General question about Rolex movement break in

[VTSKL]

As subj.

Is it a myth, that a new watch need's to "break in", "settle down" etc. over a 1-2 month period, to see how accurate/consistent the watch runs ?

And i so. Which way does it go. Does the movement typically slow down, og gain ?

Rgds
L

[eminere™]

I imagine it's a myth, since the watches would've been sitting in the dealer's showcase for a while before being sold? By the time you purchase it, it could've been months since the production date already. Interesting question, would love to know the definitive answer as well.

[padi56]

Well most mechanical watches need a break in period of around a month to sort of bed in and get used to your wearing habits.Some are fine some run a little slow but in general tend to speed up by a few seconds then settle down.Consistency is one of the important factors with mechanical watches,but there will always be some very slight daily deviations.The many posts on this and other forum with there watches out by just a couple of seconds either way.And they want to get back off to have them regulated,they don't realise many factors can make a watch gain or loose one or two seconds.Such as temperature different wearing habits etc,if a watch is way out consistently to the COSC spec well yes get them regulated.But for a couple of seconds leave well alone,its not worth getting the back off for.

[ROLEX MAN]

They "DO" need to get used to the owner and it's wearing habits!

[Porsche]

Originally Posted by padi56

Well most mechanical watches need a break in period of around a month to sort of bed in and get used to your wearing habits.Some are fine some run a little slow but in general tend to speed up by a few seconds then settle down.Consistency is one of the important factors with mechanical watches,but there will always be some very slight daily deviations.The many posts on this and other forum with there watches out by just a couple of seconds either way.And they want to get back off to have them regulated,they don't realise many factors can make a watch gain or loose one or two seconds.Such as temperature different wearing habits etc,if a watch is way out consistently to the COSC spec well yes get them regulated.But for a couple of seconds leave well alone,its not worth getting the back off for.

I wondered the exact same thing several months ago, and can now back up Paddi's comments above with some hard data.

Bought my GMTIIc in September 2008. I checked it most days for the first few weeks, and I was disappointed to discover that it was losing approx 2 seconds a day. I know that's well within specs, just that I was hoping it would be better. So I thought I would just wait for it to settle. I accurately set it again on 1st November, and can now confirm that over the last 100+ days it has lost about 25 seconds in total.

So that works out to be less that 0.25 seconds a day. Obviously I am mighty impressed, and as Padi says, it has sped up a bit and has now settled down.