Orient Mako speeding up around 1 minute per day

[eblis]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and watches in general but I've recently bought an Orient Mako (blue dial) watch and I have a few questions about it.
I've had this watch for about a month now and it has worked great up until around a week ago, when I noticed that the watch started to speed up around 1 minute per day. Before I didn't notice any speeding up, but I wasn't really paying attention to it either. I've kept an eye on the time in the first few days I bought it as I've read that it takes a bit of time for the watch to get to its optimal performance but I didn't notice any differences in the time so I thought it's working great from the start :)

I'm not sure if this is related or not but I've also noticed that the screw-down crown doesn't 'align' with the edges when it's fully screwed. I can screw in the crown 2 revolutions and a bit - the Orient logo is tilted a bit if I try to fully screw in the crown - the logo is not exactly horizontal when the crown is fully screwed.

The first two weeks I got the watch - around the same interval the watched kept time brilliantly - I kept the crown fully screwed and I noticed that the day did not align properly at the start of the day, it was like something was preventing the day to align in the middle (it was a bit closer to the top of the date display) - if I unscrewed the crown just a bit the day would pop into place and then I could screw the crown back. But last week I decided to unscrew the crown a bit so the Orient logo is perfectly horizontal, which also allows the day to align correctly in the morning but since then I've noticed the watch begin to speed up around 1 minute per day.

Is the crown supposed to be tilted when fully screwed in ? Or should it be horizontal ? I saw some pictures online with the crown and it was also tilted, that made me think that maybe it's supposed to be tilted when fully screwed ? But it seems rather weird to have the logo tilted, when you could align it so it's perfectly horizontal when fully screwed in - I'm guessing it's easy for them to do it since this is a precision instrument :)
Is the 1 minute per day speed up expected in the first few months of operation ? Should I wait for the watch to begin 'working' better ?

[ry079]

In my opinion, 1 minute per day is too large of a variance for the movement to settle down. Something must be wrong with the movement. If its still under warranty, send it in for repair. If not find a local watch repair shop.

[Econoline]

I've had this watch for about a month now and it has worked great up until around a week ago, when I noticed that the watch started to speed up around 1 minute per day.

I had an issue with a new Seiko 5 running really fast and I was directed to this tip. It immediately corrected my Seiko, but not sure if it's applicable to the Mako. Might be worth a try before you return it for service. New Seiko 5 Running WAY Too Fast

I'm not sure if this is related or not but I've also noticed that the screw-down crown doesn't 'align' with the edges when it's fully screwed. I can screw in the crown 2 revolutions and a bit - the Orient logo is tilted a bit if I try to fully screw in the crown - the logo is not exactly horizontal when the crown is fully screwed.

Looking at my Mako, the Orient logo on the crown does not align perfectly with the case when fully screwed down. Looks to be off by 10° ccw. Don't worry about it.

[eblis]

I've fully screwed down the crown (so the Logo doesn't align horizontally) and in the last 2 days the watch hasn't sped up a bit.
I wasn't very active in this period though, just a bit of driving and walking about. Also, when the watch was speeding up I was at work, near computers, so maybe it was affected by magnetism ? But if it was affected by magnetism should it still be affected by it until I demagnetize it ?

I think it's too early to tell but the speed up may be generated by:

• Having the crown "loose", not fully screwed down
• Being real active with the watch on - I've read some threads here that some Makos really sped up if worn and kept perfect time if kept still. I did play a bit of table tennis with the watch on :) (although I wear the watch on my right hand, as I'm a lefty)
• Affected by the conditions at my work place, computers, electricity, magnetism.

I'll keep digging, see if I can find the culprit. Thanks.

[eblis]

I've tried to determine if the watch has been magnetized and with the 12 o'clock pointing down, perpendicular to the compass I was able to move the needle about 120 degrees in either direction, E or W, the needle was pointing a but further south than either E or W. Would that mean that the watch is magnetized ? How much can the needle move and still be attributed to the metal in the watch ? Bear in mind that I've used a really sensitive, air filled compass - it takes a couple of minutes for it to settle down when I get it to point N.

The watch has started speeding up again but now I'll try to keep a table to see exactly how many seconds it's gaining - rougly the watch has gained 5 minutes since my last post on Sunday.

[BeansBaxter]

Almost certainly a stuck hairspring. I had the same problem with my Mako. Follow the directions in the link for the Seiko 5. Also check out this page to see some pictures and a description.

[eblis]

I haven't been able to tell under which circumstances the watch speeds up so I've started keeping track of the time difference and I have some results. Each measurement of time creep was taken from the previous measurement, so any increase is added to any previous value.

Time between measurements (HH:MM:SS)	Orient Mako time creep (HH:MM:SS)	Notes
01:07:22	+00:00:01	Driving, arrived at work, walking, minor movements of the hand
00:55:49	+00:00:12	At computer, with watch horizontal on mouse hand, small movements of the hand
00:51:05	+00:00:14	Same as above
00:50:55	+00:00:01	I'm not sure what happened here, I was still at my computer for a while but I've also moved around a bit
00:25:58	+00:00:05	I took this measurement before and after playing some table tennis with the watch on my off hand. In the 25 minutes playing table tennis the watch sped up by 5 seconds.
01:41:01	-00:00:01	Watch laying on table, horizontal, glass facing up. If I don't wear the watch is stays quite accurate.
01:40:59	00:00:00	Same as above.

I'll continue measuring the performance in some other places where there are no computers around, to see if the computers have any effect or not and I'll try to update this post if anyone is interested in my findings.
I'm not sure about my findings but from what I can tell the watch speeds up quite a bit when I wear it and speeds up faster the longer or more vigorous I move it. But the watch also sped up around 30 seconds while sitting at the computer and moving the mouse around, with the watch horizontal I did move the watch during that time, but they are minor movements - this seems very strange to me.

Could the stuck hairspring explain everything about this issue ? Should I try to bang the watch on the 9 o'clock a few times and see if that helps ?

[eblis]

I've done another test, I just moved the watch from right to left, left to right, just enough to hear the mechanism moving inside.

Time for measurement (HH:MM:SS)	Orient Mako time creep (HH:MM:SS)	Notes
00:21:38	+00:01:35	I kept the watch horizontal and I just moved it from right to left, left to right, just enough to hear the mechanism inside move

So it looks as thought the time creep happens when the mechanism moves around, what could that trigger it and what can I do to fix it ? :(

[conjurer]

Ry079 is, I think, correct. One minute fast per day is certainly too fast, and there's probably nothing you can do, short of sending it in for service or taking it to a jeweler, to fix it. I've owned two Makos, the original and the XL, and both ran about +7-8 seconds a day.

[eblis]

It actually gained 1:35 minutes in only 21 minutes of gently moving the watch from side to side just enough to hear the mechanism moving.
I live in EU but I bought the watch from USA (was half price ) and it would probably cost more for me to send it back to service - I can probably send it to a jeweler to try and fix it though.

Is there a tell-tale sign of the problem if you know the mechanism speeds up insanely only while being moved, but keeps excellent time if kept still on the table ? Like some loose piece, magnetism ?