You've probably already experienced it: a mechanical watch that you love, that you wind with an almost ritual pleasure, and which, without warning, ends up displaying a minute ahead after a few days. Oddly enough, we complain about it more often than the other way around. As if watches had, deep down, a natural tendency to rush. Is this a defect? A mechanical fatality? Or, more subtle still, a logical consequence of the way they are designed, adjusted and worn?
In the collective imagination, time “should” be neutral: neither early nor late. But watchmaking is an art of compromise. Absolute accuracy does not exist in mechanics; it is negotiated, regulated, experienced. And if certain watches advance more than they delay, it is not always an accident: it is sometimes a technical, practical, almost cultural preference.
A human bias creeps into our perception. A late watch puts us at fault: we arrive too late, we miss a train, an appointment, a museum opening. An early watch “protects” us by pushing us to leave earlier. In fact, many owners prefer a watch slightly early rather than late.
This preference has long influenced the way certain watches are adjusted when leaving the workshop: it is better to save a few seconds per day than to lose them. Historically, in contexts where punctuality was synonymous with seriousness (railways, navigation, armies), delay was more difficult to accept than advance. This does not mean that brands “rig” their watches so that they move forward, but that there is a psychological and practical tolerance that is more favorable in advance.
A mechanical watch does not tell time: it makes it. Its oscillator, the balance wheel, beats at a defined frequency, and the gear train converts this cadence into minutes and hours. Precision therefore depends on the stability of this cadence.
In everyday life, several variables influence walking. Some cause delay, others advance. But many common factors on a modern wrist tend to speed up the watch more often than slow it down.
Gravity does not act in the same way depending on whether the watch is flat, vertical, or tilted. Friction, minimal play, balance of the balance and the action of the escapement vary depending on the positions.
A well-adjusted watch is usually adjusted in several positions (3, 5, sometimes 6) to minimize deviations. But in real life, it goes from a mobile wrist to a nightstand, from a desk to a jacket pocket. However, certain “common” positions at night (dial up on a table, for example) can save it a few seconds, while others will cause it to be lost. Many wearers unconsciously adopt laying habits that favor moving forward.
Amplitude refers to the angle of rotation of the balance wheel. When the mainspring is well armed (watch wound, or automatic worn actively), the amplitude is higher. And depending on the escapement setting, the oils, and the geometry of the hairspring, the increase in amplitude can modify the rate.
In an ideal world, isochronism (constancy of period, regardless of amplitude) would be perfect. In reality, it is never completely true. Result: some watches gain a little when they are “full of energy”, and lose when they are at the end of their power reserve. If you lead an active lifestyle and wear your watch every day, you hold it in its favorable torque zone more often, which can, depending on the caliber, translate into a more frequent slight advance.
Before modern alloys, temperature was a major source of error: the balance spring expanded, the balance changed inertia, oils varied in viscosity. Progress has been immense (silicon hairsprings, Nivarox-type alloys, more stable lubricants), but real life remains an imperfect laboratory: hot wrist, cold air, rapid transitions between indoors and outdoors.
Depending on the materials and the setting, a thermal variation can slightly speed up the watch. However, our watches spend a lot of time in contact with a wrist at a relatively stable and high temperature. Here again, everyday life can statistically favor a small gain rather than a loss.
If we had to elect a great contemporary leader of progressive watches, it would often be him. When a watch magnetizes, the hairspring can partially “stick” to itself: its active length decreases, the frequency increases, and the watch sometimes advances spectacularly (several minutes per day).
And magnetism is everywhere: bag clasps, headphones, magnetic cases, speakers, tablets, computers, induction hobs. Recent watches sometimes incorporate antimagnetic solutions, but not all are equipped with them to the same level. A watch that moves suddenly, without any other symptoms, often merits a visit to the demagnetizer before any other hypothesis. The device has become very accessible: see a selection.
Certifications provide a benchmark, but also an illusion: that of guaranteed precision in all circumstances. The COSC, for example, imposes average criteria of -4/+6 seconds per day for a tested movement. Other, more modern labels regulate walking differently depending on exposure to magnetic fields and wearing conditions.
Notice the logic: many standards tolerate advance more than delay, or accept asymmetries. For what ? Because in real adjustment, obtaining a watch that never delays is often more difficult, and because usage sometimes prefers a slight gain to a slight delay. But above all, because the tests are carried out in precise conditions: real life is a thousand sheets of unforeseen events.
We must distinguish the “reasonable” advance from the problematic advance.
A mechanical watch is not a smartphone: it also tells your health story. A progressive drift can indicate changing lubrication, dust, oil aging, or an adjustment that needs to be optimized.
Before running to the workshop, a few simple actions can provide clues—and sometimes correct the lead.
Note the daily deviation at a fixed time. A watch lives to the rhythm of your routine: it is by observing several days that we distinguish a trend from an accident.
Many amateurs play with positions like fine tuning:
If your watch is moving forward, try a nighttime position that causes it to lag slightly (or advance less). It's watchmaking micro-choreography: an elegant remedy, because it respects mechanics instead of constraining it.
A watchmaker can demagnetize in seconds. Some collectors equip themselves with a small demagnetizer, but the diagnosis remains important: the advance is not always magnetic, and speed and random drift should not be confused. You will find watch demagnetizers for less than 20 euros from the brand that delivers very quickly: here.
An adjustment often consists of acting on the racket (if the caliber has one) or acting more finely on the balance/spring depending on the design. The objective is not to transform the watch into a laboratory instrument, but to obtain a performance consistent with your use. A good watchmaker will ask you the real question: how do you wear it?
We love mechanical watchmaking because it humanizes time. She does not recite it; she interprets it. A watch that advances slightly is not always “worse”: sometimes it is simply tuned for the real world, or influenced by the invisible forces of our time—magnetism, movement, thermal contrasts.
And then, there is a discreet poetry to this idea: if your watch is running ahead, it is perhaps because it is inviting you to arrive before time. In a life that is too full, this slight gain almost seems like a luxury.
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