Did Spring Drive accuracy 'ruin' standard mechanical watches for you?

13155 Views 101 Replies 47 Participants Last post by Angler, Feb 11, 2020

canonken

Discussion Starter · Jul 7, 2019

I'm sitting here 36 hours after setting it (my new Snowflake) and cannot see any drift, which is expected. Further, knowing the watch is insensitive to position, temperature, the tide being in or out, etc. means there is no 'luck' to just happening to keep it in the right position overnight or at the right level of wind (other than dead!). In a week, a month from now, I should start to understand what I have. I know it is rated at +/-15 seconds/month and interested to see how mine fits into that.

I ask this question partly seriously, partly in jest, but still curious as to your take. Does using a Spring Drive, which you might need to set monthly, ruin regular mechanical watches in terms of their accuracy and potential fussiness (for example, having different deviations depending on the state of wind, what position they are left in, etc.)?

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whineboy

· #9 · Jul 8, 2019

Covenant said:
The more time I spend in this hobby, the less enchanted I am with purely mechanical watches in general. I think the main sticking point I have is that I, perhaps irrationally, equate accuracy with quality.

The persuit of accuracy is what makes horology interesting to me. Advancements like the tourbillion that attempt to negate positional errors, or constant force escapements that improve isochronism, or inventions like the Daniel's coaxial escapement that reduce friction. I find the "arms race" if autonomous accuracy appealing from an engineering perspective.

So spring drive is inherently seductive for offering quartz timekeeping performance without losing the romance of mechanical. But truth be told, what is "ruining" mechanical watches for me is high accuracy quartz. Once one gets over the subconscious bias against the 1-second tick, the sheer coolness of pushing the envelope of accuracy to the limit sets in. A second hand that meets all the markers dead on without any wobble is as good a look as a sweeping hand, IMO (although not as impressive as SD's glide).

No disagreements, Covenant. Does this mean a Citizen with the 0100 movement is in your future?

Personally, while I appreciate (and value) accuracy, I find obsessing on it too much can, for me, detract from the enjoyment of my watches. I wear each of my watches for 5-7 days straight, so as BrianBinFL noted in post 4, I can live with their inaccuracies (my least accurate watch is a Stowa Antea B2B, +14 a day, my most accurate, my Credor handwinding Spring Drive, +0.3 a day). But there is definitely something satisfying when I wear a watch for a week and find a total deviation of under 10 seconds (my Damasko DA46 with an elabore 2836-2 movement is +6 after 9 days |>).

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whineboy

· #45 · Oct 12, 2019

Sparrowhawk said:
This is not what you stated in your previous post.

Save your breath, Sparrowhawk, you aren't going to convince rambo99.

I used to be skeptical about Spring Drive, but now I own and enjoy one. As Timeless Luxury Watches once noted in a detailed explanation of Spring Drive, it uses the best of both worlds - the accuracy of an electronically-regulated watch and the long-term durability of a mechanical watch.

Oh - and for me, Spring Drive's accuracy didn't ruin the timekeeping of mechanicals, but the smooth sweeping hand of Spring Drive did ruin the jerky motion of even high-beat movements.

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whineboy

· #97 · Feb 9, 2020

Angler said:
I had been drooling for a Spring drive but this forum site informed me of the need to ship the watch back to Japan for any service. That is unacceptable.

If you are in the US, this hasn't been true for 2+ years. Check the sticky in this subforum on servicing GSs.

Whether the work done by Seiko NJ is at the level of Japan is still being debated. Some have had good experiences, others, bad.

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