Which movements respond to positioning for regulation?

[cvogue]

I've got a ~1981 DJ with (I believe) a 3035 movement in it. It gains time (about 7-8 seconds a day) so I've been trying placing it in different positions at night to slow it down. According to the conventional wisdom (and the sheet of paper Rolex put in the box with some watches) setting the watch vertically with the crown pointed up should slow it down the most.

This doesn't work for mine... but then I tried putting it crystal down overnight and instead of gaining 3-4 seconds it only gained 1-2... woo-hoo!

Does anybody know if there's a more comprehensive set of movement/positioning info out there? I've heard the newer movements don't respond much at all to nighttime position.

Any insight appreciated.

[77T]

The positions favor losing seconds more so than gaining a lot of seconds.

1. To gain a few seconds: Lay the watch flat with the dial uppermost.

2. To lose a few seconds: Lay the watch vertically with the winding-button downwards.

3. To lose rather more seconds: Lay the watch vertically with the winding-button uppermost.

This works for movements designed with the same component layouts. The newer microstella balances have better adjustment options for your watchmaker - maybe let him/her look at it?

[handsfull]

Positional variance seems to be consistent with the newer Rolex movements. The 3186, 3135, and 3136 movement's in my current pieces have nearly the same result when placed in the same positions....

[cvogue]

Originally Posted by 77T

The positions favor losing seconds more so than gaining a lot of seconds.

1. To gain a few seconds: Lay the watch flat with the dial uppermost.

2. To lose a few seconds: Lay the watch vertically with the winding-button downwards.

3. To lose rather more seconds: Lay the watch vertically with the winding-button uppermost.

This works for movements designed with the same component layouts. The newer microstella balances have better adjustment options for your watchmaker - maybe let him/her look at it?

Yeah I'm debating to take it in or not. I just got it so I don't want to have it serviced yet... so I'd like to take it to a local person. Have gotten a few recommendations.

[kilyung]

Microstella adjustment takes a few minutes. Not a big deal.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by cvogue

I've got a ~1981 DJ with (I believe) a 3035 movement in it. It gains time (about 7-8 seconds a day) so I've been trying placing it in different positions at night to slow it down. According to the conventional wisdom (and the sheet of paper Rolex put in the box with some watches) setting the watch vertically with the crown pointed up should slow it down the most.

This doesn't work for mine... but then I tried putting it crystal down overnight and instead of gaining 3-4 seconds it only gained 1-2... woo-hoo!

Does anybody know if there's a more comprehensive set of movement/positioning info out there? I've heard the newer movements don't respond much at all to nighttime position.

Any insight appreciated.

No matter the position the variables would be only + - a second or so, and its mostly the low beat movements like the 15 series this applies to the most.The 3 series is not effected so much but like every thing mechanical there will be some that are and some not.Myself would be quite happy with 7-8 seconds a day as long as its pretty consistent thats the most important consistency.And even at your bottom of the scale 8 seconds its still 99.992% accurate which is a tiny bit off the COSC spec.Myself would wait till normal full service time then it will regulated, just cannot see any point in getting the back off a watch for say 2-3 seconds out of 86400 in a day.

[TimeOnMyHands]

My 3186 (Explorer II) responds very well to a crown down resting position to 'bleed off' a couple of seconds nightly. Very impressed!

[tifosi]

My Sub-C was running a little slowly for the past 1.5 years or so. Maybe around -6 sec. per day. Then I realised that I was resting it crown up during the night. I started laying it dial up 3 days ago and now it is -1 for the past 3 days total. I'll see how the full week averages out, but as of right now the results are good.

[alanc]

My Exp was losing five seconds a day until I positioned it face up (had been on edge crown up). That brought it down to a loss of 2 seconds/day. Now, in addition to that, I give it 20 winds or so every other day, even though I wear it daily.

It now loses about 2 seconds per week. Amazing.

[cvogue]

Originally Posted by padi56

No matter the position the variables would be only + - a second or so, and its mostly the low beat movements like the 15 series this applies to the most.The 3 series is not effected so much but like every thing mechanical there will be some that are and some not.Myself would be quite happy with 7-8 seconds a day as long as its pretty consistent thats the most important consistency.And even at your bottom of the scale 8 seconds its still 99.992% accurate which is a tiny bit off the COSC spec.Myself would wait till normal full service time then it will regulated, just cannot see any point in getting the back off a watch for say 2-3 seconds out of 86400 in a day.

Yeah I don't think it's worth messing with really, until a full service which will be a few years!

[T. Ferguson]

I prefer a watch that's fast rather than slow. I'd rather it be fast 3 seconds a day than slow 1 or 2 seconds. It's just easier to synch back up to your reference when it's a little fast.

My 16610 Sub seems to respond to positioning more so than my newer 6 digit model GMT, which doesn't seem affected much at all from positioning.

[tifosi]

Originally Posted by tifosi

My Sub-C was running a little slowly for the past 1.5 years or so. Maybe around -6 sec. per day. Then I realised that I was resting it crown up during the night. I started laying it dial up 3 days ago and now it is -1 for the past 3 days total. I'll see how the full week averages out, but as of right now the results are good.

After one week of laying the watch dial up at night my SubC is -5sec. for the entire week! A far cry from the -6sec daily I was getting resting it crown up at night.

[DetroitDave]

It seems my 16613 will gain bout 3 minutes and then hold....possible or am I just losing my mind?

[Rolexalex]

I'm new here, I have the same problem .. -25 seconds in 4 days. Hopefully this (with face up) will help. I will check and let you know. Thank you!

[Bulldurham08]

As most have said, with my SubC, at night I'm usually able to get or keep the watch running perfect time by either setting it dial up or crown up...works perfectly but is kind of a pain in the butt...