On 04/11/2012 10:58, Paul wrote:
Paul wrote:
choro wrote:
On 04/11/2012 01:18, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Fri, 02 Nov 2012 22:27:45 -0400, Paul wrote:

Quartz oscillators can have a trimmer cap in the design. And
that can be used to trim out the initial tolerance. My digital
watch has one of those in it.

The last time I looked inside a quartz watch, I couldn't find a
trimmer,
to my (mild) annoyance.

It was a Timex, if that is in any way relevant.

What do you need a trimmer for IF it has been set properly at the
factory. --
choro
*****

A trimmer can be used to correct for quartz aging, on a digital watch.

Even if a watch is "perfect" when it leaves the factory, it won't
be perfect any more in ten years time.

Paul

Even the old analog watches needed adjustment.

We had a gadget at work (a government lab), for tuning wind up
watch mechanisms. They were used on chart recorders left outdoors.
(You'd wind the mainspring, and the chart recorder would run
for a week at a constant speed.) But, the same tuning machine,
could also be used to tune watches, and I suspect the machine
was used for as many employee watches, as it was used for field
chart recorders.

It had chart paper output, and the line drawn on the paper would drift
left or right, if your watch was off.

I couldn't find a picture of one.

I see now, there's an electronic version. So no more chart
paper as proof of adjustment. This takes all the fun out of it.

http://www.witschi.com/e/produkte/?sub=1&cat=&id=239

Paul

You are perfectly right on this score, of course, but not many people
keep their quartz watches that long these days, with the exception of
course of extremely expensive models. Watches are so cheap these days
that it is cheaper to buy a new quartz watch than to have one, quartz
*or* mechanical, serviced. --
choro
*****