What kind of accuracy do you get from your automatic watches?

I have a Seiko 5 Automatic that was my entry into the wildly addictive world of automatic watches and it is running about +30 seconds a day. I have another Seiko 5 auto that’s about +6 sec a day. For their price I suppose such variation is to be expected.

What price point do automatics begin to get more accurate? $500 +? $1,000 + or a whole lot more?

What is a good automatic that will provide excellent accuracy at a good price (something that isn’t $1,000 +)? Does such an automatic exist or do you have to spend lots of $$$ to get damn good accuracy?


I’m new to automatics, which brands and models do you guys like?

My Tutima is off about 7 to 10 seconds a day, depending on how much I am up and about.

Cost me about 900 bucks 15 years ago. I don't have much experience beyond that price point. I have had Seiko movements that were a little worse than 10 seconds a day.

My Rolex is fractions of a second a day, my Omega is at the highest +4sec a day.

My Zodiac is on par with the omega.

The Ball Trainmaster is at +2.

My 20 year old Tag Heuer is running at -5.

Generally, the more expensive watches/movements are regulated in different positions and at differing temperatures. This, along with better quality components and careful assembly make the difference in accuracy. Seikos, if they tick when assembled, get shipped. Not a rake at Seiko, as they make good movements for the money and some exceptional movements (Grand Seiko and Spring drive), just a statement of fact about mass produced movements and watches powered by them.

It is generally possible to regulate the inexpensive Seiko movement to better accuracy, but you will pay to have that done or to buy the equipment and knowledge to do it yourself.

RMD

You are confusing «accuracy» with «adjustment». If you have 6 sconds advance per day, every day, you have a highly accurat watch that is adjusted to run 6 seconds too fast per day. If your watch was 10 seconds too fast one day and 5 seconds slow the other, you are a well adjusted, but not so accurate movement.
There is no dollar vs accuracy price tag. It´s a matter of how the movement was designed and how much care was taken to adjust it.

I’ve got a Hamilton, a Marathon, a Maratac pilots watch, a Seiko 007, and a Sports 5. So none are particularly expensive, relatively. None of them loose time fast enough to be perceived over the course of a month. I checked a couple of them and they were within a couple of seconds a day. From my reading I’ve been pretty lucky.

My Seiko Orange Monster is ~+8 seconds a day.
I have a cheap Invicta, that's less than +5 seconds a day.
My Breitling is +- 1 second every day that I wear it (It's a piece of art so I wear it infrequently).

However, I don't think that more $$$ spent buys accuracy. My older Seiko dive watches never required resetting over months.

My decade-old Casio waveceptor resyncs itself to WWVB every night and remains within a fraction of a second all day. That’s my definition of an automatic watch!

I'm just going off some info I found a long time ago so not sure its relevant or if my numbers are accurate.

I believe typical automatic watch can loose around 5 seconds a day under normal conditions. Swiss certified shouldn't loose more then 3 a day.

I think those are the "normal working condition" and of course better parts and manufacturing would be to the lower end and cheaper would be the higher end of time loss.

Even digital watches loose time I believe, with atomic radio watches/gps being the most accurate.

Casio gd350 delivers an amazing +/- 3 seconds a day.
Retired a Rolex sub for it.

I have a Rolex Sub,Sinn,Seiko Sumo,Zodiac Sea Wolf and handful other autos. All are pretty accurate for mechanical movements with the Sub being most consistent, gains about 4 seconds a day. My most accurate watch is Alpina Startimer GMT quartz that thing stays within 10 seconds a month with the atomic clock.

tsmccull, I have two Citizen eco drives that synch every day with atomic time (atomic radio) and for someone like me with borderline OCD tendencies it is neat to see the two watches operate in perfect synchronization day after day.

That said the mechanical operation and automatic winding capabilities of Automatic watches fascinates me quite a bit. There is something about them that I just love. Yeah, new radio and satilite wave watches are more accurate but the level of precision that can be achieved through the mechanical masterpiece that is the automatic watch is something special.

If you want accuracy, you need a watch that is COSC certified which is a testing procedure for durability and accuracy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COSC

Rolex Yachtmaster, -3min per month

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Rolex Yachtmaster, -3min per month

Same Watch, bought new in 2012 from AD, worn daily...… + 20 seconds per day.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Rolex Yachtmaster, -3min per month

Same Watch, bought new in 2012 from AD, worn daily...… + 20 seconds per day.

That's seriously out of adjustment, the AD should have made the repair. Good chance the hairspring was magnetized.

I have a Casio digital, automatic watch. Cost me 70 bucks some years ago. Accurate to the second. Even self adjusts to accommodate DST. Had the battery replaced about a month ago. First time. 9 bucks for the battery change, about half that was for labor. Water proof to 200 meters.

Elk, that would be a kinetic watch I believe. Kinda the best of both worlds, quartz accuracy with a battery/capacitor that is recharged by movement.

My Tag 2000 Automatic has been serviced 4 times since I received it a as a present from my wife in 1998. It currently is -15 seconds per day.

I believe retail at the time was $1,200 +, I think she paid just north of $600.00 from an on-line site. In 1998, the whole internet shopping was new to us and I was a little skeptical.

I love this watch and it gets worn every day.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Rolex Yachtmaster, -3min per month

Same Watch, bought new in 2012 from AD, worn daily...… + 20 seconds per day.

That's seriously out of adjustment, the AD should have made the repair. Good chance the hairspring was magnetized.

The first couple of years I only wore it a few times a week and it would go dead often and I'd have to wind it and reset it so I didn't notice it so much. After about 3 or 4 years I started just wearing it daily. So now, I figure I'll just send it in at the 10 year mark to rolex and have it serviced etc. But most people I know that wear Rolex'es everyday, they're fast just like that or similar.