Colleagues datejust running slow.

[Umbongo]

The title pretty much sums it up - a guy who I work with approached me today, knowing I like my watches. Unfortunately I am no watchmaker and would never BS him to the effect that I in any way am, so I could only honestly tell him to take it to one.

Apparently since he reset his datejust when the clocks went back it has been losing time - to the tune of 12 minutes so far!

The watch is a couple of years old and so still under warranty, so no drama there really, but im just interested to know what the wisdom of our collective think its likely to be and if it has anything to do with him resetting the time.

[RobDad]

I worked with a girl who wore a yacht master, a full gold sub and a steel Daytona in rotation ( she was about 20, rich daddy!) we got talking watches one day and she mentioned they always ran slow and she was fed up taking them back to Rolex. Turned out she had no idea you could hand wind them, just picked one up, set the time and expected it to start straight away from stopped! - she was really grateful and I remember her laughing at how she’d have to apologise to her dad! - silly question but does he wear it often, or is it simply underwound?
As an aside she was a dream girl, clever, funny and really pretty in an effortless way. And loved watches. I never made a pass as she was engaged to a bright young surgeon who was also very handsome and one of the nicest people you could hope to meet!

[prexelor]

I would wind fully and reset time. I have previously reset the time and notice watch has lost 5 minutes. On these occasions, I have just set the wrong time.

It may be worthwhile asking if the time was changed during the time the date changeover had started taking place. Could this have upset the watch.

Someone who knows will chime in soon hopefully.

[walkerwek1958]

My gut feeling tells me there’s nothing wrong with the watch. Assuming the watch was running OK prior to him resetting the time when the clocks went back, I see no reason for the watch to change its behaviour, I don’t believe in coincidence. OK, coincidence does happen but its rare.

Here’s my advice: reset the watch in the morning using a reliable source, hand- wind it approx 50 twists of the crown, wear it for the full day ( approx 16 hrs unless he goes to bed early), note the time difference vs the reliable source, write it down. Storage watch dial- up overnight then compare it against the reliable source. Assuming the owner is reasonably numerate he should be able to work out the rate the watch us running at in both situations ( on the wrist and dial up). If he repeats the exercise for a few days he’ll have a good set of data and it’ll be obvious if the watch has a problem.

If he isn’t very active the watch could be running in a low state of wind, that’s why he needs to start off with it fully wound. Some folks aren’t active enough to enable a watch to reach full wind unless they hand- wind it fully, they may be active enough to just keep it running but if its running with very low amplitude all bets are off regarding accuracy.......even for a Rolex.

[MrGrumpy]

Just tell him its a fake and offer to take it off his hands!!!

Sorry, I obviously need to take a couple more of my pills...

[Aimforthebushes]

Just wind a dozen times or so and get him to time against his pc clock or time it for him maybe over a work day? Anything out of spec should be pretty obvious after a while

[walkerwek1958]

Just wind a dozen times or so and get him to time against his pc clock or time it for him maybe over a work day? Anything out of spec should be pretty obvious after a while

No, not a pc clock. A time website is a better choice.

Winding a dozen times isn’t enough to fully wind the watch, and if the wearer isn’t very active he needs it to be fully wound. My advice is based on tried and tested experience, I’ve checked/ regulated lots of watches after servicing them and I know my procedure works, i produces reliable data.

I never trust a pc time readout, I use a quartz analogue watch that runs at +1 sec/ week or I use a time website.