I recently bought a mechanical (automatic) watch on ebay -- a Seiko "black monster" diver's watch. I have always worn quartz watches and this is the first merchanical watch I've owned. I bought the watch mostly because the lume on the watch looks awesome and I need a diver's watch as I plan to start doing some diving this summer. Initially the watch seemed to be pretty accurate (within a few seconds difference a day) but after a couple of weeks it suddenly started to run over a minute faster a day and it has been doing that for a week now. I don't have much experience with merchanical watches so I need some help here. Is this behavior something that just happens with merchanical watches and it will go back to be normal, or is there something wrong with the watch? Since I bought this watch on ebay there is no warantee. If there's something wrong with the watch is there something I can do myself to make it run slower or do I need to take it to a watch maker? Thanks for your inputs.
One minute per day a high but not very high for a Seiko automatic. You should just keep an eye on it for a while. It can easily be adjusted by a pro but you will want to make sure first because it won't be free. Not expensive but why waste the 20-30 bucks?
If you know it's going to be "running fast" ahead of time, why not set it for a few minutes "AHEAD" every week and think you'll be late but in reality ON TIME for most of your appointments? BTW, are you really going to go by the watch, or by your phone's time like most people nowadays?
I always look at my watch since I got a smartphone a few years ago. to hard to crank that sucker up just to check the time.
Thanks for the inputs. I guess I'm just used to quartz watches that are no more than a few seconds off per month. I just find it weird that this watch ran pretty accurate for a couple of weeks then suddenly started doing this. Guess there is a reason why fewer and fewer people wear a watch these days. I actually do look at my watch to tell time. I'm old fashioned I guess.
If it continues to be 1 minute per day I would get it fixed. An adjustment can have it very very accurate. I have a Seiko "Knight" but i hardly ever wear it. Not really my style.
automatic is a "mechanical" that automatically winds itself from movement. Quartz is electronic that uses some source of electric power.
Reading some of the reviews on Amazon.com for that watch (assuming I'm looking at the same watch), there are other people complaining about the watch's accuracy. The other thing is, are you sure it's a real Seiko? There are tons of fakes online, although they're usually of more expensive watches.
I don't even correct my Panerai automatic when I wear it. Used to looking at my phone, I have a casio g-shock atomic watch if I wanted accurate time; solar powered too.
Most good watches last a long time. Seikos are good watches. I have a Seiko that I bought back around 1998 that works fine. I've had to replace the battery a couple of times. My dad has a Seiko he bought back in the 70's or 80's that's still running. Hell, my mom still has a wind-up Timex from the mid 70's that still works. I want a Citizen EcoDrive or Seiko Kinetic watch for my next watch, but can't justify getting one when this one is still working. Bummer.
It's the worst thing to start getting interested in watches. Ideally you only need maybe a dress watch and a casual watch, but then you want a sports/diving watch, you get interested in the different types of automatics (like sunlight/motion driven). Then you see the more unique ones like skeletons and moonphases and you think that'd be pretty cool to wear around.
I did a bit of research online and found this interesting page on how to regulate the Seiko movement to make it run slower (or faster): http://users.tpg.com.au/wookie99/regulatingwatches.html I don't think I'll try it though. Seems to me the whole point of a diving watch is the 200 meter water resistant case. I can never reseal the case to its original state myself (I assume you need some machine to do that). I'm pretty sure it's a real Seiko...the lume lasts forever (I assume the fake watches don't have great lumes like that). I'll just wait a few days to see if it runs slower. Otherwise I might take it to a pro.
Just would like to give an update on this in case someone else has the same problem. I took the watch to a local watch repair shop and it turned out that the watch was magnetized. According to the watchmaker a magnetized watch can run very fast (as much as an hour a day faster). He initially measured the watch running 65 seconds a day faster on a machine. After putting the watch through a demagnetizer (a giant electro-magnet as far as I can tell), he measured it to be +5 seconds a day. The whole process took less than five minutes. It has been 3 days since the demagnetization and the watch has kept good acurracy (within +5 seconds a day) and I'm happy with it. So here's the lesson learned: keep your mechanical watch away from magnetic fields -- CRT monitors, speakers, cell phones, quartz watch, etc.
I think your watch is messed up because the earth is spinning faster after the big quake in Chile. Each day is now 1.6 microseconds shorter, so it makes your watch look fast.
