Is This normal for a date change?

[sushisummo]

My 305 date change seems to start very early.

You can see from the first pic at about 10:45pm the date started to move and the second pic at 11:05 date almost half way from 23rd to 24th.

I'm wondering if this is normal?

Thanks for any info........

[bmwboris]

No- I don't think this is correct-your date wheel is out of sync.

As far as I know, the date wheel should start changing 15-30 minutes before 12, and be fully changed by 12.15.

This is standard for Panerai's only (as per my 312 and 323). My other watches (Breitling, Rolex, IWC, and AP) all change exactly at 12

[sushisummo]

Thanks Con........I will keep an eye on it.

Originally Posted by bmwboris

No- I don't think this is correct-your date wheel is out of sync.

As far as I know, the date wheel should start changing 15-30 minutes before 12, and be fully changed by 12.15.

This is standard for Panerai's only (as per my 312 and 323). My other watches (Breitling, Rolex, IWC, and AP) all change exactly at 12

[Glenn422]

Same thing with my 335. It starts even earlier at 11.30 and by 12 it fully changes. Mine is even an O series (2012 production) and bought brand new. I'm not really annoyed by it though.

[Survivor]

Is it fully changed by 12:00 or does it change early???? If the changeover is done right at 12:00, I don't think you have a problem. If the wheel was out of sync, your date would change either on the early or late side.

[Travelller]

... it's 00:35 here and my 233's date is almost finished switching over...
note to self: check tomorrow when change starts...

Originally Posted by Survivor

Is it fully changed by 12:00 or does it change early???? If the changeover is done right at 12:00, I don't think you have a problem. If the wheel was out of sync, your date would change either on the early or late side.

OP's in-house movements use a "gradual date-change" mechanism and not the ETA / Valjoux "quick-change" complication. This is why you need to place the crown in position 1, which turns the hour hand and in turn, the date wheel. Logically, the date-change should be either complete ~or~ roughly half-way through at 00:00. I honestly don't know which one OP aims for when setting the wheel...

[Travelller]

Originally Posted by Travelller

note to self: check tomorrow when change starts...

Believe it or not, I actually set an Outlook reminder for 23:00...
So...
23:20 -> new date just appears
00:00 -> ~between both dates
00:50 -> old date completely hidden

My assumptions, based on the above observations are:
1. It takes 90 mins for a full date change
2. One could assume the change should start at 23:15 an end at 00:45. Or maybe it should be 23:00<->00:30. Or maybe even 23:30<->01:00. Or maybe 22:30<->00:00 ... or maybe...

I only own one PAM and I can only make assumptions based on it. I'd be more than happy to have others confirm / refute my findings. We will most certainly not find any official documentation on it at OP...

Originally Posted by bmwboris

As far as I know, the date wheel should start changing 15-30 minutes before 12, and be fully changed by 12.15. This is standard for Panerai's only (as per my 312 and 323)...

Well, given my own findings, I'd appreciate it if you could double-check yours. Considering you have both the P.2006 and P.9000, I doubt that the time required for the change varies among OP's movements...

EDIT: According to JT's observations of his P.9000-equipped 305, it takes 40mins (let's say, for the sake of argument, 45mins), half the time of my 233. So I am at a total loss here...


p.s. "Kudos" to anyone that can come up with the formula that would explain why a 31-segmented wheel takes ~90mins to rotate, what, 360/31 ~12° ...
EDIT: Or 12° in 45mins...

[sushisummo]

I looked again last nite and my 305 date wheels start moving at about 10:30pm and by 12:00am (Midnight) it fully change. So I guess that is pretty normal.

Thanks guys for all the input.

[Travelller]

Originally Posted by sushisummo

...date wheels start moving at about 10:30pm and by 12:00am (Midnight) it fully change...

Aaahaaa! Ok, now we're getting somewhere! So the 90-min change is pretty much a sure thing. The from when2when part is variable, but as long as it starts or ends by midnight (and everything in between) I'd say it's GTG.

[eric23]

That is the one thing I dislike about there in house movements. I have a 351 and it took 2 hours to fully change over.