Regulating A Seiko And Pagani Design As Accurately As A Rolex?

How perfect can we get these two budget watches with a few minutes of adjustment and our Timegrapher? Let's find out! Here I'll adjust the beat error and rate of my Seiko and Pagani Design watches that were significantly more off than the rest of my collection. One was fast, the other slow.
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[@ZWolfgang]

Regulating to 0 SPD with dial down on the Time Grapher will not ensure that the watch will run at 0 SPD when worn on your wrist, as the rate changes with each change in position of the watch. What you need to do is determine how the watch is running on your wrist for a few days, then adjust the rate to compensate. On the TimeGrapher, you may find that, perhaps, +4 SPD reading will result in close to 0 SPD when worn on your wrist. You will have to experiment to determine what rate on the TimeGrapher translates to the best time keeping when the watch is on your wrist.

[@harrycee656]

Best way. 1)Get an app to monitor trends or just use a notepad and basic math. 2)get a 48hr measurement and note how far off it is s/d 3)put it on the timegrapher dial down and note the value s/d 4) adjust the regulator +/- by the amount of from noted in measurement period. 5) repeat steps 2 - 4 till your 48hr use case is 0 to +5s/d. 6) perform a week long test so weekend behavior is accounted for. 7) repeat 2 - 4 over longer periods till you get the accuracy that fits your life and lifestyle. Longer the window of measurement the less variances in your activity impacts your accuracy. ( For example arm day vs leg day vs cardio day vs office only day will impact power reserve and sometimes accuracy. The impact depends on the movement. I.e. My 6R and 4R is linearly over most of its PR range vs my DUW3001 is flat from 100 to 25 % PR but 25% to 0 is not linear )

[@AmazonasBiotop]

I am far from a expert. But when I were into watches I remembered that it is most likely that Seiko adjust their movements slightly fast, when we talk about the low end movements. But that makes me think that it is not that much difference between a Seiko low end and a higher end or "finer" movement. The principle and almost all parts are the same. Yes there is a slightly diffrences but overall to 95% to 99% they're in practice the same. The low end of the Seiko spectrum is PROBABLY today as good as high end were 40 years ago. Another tell is that they can consistently adjust this movements as you experiencing to running fast in the +15s ±X range. I mean you don't find a new Seiko that is running -15s slow! In other words they are accurate with very low fluctuation (stable). So I strongly suspect that the low end movements of today are much better than they "need" to be. In that sense that Seiko could if they wanted adjust them much closer to ±0s/d than +16s/d that they PROBABLY are setting them deliberately at because of their price point. And that has nothing to do with the movement at all. It is probably most likely that otherwise it is harder to motivate and being able to sell higher end movements for Seiko. So it is most likely a business decision that putting "restrictions" on the lower end movements deliberately. But deliberately adjust them slightly faster and faster the lower end the movement is in their lineup (we should remember that they sell the movements also to other watch manufacturers.) Those movements are assembled by robots and has a incredible precision and accuracy. With very low variability totally aromatically. If you could adjust the movement in 5 min as you said in the video. Then how many seconds will it take for a robot that has the same microphone attached to a freshly made movement to adjust it automatically without any need to fiddle with a case.. ..and the management decide how fast it should put it depending on what movement it is. That is a good thing for us that are able to adjust the movements so they run as good as they actually deserve and have the capacity to do. 🥂

[@drmanhattan225]

I just bought an SPB153 and it's been running like a charm. On the wrist it's a bit fast, but I set it down each night 3 up and it's consistently coming out around +2 spd. In spite of that I want to learn how to regulate it in case when it comes to servicing, Seiko go and 'mess things up'.

[@AlexStypik]

As far as the Pagani goes, do you think there is a way to remove the secondary glass or plastic with the logo? I personally think it would look better if they removed that and put just logo on movement , not a secondary plastic or glass behind the front glass. I am curious if you think it's removable, as I will try to do so on mine.

[@LucaTheStar]

In regards to the timegrapher not picking up the watch: You can adjust the microphone sensitivity with the up and down buttons. Also next time please use a wooden tool to adjust the pegs. If you slip off you can do some serious damage to the hairspring with a metal tool.

[@B0B0LlN00]

Using wood will create microscopic shavings. I use plastic picks. As for the hairspring - everything can destroy it, regardless of the material.

[@JohnnyBeans-w9k]

I have Rolex watches and Tudor, but my three Pagani watches are on point in timing. I paid $129, $89, and $60 in 2023 and 2024. I would put them against any of the 27 watches I own.

[@barrettdannemiller5763]

Love this watch trend on your channel.

[@COGuyStuff]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@andrebalsa203]

I would suggest demagnetizing all your watches before any attempt at regulating them. That would avoid some "bizarre" measurements such as you got with the Pagani Design automatic.

