3135 / 3185 power reserve test under way!

[PeterT]

Hi, with the Christmas hols well under way I thought I would see which of these 4 watches would run for the longest after the same number of winds.
My question is what constitutes a wind? The crown guards do get in the way of a bit of finger and thumb action. Is one wind 360 degrees or what you can realistically achieve using your thumb and first finger?
Anyway, each watch got the same 50 winds. There was probably 10 minutes between the first one running and the last. I should really have pushed in the crowns together but maybe I will do this if I have another go some time!!

The contenders and the order that I got them running:

V serial SD

V serial TT Blue Sub (16613)

F serial GMT II Black

Z serial GMT II Red Black

There should be no difference in the wear rating as the older watches are as new really. None have ever been back to Rolex for any attention. They are all in the same watch box, each sitting on a little cushion with the face pointing upwards.

So which watch will win and why?

PeterT

[snow_rocks]

Sub will win!

[JJ Irani]

The newer ones should come up with times pretty close to around the 48 hour mark.

I got just over 48 hours with my V-series Exp-II with the 3186 movement. But, by the same token, I got just under 48 hours with the M-series TT GMT-IIC that is fitted with the same 3186 calibre.

Go figure.

Your results should be interesting - do keep us updated.

Thanks - JJ

[PeterT]

But why not the SD as it has the same movement?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by PeterT

But why not the SD as it has the same movement?

No 2 similar movements will give you the exact same PR.

A lot depends on friction, individual wear & tear, etc.

Like I said above, your final results should be interesting.

JJ

[PeterT]

A little update - after 24 hours all watches are still ticking!!

Peter

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by PeterT

A little update - after 24 hours all watches are still ticking!!

Peter

Well, if they stopped in 24 hours, they'd all be fakes!!

[rc42]

There's a clutch mechanism to prevent overwinding the mainspring, 50 manual winds of the crown should be enough to reach it though, winding beyond that will not store any more energy in the spring but you won't damage it either.

I would expect a small amount of variation between movements but due to the close tollerances of these I wouldn't expect it to be much. Movements using the same mainspring will have the same stored energy and should last approx. the same time whn running.


Good as Rolex movements are you have to respect the Seiko springdrives, not only 70+ hours of reserve but perfectly smooth seconds sweep and the accuracy of a quartz :O

[GMTJOHNNY]

All these test posted by members are great! We have a TESTING RESULTS area on here where we could file all this data?

[padi56]

Originally Posted by GMTJOHNNY

All these test posted by members are great! We have a TESTING RESULTS area on here where we could file all this data?

As long as any Rolex watch made in the last 30 plus years has a power reserve of say 38 to 48 hours does it really matter.

[A1000]

My sub LV made it to 47 hours recently when I switched to my PAM for the weekend. If only it had lasted an hour more I could have avoided having to reset it! I know that I now have to change watches an hour earlier!

[Alsey]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

The newer ones should come up with times pretty close to around the 48 hour mark.

I got just over 48 hours with my V-series Exp-II with the 3186 movement. But, by the same token, I got just under 48 hours with the M-series TT GMT-IIC that is fitted with the same 3186 calibre.

Go figure.

Your results should be interesting - do keep us updated.

Thanks - JJ

I guess the hands on the GMT IIC are larger and thus heavier. So greater force power them...perhaps.

[snow_rocks]

I wonder how they would compare

if the test was done in space?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by snow_rocks

I wonder how they would compare

if the test was done in space?

You want to volunteer?

[snow_rocks]

Originally Posted by snow_rocks

I wonder how they would compare

if the test was done in space?

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

You want to volunteer?

My mind has been in space, just have to

figure out how to get the body there!

[Armand]

The Sub and the SD with the simplier 3135 should run slightly longer.

No 24 hrs hand!

But who knows how much of what grade lubricant is used???

Hermann

[robbonds]

Update?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by robbonds

Update?

The watches still haven't stopped!!

[Andad]

These were my results. Compare them with yours.


Pepsi 48:05:11
GMT TT IIc 47:45:03
LV 47:51:34
SD 47:02:59
GV 46:56:56
Blue TT sub 47:30:53
Daytona 74:07:43 71:35:00 (chrono running).
Sub Date 47:36:32
14060m 45:34:57

[ayres]

hmmm, one replicate for each movement? unfortunately, if you want to have any statistical significance in your results, you would need a very large collection of rolex watches. yep, and you could even block for other sources of variance in your experimental design.

[PeterT]

Well the test was a disaster!!
The furthest any of the watches reached was the black GMT. It only reached 34 hours with the others sadly lagging behind!!!!

What is wrong I wondered, had my AD sold me a load of fakes?!

I then thought back to my original post, in what does a "wind" consist of?
In my winding I had not actually worked out the angle of rotation of the crown. When I checked, one twist of the finger and thumb did not rotate the crown 360 degrees. More like somewhere between 180 and 230 degrees. So my 50 winds was probably only a little more that 25 full rotations in reality.

So I have started the test again, this time I have made sure the watches have had 40 full rotations of the crown.
Would I be correct in saying that there is a slightly different noise/feeling when the spring is fully wound?

2nd time lucky!!

PeterT

[PanosI]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I then thought back to my original post, in what does a "wind" consist of?
In my winding I had not actually worked out the angle of rotation of the crown. When I checked, one twist of the finger and thumb did not rotate the crown 360 degrees. More like somewhere between 180 and 230 degrees. So my 50 winds was probably only a little more that 25 full rotations in reality.

So I have started the test again, this time I have made sure the watches have had 40 full rotations of the crown.
Would I be correct in saying that there is a slightly different noise/feeling when the spring is fully wound?

2nd time lucky!!

PeterT

You got it

40 full rotations (360 degree). One full rotation of the crown is likely 2 and half twists.

I did the test to my new 16613. It gave me 49 hours and 5 minutes

[PeterT]

Just an update after my first failure!!

All watches are still running and we are now at 42.5 hours.

Peter

[JimC]

Cool... I learned something about 'winding' as well.

Waiting, waiting, waiting for the time to run out. Keep us posted; looking forward to the results.

[PeterT]

Here are the results:

SD - 48 hours and 3 minutes.
TT Blue Sub 16613 - 47 hours and 20 minutes.
GMT II Black - 46 hours and 5 minutes.
GMT II Black/Red 46 hours and 37 minutes.

So as you can see the 3135 movement wins the challenge. Do you think that the extra complication of the GMT causes extra load.
Statistically, a poor experiment with only two of each calibre but two is still better than one!!

So there we have it, one thing that I have learnt is how to wind my watches fully. About 80 finger and thumb twists are need to give the full 40 rotations at 360 degrees.

Peter

[scottjal]

Nice, I think you are on to something there with the power reserve being a little less with it trying to push that extra hand but good to see it was only about an hour.

I never wind my watches, they either live on the winder or if being worn they sit on the dresser over night and I wonder what state of wind they are in day to day.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Here are the results:

SD - 48 hours and 3 minutes.
TT Blue Sub 16613 - 47 hours and 20 minutes.
GMT II Black - 46 hours and 5 minutes.
GMT II Black/Red 46 hours and 37 minutes.

So as you can see the 3135 movement wins the challenge. Do you think that the extra complication of the GMT causes extra load.
Statistically, a poor experiment with only two of each calibre but two is still better than one!!

So there we have it, one thing that I have learnt is how to wind my watches fully. About 80 finger and thumb twists are need to give the full 40 rotations at 360 degrees.

Peter

Those are excellent results, Peter......your watches are NOT fakes!!

[JimC]

Very good! Thanks for posting. Those are interesting, and do seem to indicate a trend.