What position/time should the date advance?

[Afx]

On the dot at 12 would be perfect but how early/late is accepted by most? I just got a replacement Omega Dynamic and its 10mins early on date advance - how close is yours and easy to adjust?

Cheers,

Kev

[Fords]

There are some who anal-ise this but around 10 20 mins for me is fine, I have had some spot on but as I am mostly asleep at that time i don't bother.

I know my B1's spot on

[Afx]

lol - you know, I never even though about the real world aspect about being asleep :D maybe I need more...

[Thewatchbloke]

Five minutes either way is more than acceptable.

[andrewcregan]

I am particularly fussy when it comes to accurate timekeeping, but not too bothered about the date changing.
Obviously, in an ideal world it would change bang on midnight.

[Michael_Mcr]

I happen to have noticed that mine always flicks over somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes after midnight.

It's not super important to me though.

[mtagrant]

a couple of mine start the date change quite early, but don't complete until nearly midnight.
I will check again, but pretty sure my Sinn started around 23:20 the other day (it does have day and date though)

[744ER]

Not all datewheel teeth are perfectly uniform, so this can vary from day to day a bit. Within 3 mins is what I always aim for but 5+- perfectly acceptable (on a standard 2824 for instance). On a Rolex 3135 the date switch construction is much better and easier to get it almost bang on!

[NenoS]

My Glashutte advanced almost half an hour before midnight.
After service it clicks 1 min. before midnight.
The watchmaker said that it's piece of cake to regulate.
All the others are within +/- 5 min.

[Jammt79]

Depends if the watch has an instantaneous date change or not. If it does most manufacturers now go with +/- 2 mins. If it has slow date change then it can take between 1 and 2 hours. 7750 for example!

[100thmonkey]

Rolex Ceramic Sub - Bang on 12 as one expects

[Michael_Mcr]

Rolex Ceramic Sub - Bang on 12 as one expects

Mine doesn't. But it does click smartly over in a satisfying way, usually between 3 and 5 minutes past midnight.

I must admit I did set the alarm on my phone to be able to see this for a few days when I got the watch....

[100thmonkey]

Mine doesn't. But it does click smartly over in a satisfying way, usually between 3 and 5 minutes past midnight.

I must admit I did set the alarm on my phone to be able to see this for a few days when I got the watch....

We have all done it

[Thewatchbloke]

The best one I had was a 16600 SD, snapped over bang on midnight.

[boywithabubblegun]

I've only ever adjusted this on vintage watches but, as far as they are concerned, the date change will always happen when the hour and minute wheels (and the rest of the gear train) are in one particular place. In other words, I have always set the position of the hands to match the date change, rather than the other way round. With the hands removed, I wind the watch until the date just starts to move and then re-fit the hands, setting them to exactly midnight. This is entirely self-taught so may not be the "text book" way to do things but it has worked well for me so far. I imagine even newer mechanical movements could be set in the same way but I would be interested to hear how others do it?

[744ER]

I've only ever adjusted this on vintage watches but, as far as they are concerned, the date change will always happen when the hour and minute wheels (and the rest of the gear train) are in one particular place. In other words, I have always set the position of the hands to match the date change, rather than the other way round. With the hands removed, I wind the watch until the date just starts to move and then re-fit the hands, setting them to exactly midnight. This is entirely self-taught so may not be the "text book" way to do things but it has worked well for me so far. I imagine even newer mechanical movements could be set in the same way but I would be interested to hear how others do it?

On a hacking movement, just advance the time til the date starts to move a bit, turn crown really slowly until date switches, apply hands at 12 exactly, and jobs done.

Same on non-hacking really come to think of it.

[walkerwek1958]

On a hacking movement, just advance the time til the date starts to move a bit, turn crown really slowly until date switches, apply hands at 12 exactly, and jobs done.

Same on non-hacking really come to think of it.

+1........but it can take a few goes and a fair amount of time to get them bang-on right! I think it's worth spending time getting the hands synchronised as well as possible because it's something the owner sees.

As for date changes, a guy who worked for TAG told me that +/- 5 mins was their target when servicing watches; that's for a watch where the change 'snaps' over in a sharp jump. I have an Omega that's never been opened from new and that's around 10 mins out.

Some date changes go gradually over 2-3 hrs. I set the up so that the date is completely changed before 01:00, and starts around 10:00. Most people won`t be too fussy about this.

Had one guy complaining about his quartz watch taking 4 hrs to change the date fully. I explained that quartz watches have to do this because there's very little energy available to drive the date change mechanism and that's how they're designed to work.

Personally, I can`t get too worried if the date change is 10-15 mins out but I`d never send a watch back to someone like this.

Paul

[Michael_Mcr]

I started checking mine again as a result of this thread and, when new, the date regularly changed at somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes after midnight.

6 months on, it now regularly changes at 1minute 30sec after midnight.

Maybe the watch is loosening up and settling in a little ?