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I have a 1969 Stowa “Big Eyes” with a 7730 movement. I have been able to adjust the beat error within a tolerable amount but I am having trouble with the beat rate. I have run out of room on the amount that I can adjust the beat rate regulator down. As it sits now I’m gaining about four minutes a day. I’m looking for a solution. I’m wondering if it is possible to take off the hairspring from the beat rate regulator separate from the one for the beat error adjustment and move it to the other side with the hairspring reattached so that I have more room to slow it down? Please give me your suggestions my knowledge on this is very limited. Here are a couple of pictures one of the watch end of the movement and the reading I was able to get with the beat error adjusted to a tolerable range. You can see where the regulators are sitting at in the picture from what’s shown on the read out.

Assuming the hairspring is sitting correctly in the regulator pins, is flat, correctly coiled and clean. The balance has been correctly lubed and pivots/jewels are all ok, and it is poised ok. The timegrapher is set correctly for lift angle, beat rate etc .I appreciate that the quality of the movement and lack of wear etc are important but assume that these are at acceptable levels. What effect will beat error have, if any, on the positional timing? Is there a target beat error range that should be aimed at for good positional error? Your esteemed comments would be much appreciated.

Hi, one of my favorite watches is my IWC Flieger Chronograph (Ref 3777). The only thing that annoyed me was, that it was almost 3s late every day. 15s or more in a week! I know, this is complaining on the highest possible level. But still. If she would go 15s fast a week. Fine. But not late. My Weishi Timegrapher 1900 showed it pretty clear. After quite some experience with movements I dared to open it! No way to take the movement out, just opening it. Wow, what a nice movement! But regulating the balance proved to be a challenge: There is a little screw (going from the left to the right) which is used for fine regulation. The only problem: the screw is obscured by the case. And the stud is extremely smooth moving. The first thing I did was bringing the balance out of center while pushing just a little bit too hard. I was totally relaxed, because it was easy to bring it back in the right position with the Timegrapher. What is good about the 1900 model is that the two lines (tick and tack) are in different colors. When you push too hard the yellow line is above the green one (or vice versa) and you know, you went too far. The beat error itself does not change (e.g. turning negative). Very nice and helpful feature. It took me quite a while to get everything in perfect condition. With dial down I had to regulate her 2s fast. To make a long story short: in the morning she is spot on and in the evening she is 1s late (again!). But with crown down she is running 1s fast in 7h during the night. Spot on next morning! BUT: Here is my question: The beat error is 0ms dial down but 3ms dial up. I have absolutely no explanation for that. I thought that the beat error should be the same no matter what position the watch is in. This was also the case before I regulated her. I am looking forward to hear your explanation! Thank you and Cheers Alexander

Just uploaded a new video. this one concentrating on correcting beat error.