Toolwatch – Measure The Accuracy Of Your Watch

Three guys – Marc, Sylvain and Vincent – who are working in the Swiss watch industry just launched their private project called Toolwatch. This project consists of a website that enables you to measure and track the accuracy of your wristwatch(es), without using expensive measuring equipment or doing the maths yourself using an atomic clock.

The Toolwatch website allows you to – after free registration – to add watches to your own private profile. As soon as you did, you can start tracking and measuring the accuracy of your watch. You just have to sync your timepiece with the Toolwatch website. It can be a bit confusing at first – it was for me, so that doesn’t say anything about Toolwatch – but you have to enter the time your watch is displaying at the end of the countdown of the application.

As soon as you click ‘measure your watch’, a little countdown timer is shown, as soon as it ends, remember the exact time of your watch and enter it in the text box (in 24 hour format, including the seconds).

The screenshots of the Toolwatch website below show you how it’s actually done.

This website can keep track of your watches and their accuracy and can be updated as often as you want. It is advised to check again after approx 24 hours to see how your watch is doing. You can do it more often or within the 24 hours, but then keep in mind how you have worn or treated the watch. Was it on a night stand for 8 hours or did you actually wear it?

It is an interesting application that will show you the most accurate watch in your collection but also indicate when a watch is far off (let’s say above 10 seconds per day) and might need a service or regulation. For chronometer certified (COSC) watches, it might be interesting to see whether they are indeed performing within specifications (-4/+6 seconds per day). Some brands have their own standards (f.i. Seiko or Rolex with their new movements), which are also interesting to ‘audit’ yourself using Toolwatch. If you really want to go nuts about accuracy, there is no escape from buying professional equipment of course, that also measure the amplitude of the balance wheel, the beat error and where you can measure the watch in all different positions. In any case, as a free service, Toolwatch offers a great tool for watch collectors.

I can imagine it would be at least interesting to gather and show data of the same type of watch to get an idea about their accuracy. But this can be only done using the right sample size of watches of course, so don’t wait any longer and visit Toolwatch.