32xx movement problem poll and data thread

[dannyp]

Originally Posted by Dirt

Hand length and weight are certainly a factor but in this case it's only transient as the hands move around the dial in the vertical planes.
As the hands are moving uphill more torque is required to drive them, when they are going downhill it's not really a consideration. In effect, it's a 50/50 proposition to put it in its simplest terms but still a factor.
It can be demonstrated at home by yourself with a simple experiment by setting your watch aside in any vertical position and leaving it to run down and stop of its own accord. You will notice a traditional lever escapement will stop with the Seconds hand roughly as its rotating upward and load is at its maximum. For example, the Seconds hand will stop in the vicinity of the 12 o'clock marker if the watch is left to stop in the "Crown up" position. The other vertical resting positions will yield their own result relative to the Crown position when the watch eventually stops.

Also weight and length are a more serious consideration when we are comparing different types of movements.
For example, a mechanical movement can handle longer and heavier hands because of the inherently higher torque used to drive the movement from the Mainspring.

Way out on the other end of the spectrum, a Quartz movement typically has considerably less torque so weight and length of hands is a much more important factor. But again, it's mostly a factor in the vertical positions but torque is still a factor in the horizontal planes with a Quartz movement that has an Analogue display.

But what about when you compare, say, an OP41 with an OP36, both left face-up? The same movement is working harder at all times in the 41, unless it's calibrated differently. Now, I'm going to assume it was designed to handle the "load," of the 41 hands, but I would also imagine that would cause the 36 to run faster if calibrated identically.

The previous generation of non-date watches had different calibre movements (3132) in the larger dialed (therefore, long-handed) pieces (Exp 39, OP39) vs the smaller-dialed ones like the 36mm and Sub (3130). Similar difference for large-dialed date watches (3136 in DJII, 3156 in DDII). The "12" series use the same calibre in 36, 40, and 41mm watches.

I started to wonder about this when I realized that most of the complaints on here (granted, very small overall sampling) about 32xx issues, especially recurrent ones, were in larger-diameter watches (DJ41, SD43). But who knows...