, and so far with the watch fully wound it is tracking 15 seconds fast a day -- with still +- 0.3 second accuracy.

-Dan

Good luck, hope this fixes it for you. Mine was a consistent 15s/day fast too, and 1 day after regulation it went back to being 15s/day off. The watchmaker offered to do a partial teardown to see if he could figure out what was wrong, but I ended up just getting it fully serviced.

[Rolexfan_18]

My explorer II F series got regulate while I wait at SF RSC... Joe is a great guy

[scott k]

Extreme accuracy.....casio g shock solar. It recieves a signal resets it self every day. Yes I have 3 rolex s....

[GradyPhilpott]

Originally Posted by directioneng

Hi Mike,

A watch that runs consistantly 10 seconds fast each day has precision - how close the measured values are to each other value.

A watch that runs 0 seconds +/- each day is accurate - how close the measured value is to the true value.

Hi precision/low accuracy - hi precision/high accuracy - hi accuracy/low precision.

Excellent explanation.

[dchernikoff]

Well I just got back from a trip to the Post Street, SF to visit the Rolex Service center. Gave my watch to Giovanni to regulate. He said it would take four hours, but when he heard I made the 1-hour trip down here just to get it regulated, he said he'd squeeze it in earlier. And sure enough, he called me 2 hours later and it was done. He said that even though it was 11 years old and had never been refurbished (no marks inside the case), since it hadn't been worn much (judging from the condition of the case and the amount of oil he observed when he opened it up) that it would be fine to wait a year before getting it refurbished. He said wait until it starts behaving erratically, or something like that! And that it would be in the middle $700's to get done.

The cost for regulating and checking for waterproofness was $60. He said it should be accurate to around +- 2 seconds a day now!! :-)

He said for the watertightness, that the gasket on the back of the watch was pretty durable. The gaskets in the crown tended to wear out a little sooner. And that there is a teflon gasket for the crystal that wears out the fastest since it tends to dry out and get brittle when exposed to sunlight. But that since my watch hadn't been worn much (no sun exposure) that it was probably fine.

Giovanni was a very nice guy, and it was a cute little repair shop on the 7th floor of the Shreve building. Lots of watch and jewelry repair shops in the building, and lots of high-end jewelry stores on that street selling every high-end brand of watch you can think of. The Shreve & Co jewelry store on the ground floor had a great selection of Rolexes. The saleswoman helped me pick out a nice Rose Gold and steel Ladies 26mm Datejust for my wife -- beautiful watch with fluted bezel, Jubilee bracelet, mother of pearl dial with Roman Numerals. I didn't buy it, but it's on my mind and our anniversary is comming up...

I'll post the results of the regulation in a few days, but hopefully this is it for a while and I can just enjoy the watch without obsessing over it being fast...

-Dan
-Dan

[azguy]

Good news for sure, take my advice and just wear it until it stops, services for no reason our over-rated IMHO.

[dchernikoff]

Okay, final report here just to close this thread out. 10 days after getting it regulated, the GMT is running on average 0.8 seconds fast a day, with a maximum variance of +1.2 -0.8 seconds per day (according to the WatchTracker iPhone app I'm using). Pretty darn good, I'm thinking! Obviously I'm very happy with this and maybe I can stop obsessing over it now... well, no, probably not! But now the timing results make me smile not grimace!

Thanks again, everyone, for the advice.

-Dan

[azguy]

See, saved $600 pretty quick, congradulations