Possibly stupid beginner question...

[Pip]

Oh, so you don't set the seconds hand to 12 as well?


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[Pip]

Oh, so you don't set the seconds hand to 12 as well?


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Just re-read that and it may have sounded a bit facetious. It was an honest question so apologies if it came out wrong.


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[swordfish]

One can set the second hand anywhere convenient. I too try very hard to have it pointing exactly at one of the second marks, not between them. That's less important with a mechanical watch, which usually advances 5 or more times per second, but important with a battery operated watch which advances only once per second.


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[Brian3]

Hi Pip, I was trained to set all the hands at 12.

As said previously, advance the watch until the day and date change, at that point fit the hour hand, I advance 24 hours again to make sure it's on the money, date must change first, followed closely by day, (I was trained at a Rolex funded school, these were their tolerances) once happy with hour hand alignment fit minute, again at 12, once again advance 24 hours to confirm day and date change are correct, a consistent date change in a 4 minute window is acceptable, two minutes to and two minutes after 12. Again set seconds hand with all hands at 12.

The reason for this is you can get your hand spacing correct, the space from the dial to the hour hand, hour to minute, minute to seconds should all be consistent, obviously as said earlier it is vital the seconds clears the crystal, if that is an issue lower the whole hand group, again you are looking for equal gaps between the hands, small points like this really make a watchmaker stand out from the crowd, make it a habit!

Good luck and keep enjoying working on your watches.

[bobm12]

No need Pip, I know it was!

Thank you Brian, those are excellent details. Much appreciated!

Cheers