What is the accuracy of common automatic watches? - Watch and Learn #31 

I have to admit that a watch's accuracy is of paramount importance to me. I had a Jaeger-LeCoultre that was gifted to me when I graduated from law school. While it was a beautiful watch, I had to routinely sync it to the phone company time service. I bought an Accutron which was much more accurate. I then became a fan of Casio G-Shocks which were even more accurate. I migrated to the versions which sync'd to the atomic clock, but the signal was problematic. Now I have a Casio Edifice which can synchronize with my cell phone via Bluetooth multiple times each day. It has proven to be the most accurate watch I've ever owned. It is also quite a beautiful watch.

Just for a bit of historical perspective, I have a verge fusee pocket watch, made in...wait for it....1695. After a decent service it is accurate to 30 seconds per day, and I am full of wonder at the skill of the watchmaker who built this watch by hand without the benefit of any modern technology, a watch which 320 years later is able to keep up with one built yesterday.

I've had 3 Seikos with the entry level 7s26. The first ran +0.5 out of the box and after regulation the others ran +1.3 and +1.8 s/day respectively. This is average over several days. There was larger variations on single days, but when well wound (aka. worn in a regular fashion, not being on rotation) these entry level automatics are quite stable at those rates. Accurate enough!

I never had an automatic watch and was about to purchase one. Thanks to this honest video I knew what I should expect and I can't live with these ranges of inaccuracy. I will remain at the quartz side.

Thank you for this video! I was one of those people who panicked when my first automatic watch was losing 10 seconds a day. Your video was very reassuring.

Good video. I have an early 2000s Breitling SuperOcean blue dial. I set it eleven days ago when I had to adjust it for the end of November, a 30 day month. I just checked it against the atomic clock and in those days it is 37 seconds ahead. That means the watch is gaining 3.5 seconds in 24 hours. Pretty darned accurate for an automatic watch.

Great explanation! Thank you Mark because you explained questions that were not well answered by others. At last someone who understands the realistic behaviours of mechanical watches. Some expect Quartz accuracy which is totally impossible.

and again we learned something valuable for our hobby, thank you Mark

I had a year old Rolex YachtMaster and a two year old Omega just out of service. Both these watches were keeping +2, +3 seconds per day, respectively. I traded those two watches last month for 2010 Daytona, steel, black dial. The Daytona had been very slightly and expertly polished, and had been serviced. The Daytona is gaining five seconds per day. That shit me off, but then I realized, as you said, what five seconds per day is with respect to all the seconds total in one day. Conclusion - the Daytona comes within -4/+6 chronometer requirements. In other words, the Daytona is dead-on accurate, I love it.

As soon as you pulled out that Aplinist I said out loud, "Oh my God that's gorgeous", and then you proceeded to say you don't care for it. Haha. I love that everyone has different tastes.

I set my Alpinist yesterday using wwv time tick and checked it after work today . It's running -2sec. I really didn't expect it to run that well. Nice job Seiko!

I've recently bought my first automatic watch, and I was a bit disappointed with the accuracy,, it gains around 4 seconds a day,.. After watching this video, I'm much happier, !! Thank you so much,,

Fabulous concise explanation. Thank you for the clarification.🤔👀

refreshing to see an actual honest person from ny

OH ! Forgot to add. Love the channel and this series especially.

Good info as always...love the orients,going to buy more of them!

Fantastic, informative video Marc. Well done!

Hello Mark. Thanks for your Vid. I really enjoyed watching it and it has helped me understand a few important things. Yesterday I took ownership of a Seiko 4R36 calibre turtle 200mm divers watch. You state the 4R36 is not as refined as the more expensive models in Seikos range. As you say, in my Manuel there is no mention of any +or- tolerances in loss or gaining of time. So I am very surprised to discover that after setting mine last night to an atomic clock, after 24 hours mine has lost 1 second. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones am I? As for a run of the MIL calibre to be this accurate must be some kind of miracle, I'm a happy man. Thank you Mark 👍😊👍

Thank you for this. The best watch information channel on RU-vid by a mechanical engineer who knows what he's talking about.

Another super episode, Mark! I know from trying it myself that regulation is tedious and difficult. There is so much more to this topic; I hope you add to it as time and interest allow.

Love these series Mark, great work!

I have a 101 year Elgin railroad grade pocket watch. A coupe of seconds a day consistently. A fun watch and a fun history.

Thanks, Mark, another great instructional video.

