On hacking second

[monsieur_z]

I have a question on the cogs coupling between second and minute hands...

Let's say I hack the seconds hand at exactly 0 sharp vertical, and then I move the minute hand with the crown.

If I set the minute hand slight off (eg quarter way between two minute marks), will the minute hand stay off, or there's some coupling mechanism that forces the minute hand back in sync with the second hand ?

Will the watch ever let me set the minute hand that far off compared to the seconds hand?


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[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by monsieur_z

I have a question on the cogs coupling between second and minute hands...

Let's say I hack the seconds hand at exactly 0 sharp vertical, and then I move the minute hand with the crown.

If I set the minute hand slight off (eg quarter way between two minute marks), will the minute hand stay off, or there's some coupling mechanism that forces the minute hand back in sync with the second hand ?

Will the watch ever let me set the minute hand that far off compared to the seconds hand?


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If I understand your question, there is nothing to force them to be correct. In fact, many others have posted in the past asking why "their minute hand was out of alignment". The problem was that they were hacking the watch at some random second, and then setting the minute hand precisely. But this just ensures that the minute would line up with its mark at whatever that random second was, which makes everything look off.

So to really align everything all the way you want to hack when the second hand is exactly at 0 (12 o'clock) then set the minute hand to an exact minute marker, then things will be perfect. One final minor point is when doing that minute hand setting, also approach the time in a clockwise direction. That will take up any slack in the gear train which could cause a minor shift in the hands' alignment.

[kieselguhr]

If you set it 1/4 way between 2 minute markers, it will remain at whatever distance it settles at between 2 markers every minute. The only movement that has a “sync” would be a jumping “minute” like ALS Zeitwork. In which case the minute jumps between whole minutes during time setting.

[Robf52]

If you set it so the hands are in alignment, they will stay in alignment. If you don't, they won't.

[George58]

Originally Posted by Robf52

If you set it so the hands are in alignment, they will stay in alignment. If you don't, they won't.

right on
move the second hand past the mark you want then turn back past it then move it to the mark the slack has been removed mow

[Tools]

The hands are gear driven. They will always re-set to their relative positions according to how the gears mesh.

There is no magical way that you can force the hands to align themselves any way differently than how they would be once the gears are re-engaged.

Also, because there are a number of different gears engaged between the different hands, there will always be some "drift". This is caused because gear cut and size are not perfect.

You cannot get digital performance from a bunch of metal mechanically driven parts bolted together.

[monsieur_z]

Thanks, the reason I asked is, on some watches (BB58), with the second hand perfectly at 0, the minute hand seems to refuse to be set accurately. When the crown is released, the minute hand would move slightly off (always the same offset). I don't suffer from OCD but I was wondering what would cause this slight misalignment.

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