That doesn't surprise me given the nature of the SD - what's the movement calibre in it?
It's my favourite movement: mesmerising to watch, silent and incredibly accurate.
Had this watch a few weeks now, it’s a limited edition of 400, already made a few waves on YouTube, and hopefully for me well at least not lose too much eventually.
I’ve taken it off the bracelet, partly to preserve that in mint condition, and partly because it actually looks stunning to me on this strap.
But the most amazing thing to see is the incredible accuracy and also build quality, I’ve had Grand Seiko.. and this is up there with the build.
The movement has a mesmerising effect on me, so much so that I may offload the bulk of my automatics in order to possibly purchase a diver.
Is this level of accuracy normal for these watches?
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That doesn't surprise me given the nature of the SD - what's the movement calibre in it?
It's my favourite movement: mesmerising to watch, silent and incredibly accurate.
Last edited by hughtrimble; 14th January 2021 at 14:37.
I'd expect nothing less for a quartz watch.
Cheers,
Neil.
Yes. Seiko make their own crystals and the best (pre-aged and more stable) are put in the spring drives. It doesn't matter if Seiko or Grand Seiko. The spring drive have their own niche in terms of movement. Spring drives deliver less than 10secs per year but Seiko will never claim that.
THIN is the new BLACK
Jan 6th seems to be a strange anomaly, which I would have expected.
Every spring drive I’ve owned had fantastic accuracy, and around 1-3 seconds a month.
It's just a matter of time...
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January the 6th was me taking the photo incorrectly!! I didnt line up the markers.. but it hasnt messed too much with the stats
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What app are you using to time it, out of interest?
Its called Twixt on the app store on IOS
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I’ve had three spring drives, two GS and one Seiko. The first two I had (an MM600 and a GS Diver) were amazingly accurate. I honestly couldn’t tell after a month or so whether they were gaining or losing. My most recent one (GS Snowflake) gains a couple of seconds a week.
I’m not convinced on the quartz being more important than the compensation. Their newer GS spring drive also incorporates Thermo compensation. The thermo compensated movements have much better stated accuracy than Seiko’s deemed standard. Whilst I’ve never had a spring drive anywhere near the outside of their specs of 15 secs a month, or 6 seconds for their top of the range.
It's just a matter of time...
I think this comes down to how we label regulation types. A battery/solar powered watch is usually referred to as being 'quartz' as that's what regulates them however we don't say 'escapement' or 'mechanical' when referring to non-battery/solar watches. They're referred to as being automatics or hand winds, therefore people can be forgiven for referring to Spring Drives as 'automatics' as they have rotors and they store their power mechanically.
Kinetics also have rotors, but they are not classed as automatics. Seiko had tried for years to ""hide"" the quartz element of spring drive... as people wouldn't pay the asking money for quartz. Anything with quartz in it... is quartz. Try taking the quartz reference out of it and see how far it goes.
THIN is the new BLACK
The Sbdb001 MM600 I had, one of my favourite Seiko’s was about +/- 1.5 seconds a month.
That's about right for accuracy, in my experience.
The way I see it is, a manufacturer has combined the best of both worlds, the movement was incredibly difficult to design and manufacture with consistency. It isn’t a pure quartz, as the great train and escapement does not move back and forth, or step at all, it is a continuous movement regulated by a electro magnetic brake, this in itself sets it apart from every other movement in modern day watchmaking. No other manufacturer has anything even remotely similar, that can’t be said in reality for any other movement.. quartz is the regulator , personally I think it’s an incredible piece of engineering..
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A while back there was a WuS thread discussing Spring Drive accuracy referencing a YouTube video that seemed to indicate that Seiko regulate their SDs to +0.2spd. Even wearing mine far less than the 12h per day recommended to obtain the stated accuracy of HAQ models, it runs at about +4spm. Judging from owners' reported experience, if worn regularly, SDs seem to run at levels close to HAQ, bearing no relation whatsoever to Seiko's stated accuracy of +/-15spm.
It'll be interesting to see whether the new thermoregulated movements manage to close the gap to true HAQ even further.
Is there any doubt that the quartz part of the ‘hybrid’ mechanism is what is driving the accuracy? I quite like the SD technology and think it is a great advance but certainly like to maintain the perspective when discussing accuracy.
Cheers,
Neil.
Better accuracy thank any(?) traditional mechanical watch with no need for a battery.
Odd for it to be considered as anything other than a step forward just because it uses a crystal.
Spring drive are way too expensive to be useful in any way. The only one I have ever seen used was the Spacewalk that was carried by some rich bloke on his round trip to the International Space Station. If Seiko kept them cheap they could have revolutionised the quartz market. As it is... meh. The hi-beats are better investments.
THIN is the new BLACK