How to tell whether the watch movement is original?

2023-07-24

What about the watch movement? Watch manufacturers understand that some friends usually only look at the appearance of the watch, but they cannot identify the quality of the watch movement they buy, which makes it easy to buy inferior watches. What about the watch movement? The following 6 simple tips easily identify good and bad.

1. Look at the appearance of the watch movement

When you buy a new watch, turn to the back to observe the appearance of the watch's movement, especially carefully observing whether the watch processing level of each visible splint and each rotating part is fine and whether the decorative lines on it are even or uneven. In this way, you can initially judge whether the watch movement you purchased is a high-quality one from the appearance design concept and the fineness of processing.

2. Observe the movement status of the watch movement

If the mechanical watch you bought is in a stalled state, you can wind it up or shake the watch for a while. When the watch movement is rotating, observe the balance spring system and escapement mechanism. If it takes more than three laps to start normally, it means that the movement is relatively inferior, indicating that the performance of the main drive train of the movement is not good, and the balance wheel hairspring system in the main rotating wheel parts of the watch movement is not well polarized.

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3. Try the winding feel of the movement

If the balance spring system and escapement mechanism are normal, you can continue to turn the stem to wind the watch movement, but pay attention to 3 points:

①The winding feel should be comfortable and not feel strenuous or uneven;
② Pay attention to the sound when listening to the winding, and the sound should not be gnawing;
③The number of winding circles should not be too much, generally around 20 circles, mainly to test the performance of the winding gear train of the movement;

4. Adjust the shaft second gear test (4 and 5 techniques are applicable to watches with a calendar)

Pull out the stem to the second gear, that is, the calendar quick dial of the watch movement. It is worth noting that when the stem is pulled out to the second gear, you can feel that it is in place, and then turn the stem to quickly dial the calendar ring. At this time, the key point to check is that the calendar ring is driven by the teeth of the quick dial. Each tooth should skip rhythmically. If the rhythm is irregular, it means that there is something wrong with the calendar.

5. Adjust the three gears of the arbor to test the performance of the calendar

Adjust the arbor to the third gear, which is the needle stopper. Turn the arbor to move the hour and minute hands. If you feel good when you turn the arbor, there is basically no problem. If you want to further test the performance of the mechanical movement, you can then observe the error when the two hands overlap to the 12 o’clock position, and continue to turn the arbor so that the hour and minute hands continue to rotate for 24 hours. Pay attention to whether the calendar ring will jump, so as to test the performance of the calendar mechanism under the premise of actual operation instead of fast toggle;

6. Observe the natural drooping position of the automatic rotor of the movement

The last method is to test the performance of the automatic wheel train of the watch movement. This operation is relatively simple. Just pay attention to the natural drooping position of the automatic rotor of the watch movement and rotate the movement vertically.

The above is the method introduced by the watch manufacturer to distinguish the quality of the watch movement, I hope it can help you.