Advice needed: How to regulate accuracy of automatic watch

[Yoda]

Hi Sifus

Now after measuring the accuracy of all my watches wanted to try regulate its accuracy.

Saw some tutorial from the youtube but yet to try it out.

Sifus out there please give some advice. I will only try on my Seiko 5 or similar watches not the high end.

Is it only just turn the regulator + or - only?

+ stands for faster?

- stands for slower?

Any recommended tools e.g case opener, tools to turn the regulator, etc ?

Any precaution?

Your advice is highly appreciated.

 

[Yoda]

Not sifus never mind, members please share if you have tried before.

Let other members a chance to learn

Thanks

[TheHobbit]

try this?

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Budget_Watch_Collecting/Regulating

[Yoda]

try this?

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Budget_Watch_Collecting/Regulating

Dear TheHobbit

Thanks very much for the guide

 

[Timeless]

interesting link, very comprehensive infos..

[jetstrim]

timing machine makes it a breeze

[Yoda]

Got the tools and tried adjusting and see the results in a few days.

When adjusting the position its very minute and precise and take a lot of patient

Cross my fingers

 

[dankhar]

A timegrapher definately helps a lot in regulating the timing more accurately.
However, do test with a simple compass if your watch is magnetised over the years.
A de-magnetiser would be a great help too in this instance.

Good luck.

[jefnando]

Pls try it on a cheap chinese watch that you won on a lucky bid from ebay. I experimented on a few watches and screwed up a few until I got used to the fine tuning, but even so, I never open up my swiss watches, only the japanese.

[JeepWH]

I adjust using toothpick. No need to push until it move a lot, just slightly poke it in the direction you want. If it is fast, then push towards '-' . If its going slow then push towards '+'.

The key here is a small poke goes a long way

[Yoda]

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice.

Without a watch winder have to wear the watch to monitor accuracy manually. Had been wearing the same watch for almost a week. This has been quite a while that I have never wear the same watch for more than a day other than on holiday.

The fine tuning adjustment really discouraging. The moment its fast I push it to -ve and push too much it slow again and vice versa and this had been happening for the past one week. Never really make it to the optimum point.

Almost give up.

Need more encouragement

 

[JeepWH]

Bro it took me along time to get it right. best if u have a timegrapher

[jefnando]

No need sophisticated machines to learn the skill. What if you bought a timegrapher and only to figure that self-tuning is not for you? What I used to do when my cheap auto watches were really slow or fast; I would adjust the - or + alittle then turn the watch over and time it with a digital stopwatch for at least 5 mins then visually compare whether its faster or slower then regulate again and compare another 5 mins. As long as the diff is within 1 s it should be ok. Goodluck.

[JeepWH]

Actually i'm not asking him to buy a timegrapher. Just stateing that it will be easier to regulate with one, I have one becos i do watch repair and restoration.

[dankhar]

Here are some examples of readings you get from a timegrapher ...


This reading clearly shows some serious problem with the watch timing regulation.


This watch runs approx. 56 seconds late per day.


This abt 144 seconds fast per day ...


After regulated ... a tolerable 1 second gain per day. This is what we prefer to see.

[Yoda]

Thanks bro dankhar and JeepWH

I don't really need to get a timegrapher yet as I am working on a few watches only.

Currently working on Seiko 5 with a 4R36 movement.

Once it is adjusted no matter + or - it will run fast for a while before it stabilize when then only I can measure.

Bro JeepWH,

Is the watch repair job your full time job? I like to know more about you as I am too working towards that as a hobby.


Meanwhile I still have to perfected the regulation as a little move would cause it to overshot. Its very minute to just move 1mm.

Its a tough job to master.

Still working on it. Hope I don't give up easily.

 

[JeepWH]

Bro Yoda, welcome to the watch repair club.

i'm not a full time watch repairman. I am currently an accounting undergrad at uni. However, I do accept restoration and repair jobs on a case by case basis.

Watch repair and restoration is my hobby cum part time job. The job schedule depends on my class timing and exams, and parts availability.

