Breguet

I have had this watch for three years now. Initially it kept very good time - plus or minus about 30 sec a month. Two years ago it stated to fall behind - about 1 minute a week. I sent it to Breguet for repair. It took them three month, but when the watch came back it ran fine for about 8 months and then started to fall back again at about the same rate of a minute a week. I took it to the dealer again who sent it back to Switzerland for repair. Three month later it came back running well again. Now, about 8 month since I got it from the dealer, the watch is slow again. Both times the word from the factory was that al they needed to do was to oil the watch. I wear it every day but carefully as I like it a lot and am very protective of it. 

I came across this chart some time back on the internet not sure who to credit.  It gives you a range for reasonable expectations.

It seems you are falling in the middle of Modern mechanical watch non-certified  at -5 per day.  But it seems strange that after each service and time period you get the same loss.

Bill

Reasonable Accuracy Expectations by Type of Watch	Seconds gain/loss per day			Best Accuracy
	Worst	Typical	Best
Vintage mechanical watch in good repair	+/-60	+/-15	+/-5	99.9826%
Modern mechanical watch non-certified	+/-10	+/-5	+/-2	99.9942%
Modern mechanical watch chronometer certified	+6/-4	+/-3	+/-1	99.9977%
Modern quartz watch non-certified (normal)	+/-2	+/-1	+/-0.1	99.9998%
Modern quartz watch chronometer certified (rare)	+/-0.02	+/-0.02	+/-0.0	99.9999%

Bill, thank you for the response. The table is interesting, but I am wondering how it relates to this specific watch. Do you know whether Breguet ever published a specification for the watch? I found a description on this site  http://www.presentwatch.com/breguet/103313.c2VjdHwx.html  stating  the mechanism is "adjusted in five positions". Should it be taken as indication of above average precision, or is it something unrelated.

It was merely to represent the fact that mechanical watches have margins in which the operate.  But I do think you should try and find out why you get such a variance after each service which seem not to be normal.

Bill

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To a watchmaker that has a good timing machine (the moderns Witsch are great) I would suggest that you do a quick check.

There you can remove the potential ambiguity and check if your watch is under the correct parameters on all positions.

I do this check to all watches that I acquire and this check is very useful to determine, without opening the watch, if the watch is or not in good shape.

I pay extra attention not only to the deviation (seconds/day) but also to other parameters like "beat errors" and the escapement amplitude. Each movement has an ideal amplitude and when the amplitude is too low, it implies (on my non-expert mind) the need of a full service (that is not, I believe, the case of your watch).

Recently I "lost my sleep" with a recent acquisition that was performing at -25s/day and this watch is chronometer certified. I went to my watchmaker expecting the worst and to my surprise a simple adjustment put the watch on 1+/- s/day that I consider to be outstanding for a mechanical watch.

I would love to hear from the true experts from here (I'm just a curious mind on this matter) what they think.

Cheers,

Nilo