Hello, a textbook first world problem here for consideration...
My Explorer 2 (16570) is a late model with the 3186 movement.
When I first bought the watch, must be 14 years ago now, I noticed with some satisfaction the date snapped onward exactly at 00:00:00. Very impressive.
It seems to snap forward probably closer to 00:00:30 these days.
I had the watched serviced, maybe 6 years ago but I cant remember if the 00:00:00 'snap' was impacted then.
Would the drift in 'snap time' be expected from wear and tear over the years or is something not right ?
Would this be a difficult issue to fix / would it be corrected in a standard overhaul ?
Thanks
I'm not a watch-maker so can't give you the technical answer, but I can tell you that having handled many Rolexes the date-change even on a new watch rarely falls exactly at midnight.
I believe that to save the movement from a sudden power requirement, the complication is finally activated after pressure has gradually built up over some preceding amount of time. Perhaps this explains why the moment when it is finally "tripped" can vary slightly.
H
Wouldn't worry, mine seem to average about 12.05/6 ish so you were doing well to get one that went over at proper midnight minute let alone to the second!
My most accurate Rolex is a 1980 Explorer11 ref 1655. It gains about 15 secs a week and the date always changes at 12.02/3.Originally Posted by verv
This is now my daily beater replacing the Explorer1. I just like the fact that no one would ever notice it's a Rolex but I could be deluding myself.
Another watch owner worrying about nothing!
If the watch originally changed date at exactly midnight you were very lucky, I don`t know what Rolex aim for with their watches but I was taught that between 12 and 12-05 is fine and I think most folks would be happy with that.
An instantaneous date change is always harder to set up. Basically, the hour hand has to be put on at exactly the right point and it can take a few goes, you get no warning when it's close and it can takes a bit of adjusting to get right (anyone who's ever fitted watch hands will agree). Next job is to fit the minute hand and that MUST be synchronised exactly with the hr hand to get the best agreement at 12 and at 6, if there are errors in the dial or it's fractionally off-centre the best compromise has to be reached, this is more important than fitting the minute hand to change the date exactly at 12 in my opinion, I can`t stand seeing hands that aren't quite synchronised but on very worn old watches and cheaper watches with dial errors it's inevitable.
Having fitted the hands it's wise to double check the date change and ensure it's close to 12, ideally between 12 and a couple of minutes past.
In the OPs case, the watch is unlikely to have changed date at exactly 12 after service, it would be too much of a coincidence. I don`t believe significant wear can take place to affect the time of date change with this design so I`d expect the watch to be changing exactly as it did when serviced.
Day Date watches can be a bit of a nightmare to get the day and date to change together, on some designs it's nigh-on impossible and there will always be several minutes between. Best I`ve had recently is the ETA 2836 which is an excellent design, the day and date change are always in synch and it features instantaneous change, there's no way it varies. The one I just assembled changed at around 12.01 and looked quite cool as it snapped over.
Hope this clarifies a few points, anyone who moans about a watch not changing the date at bang on 12 needs to try fitting a set of watch hands themselves!
I wouldn't say I'm worried about this. I'm moreso curious really. I guess I was very "lucky" to have the date advance on the split second of midnight. I assumed it was the norm.
For Rolex and any watch that has an instantaneous date change the watchmaker should aim for it to happen within one minute either side of midnight. For others such as Seiko where it changes gradually over a few hours then then eventually snaps over you want it to happen within five minutes from midnight, although within two to three minutes either side of midnight is easily achievable when fitting the hands.
If your watch was changing over at exactly midnight then it's more down to the luck rather than the skill of the person who fitted the hands, but if the watch hasn't been serviced in six years then it's not unreasonable to expect the changeover time to drift slightly.
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