Thanks for a great lesson Mark, love that Sun & Moon, 20 minutes well spent 👏👏👏🎯🖒.

Awesome update. Thank you and well done.

Accuracy is very relevant to position and it varies from watch to watch. factoring movement design and quality, it is more or less effected by gravity and resulting changes in the friction of various points and the axis of the balance wheel. Magnetism will effect accuracy regardless, and usually results in a fast watch.

Hi Mark, awesome video as usual! I'd love to see how these perform on your timegrapher to compare advertised accuracy against actual sample units.

To me accuracy is not much of a big deal. My first decent watch was Omega Planet Ocean 8500 and after a year of non-stop wearing and several time zone changing (it has a jumping second hand) it gained only 52 seconds. And couple weeks ago I got an SKX009J as a present and I can't be happier! Of course it is not as nearly accurate as swiss premium but it does its job and looks amazing.

I recently received an Orient Saturation Diver with a 40N5A movement. Upon checking the accuracy with an app, I've noticed that the watch maxes out at just over the + spec whilst horizontal face up, and around the max - spec whilst on the wrist (Booklet says +25/-15). Now the interesting thing is that over the course of 24 hours the average is about -1 or better so far. So basically, I'm thinking that the accuracy specs given are based on how much a watch could gain in any particular position. So whilst a watch might be losing time whilst on the wrist, in my Orient's case, it's gaining time back whilst sitting horizontally faced up over overnight. Just a note, I measured the accuracy for other positions but this position balances out the time best for me. :) Thanks for all of your vids Mark. Very helpful and informative. I recently adjusted my orient's bracelet including the pin and collars, and saved myself 20 dollars or so. :D

Excellent explanation about the accuracy of mechanical watches. I have a number of Omega watches. The Speedmaster Mark II is affected by my activity during the day. I have had it going between -4 to about +8. It has been averaging about +3 to +4 per day. I have the newer Planet Ocean with the coaxial movement. This one has been keeping to within about 2 to 3 seconds per day plus or minus. I have some Omega watches from the 1960s. These are keeping to about 6 to 10 seconds per day mostly plus depending on my activities. My quartz watches are keeping better than 5 to 6 seconds per month. I have some that are keeping to better than 5 seconds per month.

I have a Heimdallr 6105 homage with a Seiko NH35 in it. After a few weeks of ownership it seems to be running - 2 seconds per day. I'm pretty darn pleased with that.

Every 4hz seiko can be regulated incredibly well. I have skx009 with 4r36 movement. The escapement system changed to 6r20's escapement and the mainspring too to spron 510. My friend did it. He is watchmaker at the seiko ad. This skx gain 12s/day dial up and dial down. In every vertical position 0s/day. On my wrist 0.5-1s/day gain. Amazing i think. My another 28.800 watxh is sarw009 6r27. Came from factory on wrist +1-1.5 s/day, rest in vertical +2s/day dial up and down 14s/day. I think it is more than expected. I love them. Cheers

It is fascinating how your experiences affect your perspective. I grew up wearing quartz watches. When I had some money I purchase a brand new Omega Seamaster. It was my daily watch for 15 years. It’s accuracy was within the spec of an automatic watch. Which made it, by a huge margin, the worst watch I have ever owned. I have since rediscovered the Casio’s of my youth. I now have a Casio collection. All are radio controlled. It is awesome to wake up in the morning, look at your watch box, and all these watches that you haven’t wore in a month are all telling exactly the same and correct time. I would kindly recommend to my fellow watch enthusiast to broaden you horizons.

Love these videos! Keep them coming!

The seconds hand at that Zeppelin at 4:12 is epic!

Great informative vid Marc. Made me realise why I have a Bulova UHF military alongside my mechanicals, apparently 10secs a year, for £95. Still appreciate the autos though.

The most amazing time keeper in my collection is a circa 1955 Certina automatic. It has a 17 Jewel 21-0114 movement, it is in original condition, and it is only about +20 seconds per day. I love old watches for their history and style, but holy cow, this one is almost an iPhone killer! Love the videos, Mark...always learn so much. Thank you!

I periodically get anywhere between 1.5 to 6 seconds per day on my Bambino. I have no doubt that the others are comparable. I have to commend Marc, on being such a trustworthy and open retailer. I will be recommending him to all my friends.

