Cheapest Timegrapher anywhere!

[hub6152]

Beat errors are one indication. Perfect is 0.0ms but anything around 0.1-0.4ms is acceptable and beat rate will vary slightly anyway in each of the 6 positions, simply because of gravity and friction etc. But these devices won't show wear on the pallet stones or impulse stone. Amplitude measures the strength of the rotations of the balance wheel, but too high a reading, such as 320, can also indicate problems. Ideally anything from around 260-300 is the ideal, the higher end of that being better. But wide variations in different positions could indicate too much end float in the balance staff (which might mean the staff pivots are worn or the cap jewel is worn) and or the hairspring contacting the balance bridge or centre wheel. The time +- per day will also change as the watch moves in different positions. So while it's easy to set it to 0+- dial up that's not necessarily going to mean an accurate watch since most of the time the watch will be in the crown down or 12 down position, so a properly regulated watch is adjusted in different positions to compensate for these variations.

Also if the watch isn't fully wound it will possibly show a lower amplitude reading so better to wind it properly first.

 

[umaxim]

Thanks, mate! very informative... Do u mean 0.1 - 0.4 ms or to 4 ms? I had one of my watched 0.8 ms and was wondering if need service. Thanks!

Beat errors are one indication. Perfect is 0.0ms but anything around 0.1-4ms is acceptable and beat rate will vary slightly anyway in each of the 6 positions, simply because of gravity and friction etc. But these devices won't show wear on the pallet stones or impulse stone. Amplitude measures the strength of the rotations of the balance wheel, but too high a reading, such as 320, can also indicate problems. Ideally anything from around 260-300 is the ideal, the higher end of that being better. But wide variations in different positions could indicate too much end float in the balance staff (which might mean the staff pivots are worn or the cap jewel is worn) and or the hairspring contacting the balance bridge or centre wheel. The time +- per day will also change as the watch moves in different positions. So while it's easy to set it to 0+- dial up that's not necessarily going to mean an accurate watch since most of the time the watch will be in the crown down or 12 down position, so a properly regulated watch is adjusted in different positions to compensate for these variations.

Also if the watch isn't fully wound it will possibly show a lower amplitude reading so better to wind it properly first.

 

[hub6152]

Sorry, my bad - I've edited my post. 0.0 - 0.4 would be ideal, but 0.8 is ok and doesn't indicate an actual fault other than a tweak. More than that might indicate a fault if adjustment didn't improve it. The stud lever can be tweaked to reduce that number (that's the lever that the end of the hairspring stud attaches to, not the lever that's used to adjust the rate). If your'e doing it yourself you only need the tiniest, almost imperceptible, movement to change the readings!

 

[chris3007]

Be careful with the stud lever!


Sent from my iPhone 6

 

[aflop]

Whilst this has little to do with the section it's in, this has to be one of the most informative threads in awhile!

Great job guys!

I've been on the fence on whether to invest in a timegrapher or app because I may not comprehend what it means and what we can do about it!

 

[hub6152]

Thanks for that aflop. It looked as if I was being shot down a bit initially, not helped by my thread title. I posted it here because my only interest now is AP's. The iPad app does look to be extremely good value for money, as I said earlier I had been using Kello which is pretty limited so had been thinking about a proper timegrapher for a very long time, but didn't know Kello had been usurped so to speak!!

My only (very minor) reservation about the iOS app is how accurate it is. It obviously uses a software "clock" rather than a quartz crystal to obtain it's base measurement and I gather there's a droid app where this was a bit of an issue. The WeiShi N1000 is factory calibrated to 18,000mhz and apparently it takes a lot of use for that to drift significantly (I mean daily use over a couple of years such as a pro watchmaker might do) so I'm confident that my bargain price machine will serve me well for a long time. It seems that any TV repair shop can recalibrate them so they don't need to be returned to the factory. Crucially the positional microphone is an advantage for more comprehensive regulation but I'm certain that those that just want to quickly adjust can do a perfectly good job with the iOS app. .

So, it should be clear that both these devices do exactly the same thing in regards to regulating in the dial up position. A little more tricky for the app if wanting to use different positions. But neither can reproduce the sound of the escapement as a proper diagnostic tool like a more expensive machine can, so they're both limited in that regard.

All things considered I still don't regret buying the purpose machine despite the price difference, but this new app is a giant leap up from Kello for sure!!