Orient F6/F49 series movement accuracy regulation guide ------------------------------------------------------- This guide is specifically tailored to the Orient F6 platform (including F6xxx and F49xx) automatic movements but may work for other mechanical movements of Orient or other brands as well. Your mileage may vary. For several Orient F6/F49 movements in a good working condition, this method has proven to achieve the accuracy of ±1 second per day for the 24/7 continuous wearing mode, making it to the quartz-grade deviation of 30 seconds per month at most. This method is convenient for following at home, away from any specialized watch services. Besides the watch itself, you will need: 1. A caseback opener tool suitable for your watch model. 2. A timegrapher (hardware or software) capable of measuring the movement's accuracy in the "dial down" position. I have tested this method solely with the acoustic-coupled software timegrapher for Android called "Watch Accuracy Meter". 3. Knowledge of the current daily deviation value (let's call it DDBR - daily deviation before regulation) based on the previous accuracy measurements every 24 hours for several days. If you have bought and set a new watch, I recommend wearing it at least for a week noting the deviation from the reference time every single day at about the same time, and only going for the regulation process when the run of the movement settles according to your daily routine and when you know exactly one value of its daily deviation. For example: if you bought an Orient Tristar and started wearing it 24/7 with the second hand deviating +5s from the reference time at the time of setting (as the F4902 are non-hacking), then you record deviation values throughout the week, e.g.: +11, +21, +30, +38, +45, +52, +59. At this point, in this example, you can be pretty sure your DDBR value is settled on +7 spd. Note: a common mistake is to take the average value over the entire measurement period as the DDBR. This might be suitable from the consumer's perspective as an overall accuracy estimation, but is completely useless for regulation purposes. To get DDBR, you must register the deviation every 24 hours and fix the difference between the current and the previous one. Once the difference is stable, this is your DDBR. 4. A small (<=2mm) flathead screwdriver with a non-magnetic tip. With these four things, we can start the regulation process: 1. Unscrew the caseback and lay the watch flat with the movement facing up. If the rotor is covering the balance wheel, rotate the rotor so that it isn't. 2. Using your timegrapher (hardware or software), measure the current deviation in this "dial down" position. Let's call it TGDBR (timegrapher deviation before regulation). 3. Calculate the target timegrapher deviation (TTGD) by subtracting the DDBR value from what you've just measured: TTGD = TGDBR - DDBR. 4. Now, you are ready to perform the adjustment. Find the correct lever above the balance wheel (and, unless you have a hardware timegrapher, don't ever touch the other one!) and the direction in which you need to move it. They usually are marked with "+" and "-" signs so you can't get confused, but anyway, check the docs for your movement if you have any. For Orient F6 platform movements, the speed regulation lever is the thinner one, closer to you, and the directions are the following: slower clockwise, faster counterclockwise. So, if your TGDBR is greater than your TTGD, then you need to slow down the watch, and if your TGDBR is less than your TTGD, then you need to make it faster. This helps to determine the direction of your first movement. 5. Using the non-magnetic screwdriver tip, gently and slowly move the speed regulation lever in the determined direction until you reach the desired TTGD value on the timegrapher. Move it just a tiny bit at a time, then wait for ~10 seconds and then measure. It is extremely easy to overshoot and requires micrometric precision, so you might have to go back and forth several dozen times before reaching the actual TTGD value. Note: if your calculated TTGD value (or the measured TGDBR value) is a fraction (like +7.5 spd) and your timegrapher doesn't support displaying such values, then the measurement must oscillate between the nearest integer values (in this case, +7 and +8). This is exactly why this method can only achieve the ±1 spd accuracy at all. 6. Once the TTGD is correctly set on the movement and the timegrapher doesn't show any anomalies, screw the caseback on and enjoy your newly regulated mechanical watch. Example with real regulation of my Orient RA-AA0001B (F6922): the DDBR value was settled on +8.5 spd, the TGDBR value was measured as +13.5 spd, so the TTGD value is 13.5 - 8.5 = +5 spd. Another example with real regulation of my Orient RA-AB0F09L (F4902): the DDBR value was settled on +2 spd, the TGDBR value was measured as +10 spd, so the TTGD value is 10 - 2 = +8 spd. Closing notes: 1. On the first day(s) immediately after regulation, the watch may run 0.5s faster than expected, so please wait until the accuracy settles for another 12 to 48 hours. Hacking movements tend to go faster after resetting the second hand, so you might have to wait even longer than that. 2. This method relies on the fact that the accuracy difference (not absolute values, but difference) in the "dial down" position of the watch is exactly the same as the accuracy difference in the overall daily average position of the watch. This has been tested for Orient F6/F49 movements but might not be suitable for others. 3. If, some time after the regulation, your watch starts deviating systematically again, then you may repeat the whole process, but this might also mean the movement might have some internal problems and the watch might be in a need of service (e.g. demagnetization or lubrication). Keep in mind that this method is only efficient for the movements that are healthy in all other aspects except accuracy. 4. If your movement is non-hacking (like F4902) and several seconds slow, take off the watch, position it vertically with the dial towards you, and gently shake it with the movement's oscillating frequency, e.g. for F4902 it will be 3 full shakes per second. Stop every 2-3 seconds to check whether the second hand has moved to the desired position according to the reference time. Afterwards, you may also need adjust the minute hand position as well. --- Luxferre ---