Determining the true running accuracy and the actual condition of a mechanical watch has  been a task best left to watchmakers as the electronic testing equipment needed to accomplish that task is expensive and quite complicated.  Of course, a watch owner could easily determine if his/ her watch  was running fast or slow, but for many watch enthusiasts that was not enough.  What they wanted was an affordable testing device that would be easy to operate and just as accurate as the expensive Swiss made units used by professional watchmakers.

Recognizing the market potential, Orbita began in-house research and development of a suitable microphone device that  could “listen” to the ticking of the watch and “hear” the various sounds emanating from the watch’s movement.  The task was daunting and so Orbita contracted with an electronic acoustic consultant to move the project forward.  It took several years to achieve a microphone system that was reliable and easy to use.  There were also other obstacles to overcome, including  designing signal filtering to eliminate ambient noise and when that was achieved,  converting the " clean" microphone signal to digital form.  At the same time, suitable algorithms had to be developed to render the digital output suitable for driving the LED Display screen. Finally, with the engineering completed and tested, production was ready to proceed. Like many consumer electronic companies, we decided to partner  with a well-known Asian manufacturer of sophisticated electronic test equipment, thereby obtaining the best of both worlds, superb production capability and extremely affordable pricing.

The Orbita Watch Tester is comprised of three free standing components:
1.  LED Display Case Module with push button controls.
2.   Six position Microphone Stand with spring-loaded watch mount.
3.   Power Supply with on/off switch and input/output power cords.

The Tester is easy to use.  The watch to be tested is positioned on the Microphone Stand with the watch crown resting against the pick-up fingers.  When power is applied, the Tester automatically determines the beat frequency, choosing 18000, 19800, 21600, 25200, 28800 or 36000 beats per hour.  Then the beat error in micro seconds, the time error in seconds per day (+ or -) and the beat amplitude is displayed on the screen.  A synthesized tick sound may be selected and screen brightness can be adjusted.  Testing accuracy is comparable to that of the most expensive Swiss-made professional testers.

Click here to read a recent review of the Mechanical Watch Tester.

Click here to view the Mechanical Watch Tester operating manual.

     DIMENSIONS (inches)

PRICE (net)

    W10000

    7.9W x 7.1H x 4.0 D