[@joshwanglj]

Great video, I am interested in getting into regulating my own watches as the authorized dealers charge exorbitantly for something so simple. Optimize makes a good point on companies 'restriction on lower end movements' to justify 'being able to sell higher end movements', I am intrigued. Could you just check in a couple months time if the rate and beat error recurs? It could be that lower end tends to not keep time consistently (they revert back to some rate/beat error) compared to high end movement (more likely to hold the rate/beat settings), and I would like to see if that was the case.

[@COGuyStuff]

Everything is still spot on, everything in the winder is good :)

[@bidipbo]

It's not that simple, this guy is not 'regulating' the movement. Proper regulation involves disassembly to the point of removing the balance wheel works. Degaussing the hairspring is an initial step, in the likelihood of finding a hairspring not made of glucydur, nivarox or silicium. Examination of the hairspring horizontally and vertically for uniformity of spacing and X axis conformity follow. Then, if no deformity is discovered and corrected, proper regulation follows. After observing the movement of the hairspring between the regulator slot and the curb (or curb and boot) pins Proper regulation involves the cinching or releasing of the hairspring between the pins slot and if necessary, the stud. And, this regulation procedure only refers to Tompion or Bosley regulators. I left a few parts out that occur when there are more involved problems, but you get the idea. It is worth the money, coz what is happening here is like adding fuel treatment to your gas tank expecting to gain some horsepower - in keeping with automotive comparison made in the video.

[@samnova450]

Good job on regulating your watches. Notice that Amplitude is lower on the Seiko Vs your PAGANI watch. How do you know it correct?

[@tomhill4003]

excellent explainer on watch regulation. Thank You!

[@COGuyStuff]

Glad you liked it!

[@chrisp.5272]

Starting to love the NH35, have both a Pagani AirKing V2, and Steeldive 1953 Submariner. AirKing homage runs at +8 spd and the Submariner Homage runs at +1 spd. Not bad, I might get one of these Timegraphers and see if I can dial it in to within a few seconds per day. I wanted a Powermatic 80 but the NH35 is great, I prefer quartz anyways and these are my only automatics.

[@endurojimmy3109]

I used an app which I found worked really well. However, whenI put case back on, the rate and beat error charged slightly. Saying that, it's gaining absolute 10 seconds a day, so I can live with that as it was losing 60 seconds a day previously.

[@apj5763]

Have you compared your real world accuracy with the timegrapher data? I’d be curious how much variance there is between the two

[@michaeltb1358]

I have the same Pagani Design watch. I just checked it using an Android app which seems accurate enough to make the adjustment. I am just wary of removing the case back after your problems.

[@COGuyStuff]

I would suggest just leaving it be

[@riflemusket]

Why don’t you hack the movement to stop the balance wheel from moving while you regulate it? I’d be worried about touching and damaging the moving spring.

[@COGuyStuff]

No need to worry when you do it right

[@tk423b]

I’ve got a 6R15 with a delta of 30spd. +15 on wrist and -15 in my stand. It’s a mess.

[@martinsailjocasta9399]

I concur...have had more joy with the old Seiko 7s shakers & indeed the now inexpensive nh 35's if you're lucky and get a good one.

[@tk423b]

@ I need to figure out if I can put another movement in there. Love the watch otherwise.

[@chrisdavidson3180]

That was awesome! Thanks

[@COGuyStuff]

You bet!

[@johanakerblad339]

The aluminium part is connecte to the microphone. Adding tape or plastic will dampen the signal. Try to measure without extra plastics and compare. The aluminium will probably not scratch a case.

[@COGuyStuff]

Nope there is zero issue with signal.

[@Mobin92]

If this is so relatively easy to do, why don't manufactures just do it? Wouldn't it be a great selling point to say that your watches have 0 error, for 5 minutes or time per watch? Or it is something that just gets messed up with time again, e.g. during shipping?

[@COGuyStuff]

Some do, but it takes a good amount of time to do each watch. Time is money. Cheap watches get you close enough for government work.

[@ashotinthedark3182]

Good to see you, you're right about watches.

[@COGuyStuff]

Hey, thanks

[@MsThedarkblood]

Of course a cheap movement can be regulated to zero seconds per day flat. On the other hand a poor quality movement will have a huge variation between the different positions. which will make it inaccurate when worn.

[@szakacselod8452]

So.. i saw one watch on youtube that had this arm for setting the accuracy really long, like at least 1,5 cm. That gave me the idea that if you want to improve your accuracy, just sacrifice a springbar, harvest only the tube from it, and stick it on the arm of that setting ring, thus prolonging it, and then a bigger move on the end would result on a much smaller move at the base. I don't know if that is understandable as i described it...

[@B0B0LlN00]

Never try that, otherwise you will learn the hard way how the regulator pins work :)

[@szakacselod8452]

Ok, would you please explain? Not because i want to debate but because i want to learn. Thanks

[@JaredN15h]

You sir,.. need a stereoscope.

[@riflemusket]

He shoots he scores, with the Seiko! 😅

[@australier263]

If you spend a few Dollars more, you'll get a better quality, with Seiko mechanical engines!

[@mishamishin5239]

What do you mean?