Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wristwatch Timekeeping Accuracy?

How accurate is accurate?

The watch I'm wearing seems to keep pretty good time, but it's not perfect.

And can we all agree that internet derived time is functionally perfect? I don't know of any practical authority who considers internet (cell phone) time to be less than accurate.

I was re-reading the "Watch and Pocket Knife" thread on Friday, 27 May. I took my watch off and stopped it on the minute mark. I then watched my cell phone and did my best to sync time with it by closing the stem as the minute mark on my phone changed. I was close enough for any real purpose, in that my watch hit the minute mark approximately a half second behind the cell phone after the attempted sync.

Skip forward 9 days and there's another watch thread going. I checked my watch against the phone again, and danged if it isn't as close to exactly on as I can determine by simple observation.
Seems the watch has picked up a half second or so in the course of those 9 days.

A half second variance in 9 days looks pretty good to me, but how accurate can a wrist watch be?
What is the most accurate type of wrist watch, and what would you pay for that type of accuracy?

FWIW, the watch I'm wearing is a Bertucci classic titanium. About as reasonably priced as it gets...

The only instance of I remember of my cheap Timex quartz watches losing accuracy was when the batteries died.

I'm not really worried about the accuracy anymore. Within a few minutes is close enough for me... Get somewhere on time and you still have to wait.

I worry more about how long the battery is going to last. My Wife gave me a Rolex and I really enjoyed that watch until some creep stole it. I used a Citizens Ecodrive divers watch for years until my sons gave me a Tag Heuer a few years ago. I'm waiting for the battery to die. I don't know how long to expect it to last...

iwatch keeps perfect time like your phone.

If one wants the absolute best consult your GPS unit.

Quartz watches are inherently more accurate that mechanical or automatic watches like a Rolex. Plus or minus a couple of seconds a day for a mechanical watch is super accurate as compared to a quartz watch that would be plus or minus a couple of seconds a month in many cases. An amazing feat of engineering is a Grand Seiko spring drive. It is a combination of mechanical and quartz.

Probably the most accurate watches are the quartz atomic watches that read the radio signal each day. They are plus or minus a second every hundred thousand years.

My GShock connects and synchs itself to the Atomic Clock in Colorado. There isn't a watch that keeps more accurate time at any price.

+/- 5 seconds per year from a quartz wristwatch:

https://www.watchtime.com/featured/...tizen-chronomaster-omega-grand-seiko-9f/

I remember being puzzled, as a younger guy, to learn that watches like the Rolex aren't all that accurate, compared to other types. I remember hearing about how reliable and robust they were. So what if you need to re-set it every couple of days?

And to hijack the thread, can anyone explain all of the little extra dials on some of the divers and aviators watches?

The bezel on a diver’s watch is to indicate the length of your dive in minutes and is unidirectional. It will only turn one direction to shorten your dive if you accidentally bump it so you can calculate if you need to decompress.

I don't know of any specific bezels on an aviator watch across the design that is significant.

I'll admit to not liking to have to reset a watch. Resetting the calendar on my watch at the end of a short month is often neglected.

This. Citizen also has several “radio controlled” models that do the same. I have a GShock and 2 Citizens that are solar and self-calibrating to the atomic clock. Never need a battery or adjustment of any kind.

That is all part of the charm to some watch loonies like me. It helps me connect to the soul of the watch I feel like wearing at the moment. But I am a lot like you in that regards also and it is why I have two watch winder safes. Cuts down of the time I have to spend.

Being a rifle loonie also makes me interested in the load or ballistics of a round. I guess that is two bugs I have been bitten with. Dammit there is three. I also drag race.

OK, that's cool. And I can recall noting the the bezel only turned in one direction. What about the little dials inset into the faces of a watch? The ones that have their own little hands? Same sorta thing? Some kind of event timer?

Those are called complications and they will vary from dive watch to dive watch. This is like my Omega Seamaster dive watch that is also a chronometer. I will describe the complications (functions) that you see on this particular watch and maybe it will translate somewhat to the watches you will see.



The big "second hand" that you see on the watch is actually the chronometer. It is activated and stopped by the top blue button on the right side of the watch. It starts at 12 and goes around until you stop it by pushing the button again. The blue button on the right bottom resets it back to 12. You HAVE to stop it before you reset or you can damage the watch.

The small interior dial on the left side of the face is referred to as "small seconds." This is common in the watch industry for a designer to put the watch's second hand somewhere when it is also a chronometer. The chronometer second hand needs to be a larger and more visible hand for obvious reasons if you are trying to time something.

The small dial on the right side of the face is part of the chronometer. You could literally time something up to 12 hours. It is called a 12-hour and 60-minute recorder.

The crown to wind the watch or utilize functions like changing the time/date is on the right between the two blue buttons. It is a screw down crown to help maintain the 300 meter depth rating. That is a misnomer somewhat. The ratings are far more generous on many watches than reality, but that is another discussion.

The gold screw cap you see on the lefthand side at 11:00 is a helium escape valve. It is used if you dive deep enough for a long enough time that you need to be in a decompression chamber. Helium atoms are so small that they will seep into these dive watches sometimes and need to be released. Some dive watches have an automatic release valve.

Hope that answers your question about dive watches. It isn't all encompassing, but I wanted to give you an idea.

So... The small dial on the left is actually the watches normal second hand function? It runs independently of the chronometer?
And the large second hand on the center pin is a part of the chronometer. It only runs when the chronometer is activated?

And the right hand dial keeps track of elapsed chronometer hours and minutes?

I appreciate the explanation...

You are welcome and yes to all your questions.

The cheap quartz watches are the most accurate and carefree but they lack the 'cool' factor of fine mechanical or self winding watches. A quartz watch has a crystal that will vibrate at an extremely accurate rate when an electric current is applied to it. That vibration is then transferred to the movement at a rate of 1 vibe/second. It's a very simple process and a good quartz watch can last 30 years or more. It can have an accuracy of 1 sec./month or more.
Mechanical watches are finely made by serious craftsmen. They work via a spring that's wound either by hand or by inertia from the motion of the arm as the wearer moves around. They require more maintenance than quartz watches but will often outlive the owner and can be passed down for several generations.

So, it depends on what's important to you. A quartz watch is cheap, often made in a factory in China, but it's the most accurate watch available to the general public. OTOH, a mechanical is much more expensive and the appearance often reflects the quality inside. You sacrifice a bit of accuracy for something akin to fine jewelry and that can be passed down to your kids.

Computer or phone time is calculated by a series of atomic clocks scattered around the world. I know they're based on the spin of the nucleus of the cesium 133 atom but that's about the limit of my knowledge of them.

For decades I've been a Timex Expedition guy; lightweight, durable and can go for weeks or months without needing to be reset.

Analog watches have become more difficult to find in retail stores, everybody uses their phones a timepieces and some young folk cant even read analogs. My last two Expeditions I had to buy online.

Currently I'm wearing a small $15 Casio analog, plain ol' black and white dial, black plastic band. I can't recall setting it in months, still within a minute of computer time. I like the black plastic band because it is impervious to sweat, unlike leather or fabric bands. Only thing I miss is that the dial doesn't light up when you press the stem like the Indiglo feature on an Expedition.

Since I usually wear long sleeves, most times it resides under the the cuff so you can't see it anyway.

I'm thinking about the preacher that said, I don't mind when people look at their watch often, when they shake it to see if it's still running, then I'm upset.