The Breitling Watch Source Forums

For all that are smarter than me on the B01 movement, I have a couple of questions concerning the accuracy of my TO Chronograph.

I received my TO in November of 2011 straight from Switzerland via FEAR. I kept a very accurate log of the watch's accuracy for the first 6 months. The watch was running 5.5 sec fast per day. Great.

Now two months ago I noticed the watch was only running 4 sec fast per day. For the last two weeks it is now running 1.5 sec fast per day!

In my mind the only two things that I have changed are this

1. When I wind the watch I used to wind the crown clockwise and counterclockwise between my thumb and forefinger. Now I've taken the habit of only winding the crown clockwise.

2. I enjoy winding the watch therefore I now wind it about 20 turns every other day.

Is the sudden change in accuracy due to the breaking in of the watch?

Thanks

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Cheers
Brez

Aerospace
Airwolf CF-18 Limited Edition
TrancOcean Chronograph LE (mercury silver dial, brown croc, folding clasp)

Not sure. Might need to go back to an AD for a look, but as the movement wears in, it may encounter some changes that alter the error. So what you are saying in effect is that it’s coming down to an accurate time. Not sure I would be that worried, but as it’s happening so rapidly over time, one would think there could be some regulator issue.

Has there been any change in atmosphere where you live? Are you using it more or less frequently just lately that might coincide with the change in accuracy? Have you changed the way you tuck your watch in at night (how do you rest the watch when not in use)? On its case back is different to on its side and so forth.

Winding straight is my preference too, as I don’t like rotating back on the stem ratchet. But you should be able to wind this for at least 40 winds, if not more. My typical wind is about 2/3 of the way round and I have always taken it to mean that this is fairly standard. You can’t over wind it, so try a few more winds and see if it changes the accuracy. Not likely though, as the number of power winds should not really affect the accuracy of the moment, unless its really too low to keep up the right amount of torque on the drive train.

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Jim

"You have Control".

The way you wind the watch (your point 1) will have no impact on the accuracy at all.

There's a chance it may just be settling down, and by their nature automatic watches will vary slightly in terms of timekeeping depending on a number of factors, but it does strikes me as a little odd that it was rock-solid stable for 6 months and has now started to gain less and less in a fairly short space of time.

However as it's still within COSC (and actually getting better) I'd be tempted to leave it for a while yet. If you go to an AD now they'll tell you it's running to COSC specs, so no intervention is required. Keep monitoring it though and if the gain becomes a loss that drops out of COSC specs, then that's the time for it to potentially pay a visit to Breitling.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Trying to diagnose changes like this is a mug's game because so many variables affect accuracy. The amount of power reserve will affect accuracy because it affects the torque going through the running train and into the escapement, but unlikely to be a significant impact. The change in your winding habits is no change at all - rotating the crown anti-clockwise was never winding the watch anyway because it only winds clockwise.

I think it's the sudden loss of accuracy that would worry me though. As suggested here its a mugs game to predict, but to try & help you, I would take it to an AD if there is continued loss of accuracy. Especially as you have monitored it so carefully in the past, you would be on the best position to know. If it stays the same & there are no evironmental changes that might be responsible then I would monitor it for a while longer before deciding on a check up. It may still be settling in but the variation seems rapid.

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Jim

"You have Control".

The thing is though, it's (currently at least) getting more accurate, not less.

If it was mine I'd wait and see if it stablises and only worry if/when it drops out of COSC specs.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Thanks for replies. I'm not worried at all (unless it keeps on going andgoes out of COSC)!

I have not changed any habits, the watch sleeps flat on its dial at night. I do wear it a little more. The only thing really is that by me winding it more often it is probably more full up than usual. Before I use to let run its power using the full 70 hours reserve to exercise the full spring and to test the reserve power ( which was accurate!).

Currently, it gives me bragging rights since 1.5 secs fast per day is extremely good! I'll wait for AD If it goes out and sustains out of COSC!

I wasn't sure if the accuracy had more to do with my power reserve being closer to 100% all the time because of the torque thing that I read from the articles posted here.


Thanks again

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Cheers
Brez

Aerospace
Airwolf CF-18 Limited Edition
TrancOcean Chronograph LE (mercury silver dial, brown croc, folding clasp)

As Roff said if the watch changes it's accurately significantly depending on it's power reserve (like my old BP did), then it is a potential problem with the movement that may need looking at.

Just keep an eye on it and maybe worth seeing what happens if you run the power reserve down a bit as well. For me though, it's COSC compliance is always the real gauge.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

If a watch runs on a very low power reserve then (all other factors being even) it will tend to run faster, so theoretically it has some impact, but wouldn't expect it to be that significant.

On one hand you are saying that you have not changed any habits but on the other hand you are saying that you are wearing it more often. This could very well mean that it does not "sleep on it's dial" as much as it did before which could account for the change in observed accuracy.
I have three 01s and all three are running in the vicinity of +1-2 secs per day when I'm wearing them pretty much most of the time so the +1.5 sec per day you are observing seems to be consistent with my observations.

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"It is just a matter of time!"

I probably increased the wearing of the watch by one extra day a week. So technically when I only wore it in the evenings and weekend before, I now wear it at work once a week.

I thought it could have been a breaking in and settling in thing since most say that it takes a few months for a watch to settle. But a few month plus the time it sits in store, may be close to me getting the watch straight from Breitling Workshop.

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Cheers
Brez

Aerospace
Airwolf CF-18 Limited Edition
TrancOcean Chronograph LE (mercury silver dial, brown croc, folding clasp)

Long story short: Enjoy that your watch is now very accurate. Dont worry about it unless it changes for the worse.

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-RJ