What is your frequency of resetting/adjust your Ball watch ? [Archive] - Watchuseek, world's largest & highest trafficked Watch Forum site

freefall7

August 16th, 2007, 16:06

Hi all...

I bought my Engineer Master Diver II about a month ago.
I found that on every week, the watch is off by close to 2 mins.
Well, the manual stated that the watch will be off 1~2 mins after
each week depending on the way you wear your watch.
So, does it means my watch is alright ? :-(

Appreciate if someone can enlighten me. Thanks

obie

August 16th, 2007, 16:45

Your watch is just fine.

A watch that keeps time between -10 to +15 per day is considered normal for most watches except those that are COSC certified. A mechanical watch is going to have some variations on timekeeping over the course of ownership.

Some people say that movements and watches in general take a few months of use from new to settle into their "normal" timekeeping. Additionally some members have found that placing their watch a certain way at night, i.e. crown down, face down, crown up, etc, will have an effect on the accuracy as it may gain a second by being crown up, or lose 2 seconds face down.

Myself, I put on a watch and wear it 24/7. I adjust my watches monthly when the calender needs to be reset.

Also make sure you are using the same method of tracking your time. Using a computer CPU is not an accurate way to measure most of the time. I would recommend using time.gov to keep tract of timing.

But your watch seems to be working within specifications. If it continues to bother you, any competent watchmaker could open it up and adjust it for you, to get the timing more precise.

freefall7

August 16th, 2007, 17:53

Hi Obie..

Thank you so much for your information.

MarkJnK

August 16th, 2007, 18:41

Great advice from Obie. I'm happy with anything less than +15/day. Especially when new, watches tend to run a tad fast and will settle down over the first year (or 2). Many watchmakers consider a new watch that runs +10 or +15 to be perfect, as they know that over the life of the watch it will settle in to near perfect values. As long as the deviation is reletively consistent, there isn't anything wrong.

If your watch runs +2 for a few days, then loses or gains 2 minutes in 24 hrs, then there could be other issues to discuss.

My Ball Alligator is currently my most accurate automatic (tied with my Sinn 103 St Sa), running approx +1 day.

roberev

August 16th, 2007, 19:40

I checked mine this morning.

One week after being set to the Atomic Clock:
1) The EMII Classic is 5 seconds fast. It's been on my Sharper Image Winder all week.
2) The Trainmaster L&I is 13 seconds fast. It has been worn once and on my Orbita winder the rest of the time.

I can't complain!

Rob

roberev

August 16th, 2007, 23:23

That is outstanding performance from non-COSC rated watches!!! :-!

This is just one of the reasons that I've been singing Ball's praises for months!

Rob

yautjarekcah

August 17th, 2007, 08:00

Why is it always someone elses' Ball is more accurate than mine?
Mine was quite consistantly fast for 6s daily, adjusted twice but similar result achieved.
Back to the questions, I normally adjust my 'mad cow' once a month.

G M Fude

August 18th, 2007, 02:01

My Fireman is out by about a minute at the end of a week, but it's no big deal to me as I rarely wear the same watch for more than 4 or 5 days before it goes back on the wardrobe shelf. The exception is when I'm overseas for a couple of weeks at a stretch, as the Fireman is my usual OS travel watch (dressy enough but not flashy, okay for casual wear, and that awesome GTLS for night viewing).

Since it uses a popular movement that any jeweler worth his salt ought to be comfortable with, I should have it adjusted; no doubt we could get it spot-on accurate. Maybe tomorrow I'll do that.

k7lro

August 19th, 2007, 21:40

I normally wear my everyday but I was in another part of the world for the last week where I didn't feel it was appropriate so I left it on the winder.

I checked the time this morning when I got home - it was about 18 second slow over the last 8-days.

I'm pretty happy. :-!

mallen

August 20th, 2007, 19:01

I just got my HC "Mad Cow" last week, its 15 seconds fast in just under a week.

akirakodi

August 24th, 2007, 11:22

Woohoo! Was waiting for a Ball Forum...

My hydrocarbon chrono is approx. 1.5 sec fast a day...tested over a 1 month period. My most accurate mechanical watch to date!

imtrbo

August 24th, 2007, 13:12

By my rough observation, my Ball EMII Diver seems to be about +2 secs a day!! It's incredible!! Just makes the watch feel super solid!

sukispop

August 25th, 2007, 20:51

Woohoo! Was waiting for a Ball Forum...

My hydrocarbon chrono is approx. 1.5 sec fast a day...tested over a 1 month period. My most accurate mechanical watch to date!

Hi akirakodi,

Welcome to Watchuseek and the Ball Forum! :-!

