Re: New watches aren't supposed to do this - are they?
- From: "Alan Dye" <alandye@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:20:00 GMT
two things spring to mind (although I am not a watchmaker):
1. potentially the watch came in contact with a magnetic field and has
become magnetized. A watchmaker can fix this problem. Think back to where
you've been. Was the watch in your pocket or on your wrist whilst being
near a large generator, electrical motor, or another powerful electrical
field?
2. The hairspring is regulated by being held between two pins on a regulator
which when moved have the impact of lengthening or shortening the amount of
free hairspring and thus speeding up or slowing down the watch. I have a
new tissot pocket watch with the 6497 movement (which I love a lot!) which
ran fine the first day and then sped up to gain about 2 minutes a day. I
took it to my watchmaker who regulated it back into time. He suggested that
perhaps when it was initially regulated that the regulator pins might have
been pinching the hairspring and holding it at an abnormal length and with
the millions of flexings of the hairspring in the first day it eventually
came free and went to the wrong length, thus the difference in time. It now
runs perfectly and with daily use has only gained about 10 seconds in the
past week and this is a pretty stock 6497 movement.
Regardless, two minutes a day is unacceptable. Either return it to the shop
where it was purchased and ask for a replacement, or take it to a watchmaker
and see if they can get it back into time for you.
Cheers,
Alan
"Wrothchild" <no_email@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:l6ednXgIKv0B6Z7ZnZ2dnUVZ_vudnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Correction: I meant the upper jewel of the escape wheel, not lower
(the movement was still in the case with the back on when I looked at it;
I was looking at it through the exhibition back).
"Wrothchild" <no_email@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4qadnYuj6NlG7Z7ZnZ2dnUVZ_tKdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello all,
I'd like to get the opinions of the watchmakers in the group. I
purchased a brand new watch a little over 2 weeks ago with the ETA 6497-1
movement (I had read good things about that movement in this group, and
my decision was based on that). I had been keeping track (somewhat) of
its accuracy, and it seemed to be very accurate, as mechanicals go, for
the first two weeks. Then one day I noticed it was a bit fast. So I began
a very close observation of it to see exactly how well it was keeping
time. In the first 24 hours of my close scrutiny, I saw that it gained
one minute. As days passed (not many, but exactly how many I'm not sure
of now) it seemed to gradually gain more. The last 2 days of my
observation, it was gaining almost exactly two minutes per 24 hours. The
watch has not been dropped, nor hit (I am very careful about that) and I
wind it fully at the same time every day. Although it was on warranty, I
decided (for reasons of my own, that are irrelevant here) not to send it
in (I ordered it from a mail-order house, not locally) and instead I took
it to a local (and longtime) watchmaker to get his opinion. I figured if
he said he thought it had a problem, I'd send it back for a replacement.
He examined it, said the amplitude of the escapement was good (I asked)
and said there didn't appear to be anything mechanically wrong with it.
So I asked him to regulate it, and he did. The watch has an exhibition
back, and I'd noticed, looking at the movement with a 10X loupe, that the
lower jewel of the escape wheel pivot seemed to have (in my admittedly
inexperienced opinion) excessive oil on it. The whole end of the pivot
was covered over with oil. I asked my watchmaker about it and he said he
didn't think that was a problem.
My question here is, what would be the likely cause of it to begin to
gain like that? A brand new watch, running well and keeping accurate time
for two weeks, with no damage or harm done to it, suddenly begins to gain
as much as this. It seems strange to me. The regulator being moved by
some impact can be ruled out; as I said it has an exhibition back and I
remembered the position of the regulator when I got it, and it had not
moved from that position, until the watchmaker moved it today.
What thinkest thou?
Jody
.
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