Break in period for a new Rolex Submariner

[wegeman76]

Is there a break in period for Rolex regarding how accurate they will be?
Mine seems to run fast.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by wegeman76

Is there a break in period for Rolex regarding how accurate they will be?
Mine seems to run fast.

6~8 weeks is normal "break-in" period. Give it time (pun intended)!!

[Tools]

It has been my experience that a Rolex will run a second or two faster after a couple of months of use than it does right out of the box...

But, there is not really a "break in" period.

If it is running outside of the "standards" though, you can only expect a second or so either way for changes and nothing more drastic.

[looking to buy]

My sub runs 8 seconds fast per day. It does not matter what I do. I can stand on my head, run around, do nothing, swim, bike, walk, hike, wear it 24 hours per day, not wear it at all, lay it crown up, down, sideways etc. It still gains 8 secs per day. I have learned to live with it. It is still around 99.99% accurate.

I have a new GMT just 4 days old. It is running fast also but does not have the consistency of my sub. So, I need to give it a lot more time to see how it settles in. Some of these come straight from overseas to the AD and then immediately to the buyer and have no time to settle down.

[looking to buy]

Originally Posted by Tools

It has been my experience that a Rolex will run a second or two faster after a couple of months of use than it does right out of the box...

This was my experience with my Sub. It was 6 seconds per day and then after a few months went to 8.

[skuirtgun]

I just got a brand new M serial 16610LV and its running fast by 15 secs a day. Should I be concerned or just wait for it to break in?

[padi56]

Originally Posted by skuirtgun

I just got a brand new M serial 16610LV and its running fast by 15 secs a day. Should I be concerned or just wait for it to break in?

Did you give it a full manual wind to start it around 40 full crown turns what are your wearing habits.But 15 seconds is excessive if it was tested accurately but myself would wait for at least a month before having the back off any new watch for very simple regulation.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by skuirtgun

I just got a brand new M serial 16610LV and its running fast by 15 secs a day. Should I be concerned or just wait for it to break in?

Wear it for a few months but IMO it will not return to COSC from +15.

[skuirtgun]

I got the watch on Friday night and wound it about 20 full crown turns before leaving it overnight. Wore the watch for a couple of hour on the weekends and have been wearing it full 9 hours (desk diving) for the past two days.

I dont think the 20 crown turns got to do with it gaining too much time, or has it? I'll take your advice and give it another month I guess.

[tifosi]

Originally Posted by skuirtgun

I just got a brand new M serial 16610LV and its running fast by 15 secs a day. Should I be concerned or just wait for it to break in?

It must be an M serial LV thing...because my new M serial LV is also running about +15. I've been wearing it for a week, today. I guess we'll see what happens. Not a real stickler on accuracy, so there is no way I'm having my watch opened up for a regulation. I dont want to send it to RSC for a regulation and there is no one else I know/trust in my area to do it. I was just timing it out of curiosity, mostly. I think I'll live if my watch is +1.75 minutes fast each week

[RLXSTR]

I thought it was the first 600 miles.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by skuirtgun

I got the watch on Friday night and wound it about 20 full crown turns before leaving it overnight. Wore the watch for a couple of hour on the weekends and have been wearing it full 9 hours (desk diving) for the past two days.

I dont think the 20 crown turns got to do with it gaining too much time, or has it? I'll take your advice and give it another month I guess.

When you wound it 20 times thats roughly only halve its power reserve.Then you left it overnight power reserve then almost nil would expect it to speed up
Then you wore it for only a few hours power reserve still very low.Just try what I said, give it a full wind 40 full crown turns clockwise don't worry you cannot over-wind it, a slipping clutch type mechanism prevents that.Then set watch with reliable time source wear for at least 8-12 hours a day if you have a desk job.Now check time daily with same setting source over 5 days then average out the loss or gain over those 5 days.If no big improvement then its regulation if your AD has a in-house watchmaker it takes around 30 minutes to do if its sent back to the RSC 4 to 8 weeks.

[sakuraba]

Originally Posted by skuirtgun

I just got a brand new M serial 16610LV and its running fast by 15 secs a day. Should I be concerned or just wait for it to break in?

As long as it's consistent, it might just need to be regulated.

In my experience, Eddie's right, you can't get it back to COSC from +15 on your own.

[mike]

I have to agree with Larry, Peter, and Eddie.

You're pushing the lower edge of the power reserve with only 20 turns and little wear. For best accuracy the mainspring needs to wound.

My own experience mirrors Larry's in that as the watch adapts to your wearing habits it might gain just a touch. What's important to understand is the watch doesn't "break in" in the sence of a new movement wearing in or the oils distributing. Those are persistent myths.

Your wearing habits (given all things equal) have much more effect on time keeping than anything else.

Which brings us to Eddie's statement. +15 is way more than it should and a regulation is going to be in order. You might affect a second or so by positional variation, but modern Rolex movements are extremely consistent--that's what makes them accurate after adjustment.

Don't listen to the COSC arguements. Truth is most any good movement can be adjusted to COSC and way beyond.