Great video! Thanks Mark for all the research

Another quality video Mark!

like as always, mark comes with another great learning video, bro you are doing good, keep it up 👍

Another great, informative video-Thanks Mark

@9:34 Xlnt work! love these details you manage to dig up

Thank you Marc for this very informative video on automatic timekeeping, really enjoyed watching it. I only own two automatics both of which are at the lower price range. I have a Seiko 5 which was my first purchase which I have had a few years now and the other which I purchased last year being a Orient 3 star model FEM0401RU9 which I purchased from Ebay UK. The accuracy of this watch compared with the Seiko 5 is amazing, certainly glad that I bought the Orient. I use it mainly as a dress watch as the gold/brown dial on it looks really classy. Thanks again Marc.

With the daily salary can buy a quartz watch that running more accuracy than a mechanical watch cost a yearly salary. 😊

Mark I bought my first Seco automatic, it is the SNKG I think about $150. I’ve been wearing it three days and so far it’s been the most five seconds slow one second fast this thing is incredible

Love your videos, Marc. My Marathon JDD averages -1s/day, and of course my Islanders do very well, too (plus or minus 5s/day). Definitely good enough for my purposes.

Marc your videos are wonderful. A big thank you. May I make one suggestion. Many reviews compare and comment a about the strength of the lume. Wonderful. What I rarely see is a comment about how long the lume lasts per night. That is very important when judging how helpful the lume in each watch that has lume is.

LOVED your Video. Wow, those are wonderful watches. You have a great taste. I myself also have a few Auto´s myself: Deep Blue DayNight Suba; Fossil Me3008; Hamberg & Sohne Calendar; Nautec No Limit (Seiko 5 Mov.)

Marc thanks for another very informative video I always wondered how the accuracy of wrist watches was calculated. I am a subscriber to this channel please keep up the good work and may 2018 be better then 2017 Happy New Year !

I love these videos, thank you so much!! SKX009 owner here 8-)

You might laugh if you read this, relating to not believing the slimfast ad..lol. I got just 2 weeks ago, a Seiko 5 Sports SRPD51K2. I measured it on my friends Weishi timegrapher machine and it was giving +1 to + 2 seconds a day. He was surprised to say the least. Me, not really knowing that much wasn't that impressed, now I am. Anyway, I decided to measure it against the atomic clock over 3 days, and I kid you not, the watch was just 5 seconds ahead after 72 hours. I had to check again that they hadn't given me a Rolex by accident...lol. Even better, the dial and chapter ring lines up perfectly.. I think I'm never going to give away this watch!!

nice to see someone take on this subject. well done & interesting. I am not an accuracy freak but still find it interesting and do enjoy my accurate watches (I have a santos dumont that is both attractive & amazingly accurate but no seconds hand!, similar for an airman, conversly a seiko 6r15 that loses a lot but still love it & my other seikos etc etc). I feel there is a certain amount of luck involved. really enjoying your channel

every time i watch your Watch and Learn series, i learn something new even i thought i already knew

I have a new Seiko SNZG13 with a 7S36 movement I "grey imported" because it's not a regular UK market watch and in the past 5 days it has gained 15 seconds which I think is extremely good.

Hi buddy. Like most of your viewers I am Asperger’s. But I don’t care; in fact, I don’t mind it at all. No! I love it!. And I am an owner of a Citizen Promaster automatic 200 meter(Miyota), and after having set it a couple of weeks ago, with great patience and perseverance, over the course of 14 days (with the assistance of a cocktail stick and a jeweller’s loup) it is now, after now 15days, two seconds slow IN TWO WEEKS (Worn all the time even in the shower) And I love it to bits. It is one of my collection of about 14 watches and this is probably the best clockwork I have ever owned in my life. Two seconds in two weeks? I am going to pass this down to my son and grandchildren. Thank you for your video. Loved it.

good perspective

Thank for the information.

I own a Seiko SRP773 for a couple of months now and consistently out of the box until now I've been getting 2 minutes a week. I love this watch.

I have Gigandet Sea Ground with miyota movement. It runs +2,75 seconds/day. Nice

Got a Steinhart Ocean one 39mm gmt with a constant 7.2 seconds a day, i won't open her up and it's good enough for me. If i want perfection i got my phone:) After this clip i am even more impressed:)

I bought a Orient Bambino Open-heart from you and it's with-in 2 or 3 seconds a day although I haven't worn it much. (at-least that's what I'm getting.) Overall I'm more than happy with that.

recieved my Orient Ray II from you a little more than a week ago and I have to say its been amazingly accurate and consistant. I do take it off ,I dont sleep with a watch on like some may so the past 10 days or so with approximately 8hrs per those days I dont think its lost more than 2 seconds, not bad at all huh? guess I got a good one thx! and thx for the great information

I've never understood what people see in the Alpinist either. Totally agree about that model Bambino being so nice. I was not sure about the rose gold when I bought it but but it goes with so many clothes colors. The strap color is what really sets it off.

