Hi all, I've just returned from holiday in Italy where I bought a very nice TAG Heuer Carrera ladies' watch as a gift for my daughter. The watch's movement is the Calibre 9, based on the Sellita SW200. Out of curiosity I put it on my timegrapher this morning to find it runs 22-25 s/day fast in most positions, 1 s/d fast in crown up and 5 s/d in crown right. Beat error ranges between 0.1 and 0.4, and the amplitude looks fine. These results compare badly with all of my newer watches (mostly ETA-based or Rolex) including a very cheap timex mechanical. In fact these results are not far off what I'm getting from a 1960s Avia (serviced a couple of years ago). Am I expecting too much, or do you think I should take it to a UK dealer for regulation/service? If I choose to do that, does anybody know what sort of wait time I can expect at the moment? I should mention the watch is new with the international warranty card. Thanks in advance!
Maybe give it a week or so of wear to see how it bed's in, watches definitely run better on the wrist and if it is running not to you're satisfaction send it to tag under warranty.
As for timescale, if it's like most these day's it could be upto 4 month's, you may be lucky if takes less than a month or 2.
Sent from a technical device.
I bought a brand new TAG with that movement from Goldsmiths a couple of years ago and returned it due to similar performance.
Is the watch fully wound? 30 twists of the crown are required.
What’s the amplitude, is it where it ought to be?
What’s the positional agreement look like?
Useful advice everyone - The watch is indeed fully wound. I thought perhaps I could have given it a few more turns yesterday, so did some more winding and timegraphed this morning with similar results. Yesterday's numbers:Originally Posted by walkerwek1958
Date Timegraphed 17-Aug-23
Dial Up s/d 25
Beat Error 0.3
Amplitude 284
Crown Down s/d 22
Beat Error 0.4
Amplitude 264
Crown Right s/d 5
Beat Error 0.3
Amplitude 266
Dial Down s/d 24
Beat Error 0.1
Amplitude 295
Crown Up s/d 1
Beat Error 0.1
Amplitude 260
Crown Left s/d 22
Beat Error 0.1
Amplitude 272
X (Average s/d 6 in all posns) 16.5
D (Max variation) 24
From the above, I was most struck by the beat error in the first three positions and by the significant positional variance. I haven't done an 'on the wrist' check - this will need to wait until after her birthday. I suppose what I'd be keen to understand is (assuming the performance doesn't improve), are these within normal TAG non-COSC specs? What I wouldn't want to do would be to send the watch away for potentially a number of months for TAG to return it in the same condition. I wouldn't mind taking it to a dealership if they could do it on site in a few weeks, but not sure of the chances of that... Thanks once again for your advice!
The positional variation should be much lower than 20 degrees, I’d expect 15 at tge absolute maximum. Amplitude looks OK at 284. Not sure what I’d do with this, the figures don’t look good and for a new watch they should. Have a talk to the AD who sold it.
Okay, daft suggestion time…
Have you checked to see if it’s magnetised ?
Magnetism would affect all positions and also reduce the amplitude. Worth demagnetising but I don’t think that’s the issue, I think it more likely that the balance has a problem, possibly the hairspring has been disturbed and is out of true. Also possible that the balance is out of poise but with modern manufacturing that shouldn’t happen to this extent. The 20 second disparity between opposite hanging positions is definitely a sign that the balance isn’t all it should be.
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 18th August 2023 at 13:28.
Thank you all - I’ll ask her to keep track of how it’s performing and take it from there. Some useful points for me to discuss with the AD if I need to
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Sorry, can’t understand your logic on this. The timegrapher evidence clearly shows that the watch has a problem, the data makes sense to me, and armed with this data I think you should contact the AD and get the watch fixed under warranty. I would write a covering letter with your data tabulated to make it easier to assimilate, ensure this info gets to the service dept.
Unlike grazed knees, watches don’t heal up and fix themselves. For a new Sellita movement these figures are v. poor and the watch clearly has a fault with the balance.
I was thinking a few days on the wrist to see how it performed, but I think you’re absolutely right. Thanks for the advice
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By way of an update, I took the watch into a Tag boutique and they have accepted it for warranty repair after doing some quick tests on their own machine which confirmed my results. Have been given a turnaround time of 4-6 weeks so fingers crossed!I was thinking a few days on the wrist to see how it performed, but I think you’re absolutely right. Thanks for the advice
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