# How accurate do like your wristwatch? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955 "2020-05-01T10:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Anglachel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Anglachel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anglachel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/61 "2020-05-09T15:37:01Z")
I use a Timex digital watch. I always get the same model, usually from Target. Costs in the $30-40 range. I set it using usno.navy.mil whenever I think about it (every couple of months). It usually is a few seconds behind. I had one that was so accurate, it might only be a second off after a few months. I gave that one to my daughter (who doesn’t use it, but still wants to keep it). It is amazing to me that the batteries last so well that I usually replace it because of a band issue without ever changing batteries. I’ve got a “dress” analog watch that I set when I wear it. I don’t hold it to the same standard of accuracy that I demand in my “everyday” watch. Of course, I had to set my watch after reading this thread… ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/62 "2020-05-09T16:18:57Z")
NB: a watch that loses one second per day, every day is still perfectly accurate. The display mechanism merely needs to be adjusted, or the accumulated error taken into account (which is what they did with navigational chronometers, as you could not fiddle with them in the middle of a voyage). ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/63 "2020-05-09T16:56:57Z")
A sustained error of one second a day is INCREDIBLY accurate for a mechanical watch - bordering on unbelievable. For a quartz watch it’s just acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/64 "2020-05-09T22:28:23Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > A sustained error of one second a day is INCREDIBLY accurate for a mechanical watch - bordering on unbelievable. For a quartz watch it’s just acceptable. According to [this page](http://chronocentric.com/watches/accuracy.shtml), in the mechanical wristwatch category, the Swiss institute allows a watch to carry the “chronometer” label only if its “mean daily rate” is no worse than +6/-4 seconds, among other things (±3 being typical, and ±1 “best”), and, more importantly, a mean variation in rates of 2 seconds per day and a “rate resumption” (difference in daily rate after 15 days of testing) of ±5 seconds. The quartz standard is basically ±0.2 seconds/day, including temperature variations, and a rate stability of 0.05. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/65 "2020-05-10T01:57:36Z")
I have a solar powered Citizen radio controlled watch. Which I love and is of course very accurate. I care little about its being so accurate and more that I don’t need to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/66 "2020-05-10T01:56:29Z")
I have a solar powered Citizen radio controlled watch. Which I love and is of course very accurate. I care little about its being so accurate and more that I don’t need to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/67 "2020-05-11T15:56:46Z")
Back when I regularly wore them, I often set them about 5 minutes off. But, ever since I saw Back to the Future, I liked the idea of “synchonizing watches.” And since I use them less often, I more often can get to do that. So that means down to some fraction of a second, probably around 250 milliseconds or so, or whatever threshold I’d actually notice. I have two digital clocks in the kitchen, and I love making them line up perfectly. It doesn’t bug me if they don’t, so I won’t bother to keep them in sync, but occasionally I line them up. The analog clocks in my house are within a minute of the time newly acquired by my computer, and will be resynched to the minute the next time DST changes or I need to change their batteries, whichever comes first. It’s just a pain to take them down and hang them back up if I don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/68 "2020-05-11T16:26:58Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > You didn’t happen to be a Marine, did you? [Terminal Lance “Gunny-Timed” (Marine Corps Times) - Terminal Lance](https://terminallance.com/2015/09/22/terminal-lance-gunny-timed-marine-corps-times/) No, but point well taken. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/69 "2020-05-11T16:29:58Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > My \<$9 Walmart watch was set to my PC time nearly a week ago. Now it’s eight seconds slow. I think my parents paid $9 for my first Dimex watch 60ish years go. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/70 "2020-05-11T18:20:59Z")
I like to set mine 4-5 minutes ahead and then prefer to not know exactly how fast it is when it starts to drift. Helps keep me on time. My favorite wristwatch was a beautiful mechanical self wind but I took it off too often for it to be practical. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/71 "2020-05-11T19:00:54Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > No, but point well taken. 😃 OTOH, there are (non-military!) places in the world where if, say, you receive an invitation for 8 p.m., you had really better not show up before 9 or so lest you find your annoyed hostess still in the shower with bags of groceries around the living room. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/72 "2020-05-18T17:38:01Z")
I used to wear a wristwitch, but the part that the watchband attaches to broke a few years ago, and I never got around to getting a new one. Usually, this doesn’t pose a problem, as I either have my smartphone close at hand or the nearest computer screen is within my line of sight. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/73 "2020-05-18T22:54:14Z")
On May first, I set my cheapo watch to the time on my computer screen and promised to update from time to time. It is now 20 seconds slow. I’m sure everyone has been eagerly anticipating this update! ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955/74 "2020-05-19T04:51:04Z")
My wristwatches are within 5 seconds of [time.gov](http://time.gov). I have two wristwatches. One is my every day wear and dress watch, and the other is a Citizen Eco-Drive as a backup or if I’m going to get dirty. I hack them every month or two so they’re always within 5 seconds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-do-like-your-wristwatch/852955.md?page=3)