My SARB017 gets about +2 seconds a day. It was getting about +4 but after I owned it a few weeks it seemed to "settle in", this seems to be a common story among owners of SARBs. I had a watch guy put it on his $10k machine and he said it was running perfectly with no beat error. There is a reason people go nutty over the SARBs, they are (or were) incredible for the money.

My first automatic watch and still the only one so far is a $50 Vostok Amphibia. Bought it brand new off of Ebay 8 months ago. Factory rated -20s to +60s/day. Out of the box, it ran +30s/day. I decided to #YOLO and tried adjusting it, my first time messing with a watch. Was luckily quite successful , +10s/day ever since. I wear it every day. What a great little piece, lucky me

The best watch reviewer without a doubt.

My psycho is slow by 32 seconds a day but specification is -35 + 45. I like the perfectly accurate watch so in the morning I said it 10 seconds fast it loses just over a second an hour, I find that absolutely perfect in fact, the more you have to adjust the watch the closer bond you have with it. I feel fun automatic you must have hacking otherwise you just don't know where you are.

Every 2824-2 movement I've owned has been crazy accurate: often less than ±1s/d.

My new Hydroconquest Longines with L888,2 movemet based on ETA 2892.2 +0.5 sec in 4 days.. So far and 71hour reserve.. Very happy with it.

I fall in the same group that's been very lucky with the 7s26. When I first got it, I didn't notice any appreciable time gain or loss for about 4 days, which amazed me, but now about 2 weeks later it seems to consistently lose about 6 seconds every two days. I think this may potentially be a result of my wearing habits however. Every other day I let it sit dial up for about 6 or 7 hours, which makes it run fast to bring it back up to accurate time.

Really informative video

You know Marc, you have not aged a day. Its 2021, late 2021 at that. Cheers to that! PS I used to care about accuracy, even regulated my Aquis in six positions... now I could care less, the only time it bothers me is when I'm wearing two watches. Then you never know what the time is.

I have a SNK809 with 7S26 movement in it. I've been timing it since I got it in the beginning of this year, and it's running consistently +15 seconds/day. I've been adjusting it every 2 weeks, I'll put it 1 minute faster, and after a cycle of 14 days it'll be running about 2-3 minutes late. I'm happy with my Seiko 5, it has been consistent and reliable.

another lesson learned. I am at a phase of my watch learning adventure exactly about acuracy. I have a log book where I check the accuracy of my watches. learning a few things in the way...

Hey Mark, in your COSC video, you should definitely mention rolex. And show yours. I still have no idea how they can make their watches +2/-2. That's incredible.

Thank you so much for this video! I am struggling with this after having been spoiled by smartphone clocks and atomic clock controlled quartz watches... I try to learn to appreciate my SNK803. But it runs +76 to over +80s/d (according to timegraph) because it became magnetised, I reckon. It irks me. I wish one could affordably get the advantages of quartz with the beautiful sweep of mechanical movements but alas the seiko spring drive movements are far out of my budget range... Well, I love the sweep so I will continue to try to learn to accept what feels to me is gross inaccuracy.

very informative, can you tell us about the accuracy on quartz watches? are they all the same or there are more accurate quartz movements than others?

I just got an Alpinist Sarb017 second hand and it has gained 2 sec over 2 weeks. Variations of +/- 6 sec/ day. I think that's pretty darn good.

Fantastic. Really makes you think. Shows you how amazing John Harrison was in his day.

My Hamilton field automatic . H 10 movement is 2 sec +/ 5 per day . Great watch .

I have Citizen NY0040 that I got last year as a gift. Few days ago I tested its accuracy so I set it according to atomic time and waited full month to check accuracy... It was +22 sec. Impresive!

Hey mark. I have a question about the accuracy of my invicta pro diver 8926ob. If it is running about 10secs fast and I take it off to go to bed, when I wake up it’s lost a few seconds. It’s now 4secs fast. Is this normal or is my watch needing to be taken to a watchmaker.

Another great video Mark. I was given a fake Panerai watch which I timed accuracy because I wanted to say how bad it was. It's got a Asian 2824 clone movement. To my supprise it was +2 seconds a day and has been running reliably for 6 months now.

