3xxx mvmt Woody woodpecker ting ting sound

[Dr Rock]

Yes, I know, what the hell is that title all about?

Well, it's all to do with the sound of a Rolex movement ticking. On the 15xx movements it is a nice, slow 'tick tick tick' sound. On the 3xxx movements the beat is much faster, 'ticker-ticker-ticker-ticker'.

But, there is also another sound on the 3xxx movements: it's a pinging/tinging sound that goes in and out of phase a bit, at about the same frequency as the ticking.

Anyone know what causes this? I'm not concerned, just curious!

Fraser

[colemanitis]

I've noticed the same thing - you have to have really good ears to hear it. There's definiltely a "ping" sound that goes along with the ticking.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Dr Rock

Yes, I know, what the hell is that title all about?

Well, it's all to do with the sound of a Rolex movement ticking. On the 15xx movements it is a nice, slow 'tick tick tick' sound. On the 3xxx movements the beat is much faster, 'ticker-ticker-ticker-ticker'.

But, there is also another sound on the 3xxx movements: it's a pinging/tinging sound that goes in and out of phase a bit, at about the same frequency as the ticking.

Anyone know what causes this? I'm not concerned, just curious!

Fraser

The faster sound is due to the much higher beat.

All the modern day Rolex watches beat at 28,800 A/Hr. (i.e. 8 beats/sec.).

The older models had a much slower beat, varying from 18,000 to 21,600 beats per hour.

JJ

[pcarson]

I hate to bring this up again, because I think I may have shown myself to be a bit of wanker at the time. Don't misconstrue this as a defense; I am a wanker, but I didn't want it to show so early.

Soon after I got my Sub recently, I listened to it closely. It makes three audible sounds, and you need a good quality stethoscope (sampling) and some waveform analysing software. For the stethoscope bit you need your ears and it helps if you use them a bit for hard-to-hear things.

The ticking is, as JJ points out, an 8 beat per second blunt sound. That's 28,800/60/60 to give 8 beats per second. The second sound is about 440 beats per second and you hear this as a note. It is (in my watch at least) pretty close in pitch to Concert A. which might make it a harmonic of the 8Hz spring.

The fact is, the note is not 440 but if you know where A is on your piano, it's close to that. (Actually, I just pulled up that waveform and its 512, which makes perfect sense, and in this edit I can tell you it's somewhere between B and C above concert A). The third sound is a nicely lubricated continuous mechanical growl which I convinced myself I could hear AFTER I saw it on the screen, I have to confess.

I don't know if the "musical note" is a high harmonic of the 8Hz, or a low harmonic of something else, but it's likely to be something in-between that vibrates at a rate which is 28,800/n where n is a multiple of 2. (In the edit I can see that this is not true; I made a silly mistake. It is the seventh harmonic of the spring, co-incidentally, but the spring will do more than wind and unwind, so it could be harmonically very interesting if you could isolate it).

The phase shift is probably the spring harmonic (if that's what it is) being swamped by the 8 Hz tick of the escapement.

Does all this make we a wanker? No; there are much better reasons supporting that. This just adds to the evidence.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by pcarson

Does all this make we a wanker?

Most certainly NOT, my friend. No way....but on this forum it does qualify you for a KING SIZE TOSSER!!!

[pcarson]

Originally Posted by Dr Rock

Yes, I know, what the hell is that title all about?

Well, it's all to do with the sound of a Rolex movement ticking. On the 15xx movements it is a nice, slow 'tick tick tick' sound. On the 3xxx movements the beat is much faster, 'ticker-ticker-ticker-ticker'.

But, there is also another sound on the 3xxx movements: it's a pinging/tinging sound that goes in and out of phase a bit, at about the same frequency as the ticking.

Anyone know what causes this? I'm not concerned, just curious!

Fraser

Sorry I got so carried away! To ground myself again, the ping is the audible part of the musical harmonic. If you could do what I did (and I'm not suggesting for a minute that you should), you'd see that the ping is really continuous, and actually a note. It seems to ping as it is swamped by the 8Hz tick. Does that help?

[Incurable]

Originally Posted by pcarson

I hate to bring this up again, because I think I may have shown myself to be a bit of wanker at the time. Don't misconstrue this as a defense; I am a wanker, but I didn't want it to show so early.

Soon after I got my Sub recently, I listened to it closely. It makes three audible sounds, and you need a good quality stethoscope (sampling) and some waveform analysing software. For the stethoscope bit you need your ears and it helps if you use them a bit for hard-to-hear things.

The ticking is, as JJ points out, an 8 beat per second blunt sound. That's 28,800/60/60 to give 8 beats per second. The second sound is about 440 beats per second and you hear this as a note. It is (in my watch at least) pretty close in pitch to Concert A. which might make it a harmonic of the 8Hz spring.

The fact is, the note is not 440 but if you know where A is on your piano, it's close to that. (Actually, I just pulled up that waveform and its 512, which makes perfect sense, and in this edit I can tell you it's somewhere between B and C above concert A). The third sound is a nicely lubricated continuous mechanical growl which I convinced myself I could hear AFTER I saw it on the screen, I have to confess.

I don't know if the "musical note" is a high harmonic of the 8Hz, or a low harmonic of something else, but it's likely to be something in-between that vibrates at a rate which is 28,800/n where n is a multiple of 2. (In the edit I can see that this is not true; I made a silly mistake. It is the seventh harmonic of the spring, co-incidentally, but the spring will do more than wind and unwind, so it could be harmonically very interesting if you could isolate it).

The phase shift is probably the spring harmonic (if that's what it is) being swamped by the 8 Hz tick of the escapement.

Does all this make we a wanker? No; there are much better reasons supporting that. This just adds to the evidence.

[pcarson]

Well, to be be frank, I do prefer your bunny to my post, but I just had to get that out. Now to address your post seriously, is that two pancakes?

[Dr Rock]

Topman! I knew someone would know

PS I think it is two pancakes....

[pcarson]

Let's analyse them. One might have a harmonic! Cheers.

[Incurable]

pcarson, actually your endeavor has some merit in a very Rolex-Geeky kind of way. Frankly, one of the things I (used to) enjoy was listening to the little ding-ding-ding sound of a ticking watch. As my age increased and hearing declined, I can't really hear some of my watches anymore. Your idea of recording and analyzing it on the computer is pretty clever, if not obsessive. I've got some pretty good software, I may try the same. It looks like two pancakes BTW.

[pcarson]

Originally Posted by Incurable

pcarson, actually your endeavor has some merit in a very Rolex-Geeky kind of way. Frankly, one of the things I (used to) enjoy was listening to the little ding-ding-ding sound of a ticking watch. As my age increased and hearing declined, I can't really hear some of my watches anymore. Your idea of recording and analyzing it on the computer is pretty clever, if not obsessive. I've got some pretty good software, I may try the same. It looks like two pancakes BTW.

Geeky - guilty
Obsessive - guilty
Pancakes - two

It's very early here in Oz (E-Coast) so I'm off for a ride. Have a good day all.

Cheers

Peter

[Mrdi]

Great Post.
Love that ping.
Higher octane moves the waveform to 514.