I hope that you'll drop by here, often, and, if you have a chance, we'd love to see pics of your HC chrono! ;-) Do you own the black dial version, or the white one? Just curious...both look sweet! |>

groundhog

August 25th, 2007, 23:30

freefall7

August 27th, 2007, 19:41

Just my opinion but 2 minutes a week is a little too much. I have 3 Ball watches and have regulated each of them to +or- 5 seconds a day. It's not difficult to do if you know what your doing. To get the most out of your automatic watch, you really need to wear it 24/7. A watch maker can regulate your watch in a matter of minutes if he isn't busy so I would take in in to someone you trust and have him or her regulate it for you. Give it a few days after it's been done to see how close it is. Make sure you have a reliable source for comparison.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t150/beltpack/watch008.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Yeah, precisely what I think too. For the past 3 days, I have set my watch according to the US Official Time. And guess what I got ? My watch is -18sec for each day !!! No wonder by the end of the week, it was late by a whopping 2 mins !!!. And I am wearing it like almost 24/7. As I am living in Singapore, I am not too sure if there is any dealer who can help me regulate the watch. Perhaps, I will wait for another week or 2 before I call up Ball Singapore service center. :-(

imtrbo

August 28th, 2007, 05:04

Hi freefall7,

If you need to contact Ball Watch in Singapore, here are their details:
Ball Watch Singapore
1502 Wheelock Place
501 Orchard Road
Singapore 238880
65-6235-1811

I guess they would be the best (safest) people to contact about regulating your watch... :-)

akirakodi

August 28th, 2007, 06:59

Hey thanks for the welcome, Geoff! I took a pic, it's attached at the bottom!

Hi akirakodi,

Welcome to Watchuseek and the Ball Forum! :-!

I hope that you'll drop by here, often, and, if you have a chance, we'd love to see pics of your HC chrono! ;-) Do you own the black dial version, or the white one? Just curious...both look sweet! |>

sukispop

August 28th, 2007, 07:23

Hey thanks for the welcome, Geoff! I took a pic, it's attached at the bottom!

Hi akirakodi,

Nice pic, thanks for posting it! :-! Love the bit of lume...and the black dial version is my personal fav of the two. ;-)

freefall7

August 28th, 2007, 08:11

groundhog

August 28th, 2007, 10:48

Amen Geoff

jds1017

August 28th, 2007, 14:04

Because my Ball Skylab has a screw down crown, I try to avoid having it stop on me. Either I wear it or put it on a winder. It just feels safer rather than having to unscrew it and wind it. Just want to avoid putting too much stress on the gaskets. Accuracy is at +2 secs/day

jmagic

September 22nd, 2007, 20:07

my ball hydrocarbon chrono has been about 5 seconds fast a day and is about 2 weeks old

jhess

September 23rd, 2007, 00:34

I have nice collection of watches and also some copies of old BALL CLASS A and RAILROAD Time certificates that the U.S. governement used to issue. Dial down positions and dial up positions almost always differed. And I have some old watches from the 1940's and 1950's in my collection by Rolex and Hamitlon and many others I think that used to put a little pamphlet in their watches telling you how to regulate your watch.

Although ETA watches are a little more sophisticated (and they also say the watches are "Self regulating" after a few weeks of wearing), I think the same directions for regulating watches still works to a point.

Basically here it goes... (I found this wording on the net... it mirrors what those old pamphlets used to say:
"Depending on how fast or slow your watch is, you can regulate it as to the position you leave the watch at night when you're not wearing it!

Leave the watch dial (face) up causes it to gain (or run faster) up to a few seconds per day. On the other hand, by leaving the watch dial dial down can cause it to lose (or run slower) a few seconds per day.

As I said, it does not ALWAYS work but try it."

Time2watch

September 23rd, 2007, 04:28

I guessO must be lucky then, I set my Ionosphere 10 days ago and it has only lost 5 seconds! My WorldTimer had only gained 25 seconds in 2 months time. I also remember my Master II Diver being a +1 sec/day and my 2 Hydrocarbons were super accurate. Maybe it's because I wear them 24/7... or maybe they prefer Canadian air?... lol...

groundhog

September 23rd, 2007, 10:56

Since I've been learning the art of watch repair, I have become quite good at regulating all my watches. I have been able to get my non chrono ......(Balls) to within +or-3 seconds a day. I even tweeked my Rolex Sea Dweller when it wasn't running as good as it could. Omega Speedmaster the same thing. +1 second a day on that beauty. The trick, I find, is the automatics really need to be worn 24/7 to hit their potential. Like Jeff Hess stated in this thread that leaving your watch in a certain position at night will help self regulate it. I have found that if the watch is worn 24/7 then (if the watch is tuned properly) it will keep, sometimes better than C.O.S.C. rates. Most of the movements sent for C.O.S.C. certification are the same as what's in almost all our watches. Only difference is, they were sent to C.O.S.C. for certification whilst the others weren't. So by realizing this, I believe that any decent mechanical can be regulated to within +or- 3 seconds a day if worn regularly. I'm still quite an amature at this but I see potential for making almost any watch as good as any chrono out there.
Your thoughts??
Tim

scosgt

September 23rd, 2007, 18:42

Hey Jeff
My Silver Arabic Trainmaster Chronometer runs +2, then loses -2 overnight crown up - the exact opposite. I think it depends on how the watch is regulated.

jhess

September 23rd, 2007, 22:36

I thiknk you might be correct.

WatchFan1

September 24th, 2007, 02:10

http://www.mkmotorsport.com/001_regulating.jpg

I go by this with all my mechanical watches that need little daily adjustment.
Works like a charm. If you watch is off only within 1-5 sec per day, with
proper overnight positioning you can have it running 'dead on' constantly.
(I did this once for fun with my vintage 1974 Rolex GMT 1675 and had the
watch running 'dead-on' for 5 weeks straight !!