Watch minute hand getting slow

[tchcxp]

Hi guys,

One of my Rolex collections, a vintage Datejust, running around 3 minutes behind every day recently.

Basically, the second hand is running accurately, keeping -1~0 second difference every day; however, the minute hand is 2-3 minute slower when I wear it. Eg. I wind and set the watch at 7 AM, wear it, and then it shows 10:56:59 or 10:57:00 on the dial at 11 PM.

Other information I can provide:
- I haven't worn the watch for months
- The issue's been a few days already since I start to wear it again
- It's been fully wound

Not sure any particular reason why only the minute hand is slow but the second hand is ok?

Many thanks,

[GMT Aviator]

This is ironic because my 3 year old ceramic GMT has just developed the same Problem. I put it on the timegrapher and have discovered it’s suddenly running way out of whack for reasons unknown?
Luckily it’s still in warranty so I’ll be taking straight to RSC next week so they can fix it. I’ll be interested myself to find out what’s gone wrong with it when they open it up.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by GMT Aviator

This is ironic because my 3 year old ceramic GMT has just developed the same Problem. I put it on the timegrapher and have discovered it’s suddenly running way out of whack for reasons unknown?
Luckily it’s still in warranty so I’ll be taking straight to RSC next week so they can fix it. I’ll be interested myself to find out what’s gone wrong with it when they open it up.

Did you fully manually wind it first before you put it on your timegrapher and what is way out of whack testing results.

[GMT Aviator]

Originally Posted by padi56

Did you fully manually wind it first before you put it on your timegrapher and what is way out of whack testing results.

I noticed the watch was 10 mins slow when I went to put in on a few days ago. Passed it off as me setting it wrong the day before, so gave it a full wind and reset it and strapped it on.
Two hours later it had lost almost 20 mins, so put it on the timegrapher and had a look at it. What a mess. Loosing 178s/day, although it was good amplitude and depend and on position the beat error was all over the place.
The crown function on the 3186 is no where near as good as the older 3185 so I popped the crown out which always feels tight and difficult to engage, cycled the jump hour hand back and forth a bit and put it back on the timegrapher and second time it looked a lot better but still no where near where it should be.
I’m puzzled because the watch has been a solid 1.2s/day since new pretty much. I haven’t knocked it and it’s not magnetised either.
It’ll have to go back to RSC as soon as I get back from this trip I’m on in India, meantime it’s back to one of my old trusty 16710’s with the 3185 which have always been bulletproof.
My ceramic GMT is also on a sub bracelet, so I’m sure they’ll have a moan at me about that when I take it in. Maybe I’d better put it back in its PCL before i take
it.
There’s clearly an internal problem of some kind and I’m wondering if it’s something to do with the crown pin fowling something in the movement.

[tchcxp]

Originally Posted by GMT Aviator

This is ironic because my 3 year old ceramic GMT has just developed the same Problem. I put it on the timegrapher and have discovered it’s suddenly running way out of whack for reasons unknown?
Luckily it’s still in warranty so I’ll be taking straight to RSC next week so they can fix it. I’ll be interested myself to find out what’s gone wrong with it when they open it up.

Please keep us updated. Thanks mate.

[lord91]

Originally Posted by GMT Aviator

I noticed the watch was 10 mins slow when I went to put in on a few days ago. Passed it off as me setting it wrong the day before, so gave it a full wind and reset it and strapped it on.
Two hours later it had lost almost 20 mins, so put it on the timegrapher and had a look at it. What a mess. Loosing 178s/day, although it was good amplitude and depend and on position the beat error was all over the place.
The crown function on the 3186 is no where near as good as the older 3185 so I popped the crown out which always feels tight and difficult to engage, cycled the jump hour hand back and forth a bit and put it back on the timegrapher and second time it looked a lot better but still no where near where it should be.
I’m puzzled because the watch has been a solid 1.2s/day since new pretty much. I haven’t knocked it and it’s not magnetised either.
It’ll have to go back to RSC as soon as I get back from this trip I’m on in India, meantime it’s back to one of my old trusty 16710’s with the 3185 which have always been bulletproof.
My ceramic GMT is also on a sub bracelet, so I’m sure they’ll have a moan at me about that when I take it in. Maybe I’d better put it back in its PCL before i take
it.
There’s clearly an internal problem of some kind and I’m wondering if it’s something to do with the crown pin fowling something in the movement.

When you wind it, if you slowly wind the crown, does it feel like something is clinging or is it smooth?

[GMT Aviator]

Originally Posted by lord91

When you wind it, if you slowly wind the crown, does it feel like something is clinging or is it smooth?

Hmmm. Not really. I did wind it slowly held to my ear so I could hear and feel when the spring was fully wound, but the winding felt no different to when I wind it normally.
I do wear this particular GMT most days, and I’d hazard a guess it goes through more jump hour setting than most because it changes time zones A LOT with me when I go flying, so the jump setting gets used a lot, but I’m always careful with it.
All will be revealed by RSC once they have it.

[Brazicano]

When you are setting the time, if it feels loose it could be causing the problem you are describing. For the op though, not the gmt.

[lord91]

Originally Posted by GMT Aviator

Hmmm. Not really. I did wind it slowly held to my ear so I could hear and feel when the spring was fully wound, but the winding felt no different to when I wind it normally.
I do wear this particular GMT most days, and I’d hazard a guess it goes through more jump hour setting than most because it changes time zones A LOT with me when I go flying, so the jump setting gets used a lot, but I’m always careful with it.
All will be revealed by RSC once they have it.

Best of luck to get it fixed quickly and trouble free afterwards

[214270Explorer]

Please post when the watch returns and let us all know what was the issue.