BTW, u r welcome to PM me on any matter regarding watch repair or spare parts (ps: I have parts account  ). will help where I can.

Good luck.

 

[Yoda]

Bro Yoda, welcome to the watch repair club.

i'm not a full time watch repairman. I am currently an accounting undergrad at uni. However, I do accept restoration and repair jobs on a case by case basis.

Watch repair and restoration is my hobby cum part time job. The job schedule depends on my class timing and exams, and parts availability.

BTW, u r welcome to PM me on any matter regarding watch repair or spare parts (ps: I have parts account  ). will help where I can.

Good luck.

 

Haha Bro JeepWH

I am an accountant I could share with you your accounting stuff.

What do you mean by "I have parts account" ?

Great we really need to more each other more.

Have PM you my contact and we could  msg to explore more on this hobby.

 

[JeepWH]

Bro Yoda, welcome to the watch repair club.

i'm not a full time watch repairman. I am currently an accounting undergrad at uni. However, I do accept restoration and repair jobs on a case by case basis.

Watch repair and restoration is my hobby cum part time job. The job schedule depends on my class timing and exams, and parts availability.

BTW, u r welcome to PM me on any matter regarding watch repair or spare parts (ps: I have parts account  ). will help where I can.

Good luck.

 

Haha Bro JeepWH

I am an accountant I could share with you your accounting stuff.

What do you mean by "I have parts account" ?

Great we really need to more each other more.

Have PM you my contact and we could  msg to explore more on this hobby.

 

Bro, I mean that I have spare parts account for some major brands. I have acess to order them from Swiss.

[ingchoon]

Just to share some of my humble knowledge and experience here,regulating a watch accuracy is not as easy as you read on paper,the +- on the balance wheel bridge is just of of many element which you need to take care when are regulating a watch accuracy.The most important thing is the beat error adjustment,beat error means the reaction between balance wheel and pallet fork escapement is perfectly align,without the proper adjustment of the beat error ,your watch will tend to stop easily and balance wheel will not rotate at equal force to left and right,therefore an inaccurate movement.the other thing which will affect the accuracy is magnetic influence,dirty cap jewel,exhausted balance shaft,damaged escapement pallet fork or escape wheel.

without time grapher,an experienced watch sifu can still tune the watch by just using a digital stopwatch.

[Yoda]

Bro ingchoon

Thanks for your contribution.

Bro Jefnando and all,

I screwed up this time and give up its not an easy task.

The good side is my brand new Seiko 5.

Now need to send it to the Sifu.

 

[GTH]

ingchoon is right.
the thing about regulating a mechanical watch is that, the first thing is to adjust the beat error to 0.0 or as close as possible. in some cases 0.5 is still acceptable.
When we look at dankhars photos of the graphs, notice the last two pictures have two dotted lines. By adjusting the beat error, you can bring those two lines closer together.
How to adjust? move the little prong that holds the beginning of the hairspring in a stud either backwards or forwards.
Only when the Beat Error reads 0.0 should you attempt to regulate the timing by pushing the + and - a wee bit.
Dankhar should know this, them machines aren't cheap. have to learn everything about Timing Regulation.

[dankhar]

It's a lot to do with patience, trial and error.
Yes, the timegrapher do tells a lot of information.
A good investment i'd say to any serious watch collector ... sometimes a de-magnetiser is all it took for me to get the beat error back to order. 

 

ingchoon is right.
the thing about regulating a mechanical watch is that, the first thing is to adjust the beat error to 0.0 or as close as possible. in some cases 0.5 is still acceptable.
When we look at dankhars photos of the graphs, notice the last two pictures have two dotted lines. By adjusting the beat error, you can bring those two lines closer together.
How to adjust? move the little prong that holds the beginning of the hairspring in a stud either backwards or forwards.
Only when the Beat Error reads 0.0 should you attempt to regulate the timing by pushing the + and - a wee bit.
Dankhar should know this, them machines aren't cheap. have to learn everything about Timing Regulation.