Yah this topic can be a hornets nest so I was avoiding some the stickier subjects. But the OP question was how is timing the same if amplitude is different and compensation is how this is possible.
52 degree lift angle is an assumed average. Lift angle will vary on every movement even if it's the same caliber. Witschi makes a $20k device that can measure true lift angle and true amplitude using a camera. On modern movements the variation won't be much and a fraction of a degree won't won't affect the readings much. On older watches the variance can be much larger. There's a lot more complexity to timing machines than people give credit for. That's why top shops gravitate to the machines that are nearly $10k a piece. The Swiss manufacturers of these devices understand the challenges and are constantly improving methods to better understand the environment within a movement. This is where the trust lies with companies like Witschi. Timegraphers are fantastic hobby devices but don't read into them too much. Swiss makers see problems and are constantly looking for new and better ways for us to tackle and solve them. For Chinese tool makers their challenges are different. It's mainly about making tools that look like and function similar to the Genuine Swiss brands at the lowest cost possible. It's unlikely that they are calibrating timegraphers so that every one produced reads the same.
Also there not actual way for us to know how old the movement is even if the watches were purchased on the same day. Less so with the 32xx but I've seen watches a few months old with a 31xx movement that I suspect had movements that were several years old. No way of knowing for sure, but just not as clean and tidy as one would expect to see.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiBoost
Not to split hairs, but because it's an important point to understand, the machine cannot measure amplitude. First, there's no sound at the far end of the balance wheel swing, and second, that "turnaround point" in the balance wheel does not come at a fixed amplitude anyway. All the machine does is measure how quickly you go through the first X degrees (where there are ticks book-ending that range) and then it infers, basically approximates, how far it thinks it will go total.
This may or may not be useful:
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