18038 DD Movement Keeps going out of Spec

[TheWatchmen]

Hello,

I wanted to ask for thoughts/possible reasons that my 18038 DayDate might continue to drift/ run out of spec every three months or so.

The 3055 caliber movement was fully serviced when I picked up the watch in Feb of this year.

It was out of spec by about -10 per day in May, and I had it regulated under the 2 year warranty.

It went out of spec by about -20 in August/September, so I had it regulated again.

Fast forward to today, and now it’s about -8 per day, after running at +1 for a few months since it was last regulated.

I wear this watch daily, and am fairly active but take it off at night.

I can and will have to have it regulated yet again, but has Tools or another watchmaker here ever seen this or have thoughts as to why this would keep happening, notwithstanding accidentally knocking the movement?

[George58]

the moment can be regulated better my DD is plus 2sec for the last 12 years

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by George58

the moment can be regulated better my DD is plus 2sec for the last 12 years

Maybe they are not doing a good job regulating it, but the last 3 times it has been regulated, they have it within +2/day. The issue is that it only runs at this spec for about 3 months before going out again.

I will ask them when I take it in. I haven’t a lot of knowledge about regulating a watch; that is, I just figured once they had the balance wheel corrected to an acceptable amplitude thus getting the timekeeping into spec for the model, than that was all that is needed.

Are there other things a watchmaker could do aside from adjusting the balance wheel? It did get a full service about 9 months ago, so another assumption I made is that any worn parts that could affect timekeeping would’ve also been addressed, but again I am not versed in what all can/should be done to properly regulate.

[KY..]

Who serviced the watch?
Was it serviced by an RSC or Authorized Rolex Watchmaker?
If not, I would look there because it could be parts or lubricant related as well as calibration…
Does both the date and day snap change at midnight consistently?
Could be something there as well…

[Tools]

It is unusual for it to drift this much so often.

You say that you wear it a lot and are active, but have you tried to fully wind it every week or two to ensure that it is in its upper power range? When you take it off at night do you place it by any high-power electrical devices?

Do you know who performed the service (local or RSC)

[saxo3]

Get your watch measured with a timegrapher, by somebody who knows how to do it correctly.

[TheWatchmen]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I did not have it serviced by RSC, rather by a local Rolex certified watchmaker at an AD in Denver.

I do know the watchmaker personally and I have confidence he knows what he’s doing, but I don’t want to mention him by name here.

I haven’t tried giving it a full wind every week or two, but will do that. I doubt it will solve the issue, as I have given it a full wind at times but to no avail - though not that frequently, so who knows.

When I take it off at night, there is my iPhone, sometimes an iPad, and a Wolf winder next to it. Sometimes the watch goes onto the winder for a few days if I wear another watch but this one gets 90% of my wrist’s time. I have noticed that at 650 rotations a day on the winder it loses a little time compared to just wearing it everyday, but I think the situation I’m seeing is different than the mainspring just being a “minimal” power.

I’ll give these tips a try though, and appreciate the time and thoughts!