DECONSTRUCTING TIME

I JUST LOVE your August cover story, “It’s about time”. The exploded view of the mechanical components illustrates an engineering miracle. On turning to the relevant page inside and looking at the variety of faces and types of watches from all the manufacturers, one finds that the choice is just staggering.

Your inset, “Precision, where you need it”, brings me to the point of my letter. As with previous articles on watches, you never defined what “Master Chronometer Certification” means.

In terms of everyday accuracy in accordance with the code, the figures are -4 seconds to +6 seconds per day. This equates to -122 to +180 seconds per month. That equates to an accuracy of 5 minutes per month or 1 hour per year. If we took the upper limit only of +6 seconds that would mean that the watch would lose -3 minutes a month. Many would consider this level of accuracy unacceptable, compared with other timepieces.

One of the most interesting parameters in the code is this: if you let your watch stand horizontally, it can lose up to -6 seconds per day or, if you stand it vertically, it can gain up to 8 seconds a day. What a novel and archaic way to regulate a watch.

I would make a suggestion to the Swiss watchmaking community, or manufacturers of mechanical watches. Instead of spending 12 days on a test bed, they should allow the customer to measure the accuracy regarding timekeeping in the working situation and then have the watch adjusted to suit the customer. (The problem is the watchmakers think that the watch belongs to them and the owner is only the guardian.)

If you look at the front cover of your magazine, you can see that the balance wheel (close to the top of the page) has four small screws built into the rim of the wheel. By screwing these in or out, you can gain or lose time. As per the previous paragraph, it would take only minutes to adjust the watch to the figures given by the customer, to a much higher degree of accuracy.

Thanks for a great magazine, which is not only entertaining and stimulates our juices, but also has an appeal to the whole family. CHARLES INESON KEMPTON PARK