Rolex sent your raw movement to a company that put it in a test case, did their testing, and sent it back to be recased in it's own housing. The watch was then shipped all over the world and sat till it got to you.

Wind it completely, wear it a lot, see what your consistency is and then have a good watchmaker regulate it.

I've done this on every Rolex I have--it works.

[skuirtgun]

Really appreciate the help. I'll try it out and see how it goes.

Thanks!

[wantonebad]

Originally Posted by mike

I have to agree with Larry, Peter, and Eddie.

You're pushing the lower edge of the power reserve with only 20 turns and little wear. For best accuracy the mainspring needs to wound.

My own experience mirrors Larry's in that as the watch adapts to your wearing habits it might gain just a touch. What's important to understand is the watch doesn't "break in" in the sence of a new movement wearing in or the oils distributing. Those are persistent myths.

Your wearing habits (given all things equal) have much more effect on time keeping than anything else.

Which brings us to Eddie's statement. +15 is way more than it should and a regulation is going to be in order. You might affect a second or so by positional variation, but modern Rolex movements are extremely consistent--that's what makes them accurate after adjustment.

Don't listen to the COSC arguements. Truth is most any good movement can be adjusted to COSC and way beyond.

Rolex sent your raw movement to a company that put it in a test case, did their testing, and sent it back to be recased in it's own housing. The watch was then shipped all over the world and sat till it got to you.

Wind it completely, wear it a lot, see what your consistency is and then have a good watchmaker regulate it.

I've done this on every Rolex I have--it works.

Great post, thanks for the info Mike!

[RoleXavier]

Mine is gonna be 4 months old, at the beginning it used to tick around -2 secs. a day... then slowly and for reasons I don't fully understand it began to speed up a little bit and now, incredibly it ticks to an steady +/-(0)

Should I be worried that eventually and as time goes on, it will beat faster and faster, or do you think my 16610LV "V" series has reached its peak performance and will stay there for a while?

[Flyjet601]

I read somewhere about 35 years

[Chuck L.]

Hi; Yes I just bought a New never used Submariner M series & it is also fast by +15 seconds. I just wonder it the factory set them that way on purpose? That makes 3 of us in this thread that are +15. This watch right at +15 each & every day after 24 hour check.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I really would like it closer to Swiss standards.
It is only a couple of weeks old. Should I wait to get it regulated or just do it now?
Thanks

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by Chuck L.

Hi; Yes I just bought a New never used Submariner M series & it is also fast by +15 seconds. I just wonder it the factory set them that way on purpose? That makes 3 of us in this thread that are +15. This watch right at +15 each & every day after 24 hour check.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I really would like it closer to Swiss standards.
It is only a couple of weeks old. Should I wait to get it regulated or just do it now?
Thanks

The whole thing about the Cosc standard is the -4/+6 sec per day deviation.

Your supplier should ensure that the watch is correctly regulated.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Chuck L.

Hi; Yes I just bought a New never used Submariner M series & it is also fast by +15 seconds. I just wonder it the factory set them that way on purpose? That makes 3 of us in this thread that are +15. This watch right at +15 each & every day after 24 hour check.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I really would like it closer to Swiss standards.
It is only a couple of weeks old. Should I wait to get it regulated or just do it now?
Thanks

First of all, this thread is 2 years old...

I agree with Paul..

However, the first question I would ask is what standard is being used to check the accuracy, and is it being checked over a period of a few days without resetting it each time.....

Many times folks use their computer or cell phone, and those clocks get updated at odd times and are seldom accurate sources...

In your case, if your watch is truly gaining 15 seconds every day, and the source is accurate, you should get it properly regulated.. Any Rolex can be regulated to within a second or two per day.......

[Art 1]

Originally Posted by wegeman76

Is there a break in period for Rolex regarding how accurate they will be?
Mine seems to run fast.

No.

[DCgator]

I have bought two mint but used "M" 16610LV and a "Z" GMT Pepsi w/3186 movt. Neither watch never quite kept 100% accurate time. I use the USNO clock to check for accuracy. I think it might be because I never use either of them long enough to observe accuracy in as many days of wear. However, when I wear one of the watches I usually perform the 40x winding and as I check the USNO clock throughout the day on the watch I'm wearing that day the watch keeps pretty accurate time in consonance with USNO. I will follow the recommendations some have prescribed here and determine if either watch gain or lose time.

Thanks for the tips.

[klayface]

Woah then I must consider myself one of the lucky ones my new daytona has been spot on every day. Its been like that since I got it 3 weeks ago. It hasn't lost or gained anything.

Okay but since there's no such thing as perfect I would maybe say its gained about 1/2 second more every 2 days and that's probably because I am not using the most accurate time source ( display on my work computer )

[Chuck L.]

Thanks for the information much appreciated. I use time.gov for the checks. Hope that is a good source. I wiil have it regulated if I can find someone in Cleveland, Ohio that I can trust to do the job correctly.

[Chuck L.]

Hi all; Found a young watchmaker Rolex certified & he regulated the sub to + 3 seconds in 48 hours. Man I'am a happy camper..........Wow!