It’s much the same way with horsepower ratings (at the driveshaft, or at the wheels?), and 0-60 or quarter-mile times. As such, it’s not uncommon to see a car magazine review in which the reviewers state that they actually experienced different fuel efficiency during their testing.
Many of those assumptions are likely to represent the ideal scenario - a new car, with new tires, on a perfectly level, well-maintained road, at sea level, mild temps, etc, etc, etc. More than likely, the numbers were not the results of actual, real-world driving experience in any city or on any highway, but rather the results of the calculations done by the manufacturer’s team of engineers, making certain assumptions about road and weather conditions, car condition, and a host of other variables. Right off the bat, it should raise the question – in what city, or on what highway? These are provided by the manufacturer, typically in a standardized format: “20mpg City / 30mpg Highway”, or something to that effect. When you buy a car, you likely pay some attention to the fuel efficiency ratings. I’ll start with the often-used and much-dreaded car analogy. However, most people do not have a timegrapher, and will instead rely on a combination of mobile apps, web-based tools, and their own diligence in observation when determining the accuracy of their timepieces.Īlthough many of those tools are quite good for what they are, and I don’t want to assume anyone is making mistakes in observation, whenever I read online discussions about timekeeping accuracy, I invariably wonder about the methodology employed, particularly when the discussion involves any degree of complaint regarding the performance of a watch, even when it’s “within spec”.Īs such, I thought it might be worth delving into the topic a bit, from the perspective of both the enthusiast, and the manufacturer. I got mine from for a little over $100, and if you want to be certain about the accuracy of your mechanical watches, it’s a good investment, especially if you have a large collection, timekeeping accuracy is important to you, or if you plan to adjust or regulate your watches.
Some of those people may purchase a timegrapher machine, like the one I have in my office, or the ones any good watchmaker would have. For the £150 for a timer of eBay, do I scrap the idea? Or, it would be a really useful tool for a clock and watch repairer so is it worth putting the time in and making this, which I'm willing to do providing I'm not going down an impossible or very difficult path.Despite the fact that most watch collectors understand a mechanical watch is inherently less accurate than a quartz watch, the hobby tends to attract people with a certain penchant for paying close attention to minute details, and as such, it’s not uncommon to see a discussion regarding mechanical watch accuracy take place among watch-geeks. The second job would then be allowing you to select the KNOWN beat from a menu and it displaying the error + or - from what it should be, a much easier value to work with as you can then adjust the watch to try and correct the error.Īny help appreciate. The first job would be just listening and capturing the average beat time. We are describing a beat as a tick or then a tock.
Would this be possible with an arduino? Most watches beat at between 4-8 beats per minute. These are available reasonably from China, they are a very very basically a pickup microphone, listen to the tick tock and time it. I repair watches and make clocks and I've always wanted a timing machine.
Hi, I'm very rust with arduino and micro controllers but did a good few projects a few years back including making a coin change machine and a few other bits ( )