My 3045 'Grand Diver' INVICTA arrived poorly adjusted. After a 'magic touch' to the racket, I am spinning it between -1and +1seconds 24 hours !!! Imo the NH35A is the winner among a lot of calibers much more expensives.

Nomos Ahoi 561, DUW 3001 movement, -15 seconds per day...never varies.... I feel less annoyed by that now, not an inexpensive piece. Great video! Not bad enough to have opened up.

I got a watch for my birthday. It has an NH35a movement. The specs are very conservative from Seiko. In my brief and unscientific observation, it actually gains about 5 seconds per day.

This is why I’ve completely given up on mechanical watches. The high end watches I have are fine but who needs the headache

I have a few watches. One is a Bulova automatic from 1950 . It runs great . Keeps good time . What more do I need .

Mark...awesome as always. Question: can these movements be regulated if one was inclined????

I have Geckota flieger with Seiko's NH35 (basically same as 4R35 in Seiko's own watches). It runs about -5 to + 10 per day depending how much I use it and in what position I put it on my nightstand. I just adjusted the time and it had gone 45 seconds ahead since the last time I adjusted it about 3 weeks ago. Not bad for cheap Japanese movement.

SlimFast commercial that lost 200LBS in 4 days had me rolling lol! To me, if any mechanical watch under $1k USD can average within 25 seconds a day +/-, I'm happy as a clam at high tide.

I have a Lum Tec 600m with a Miyota 9015 at 28,800 and it gains around +2 secs per week! That's right 7 days I was astonished at the accuracy of this watch. Very smoothed second hand sweep. All of them may not be this accurate and I may just be lucky but so far I have no complaints. I probably just jinxed myself!

My Seiko recently-new SNZG13K1 with 7s36 movement is only less than three weeks old, and at present seems to gain around 6 seconds a day. And although there's no hacking, you can gentle-reverse twist the crown slightly to arrest the forward motion of the second hand, enough to let it be re-synched if that's needed. A slightly newer SNDC81P1 quartz chronograph has in about ten days' ownership not shown ANY movement away from GMT. That'll do me. No doubt it'll drift slowly over time. But although I like that accuracy, fact is I'm a retired old fart with zero need for instant-timing of - anything these days... And the heartbeat of that balance wheel'd watch pleases me far more than the clinical accuracy of the quartz model. So much so I found a nice elderly model 5 on Ebay - there's no shortage of them. It'll be here in a few days. Looks like I might have to get a hold of one of those watch-cases soon, the sort that holds - how many, I wonder?

i have seiko skx007j which i purchased 7 years back from seiko dealer. watch is keeping time with +9sec accuracy. do i have to get it serviced? or keep it using until it loses time more than 20sec.

Watch deviation behaves as a linear random walk. Sometimes the variations will cancel out, other times they compound. A slight bias toward gaining or losing time will tip the scale more and more over time. If you leave the watch alone until correcting the date display for 30 vs 31 vs 28 days on the first of each month, then you can expect your modern, budget, mechanical / automatic watch to be between 3 and 5 minutes of atomic time towards the end of the month.

I like your channel, it's a very good Channel I have a Bulova 262 hzs 6 seconds a year I compared it with atomic time from the internet.

Hi Mark, If you have an automatic and it loses/gains a certain amount of time in a week, let's just say losing 2 minutes a week, and you're coming up on an important meeting that you don't want to be late for. The watch has been worn everyday, so there is a good amount of power reserve, is it okay to just hack it and reset the time? How often would you need to reset the time per week/month before it's considered excessive? From reading the comments, it seems some people either don't want to be bothered with having to reset the time every so often, or is it not recommended to do so with an automatic? Thanks!

I think most people who watch RU-vid Watch Videos are Watch Enthusiast who would have several watches, who generally speaking would change there watch daily or several times a week. So when they change there watch good chance they would need to reset it, if mechanical or automatic as reserve power could have run out. So seconds would not be an issue as watch would not be on wrist long enough to be minutes to fast or to slow.

Strange? I just got a Certina Action DS diver with a ETA powermatic 80 movement. Testing by running it crown down winding it every other day (80h power reserve). Using the app WatchCheck and im at an avarage rate at +0.5 s/d over a 5 day test. Maximum deviation is +1.4 s/d. Granted the WatchCheck app has an error margin me hitting the button exactly but that is max by a 0.5 sec or so. Is the ETA movement that accurate?