
A mechanical movement must strive for both, of course.

Therefore, accuracy does not require precision or vice-versa. Therefore, a watch that loses four seconds every day may not be accurate, but it is still precise in the amount of time it loses. The less variance there is, the more precise something is. Precision, on the other hand, is variation averaged over time. So, a watch that loses less than a second a day is more accurate in timekeeping than a watch that loses three seconds a day.

The less deviation from its reference point, the more accurate something is. Accuracy is the measurement of deviation from a given reference or target. However, before we continue, it is worth noting that accuracy and precision are not interchangeable terms. It is the extent to which they lose time that differentiates great movements from the merely good.ĪCCURACY AND PRECISION ARE NOT THE SAME THING After all, isn’t being accurate and precise in keeping time the entire point of any timepiece? Strictly speaking, not really. Some might think that obsessing about the accuracy and precision of a watch may be rather redundant. This article will take a look at five such movements that deserve mention. But there are those mechanical movements that are astoundingly accurate. Not all timepieces are as accurate as people presume and a watch lover know that nearly every watch loses at least a few seconds a day. We too share in that obsession with our fellow watch lovers, having analyzed the factors that determine what makes a watch movement accurate and reliable, which you can read about here. That too resides in the quality of its movement. We here at LIV Watches share in that obsession, as can be seen in our article discussing our belief in Swiss-made Sellita movements.Īnother obsession for many horologists and watch lovers is that of the accuracy and precision of a watch.

Little wonder that watch lovers obsess so much about movements.

Let it be said: there are few things more beautifully engineered than a mechanical watch movement.
