felipe
1817
Hi CL, if you think the concept of the Observatoire
is accuracy similar to a watch that entered an observatory competition (Kew A, Patek, etc.), then you completely missed what the watch is about. Like Adam said, there were never any claims that it would have 1-2s/week accuracy, nor did I specify that as a requirement when I commissioned it. Even your quote from Kari saying the watches are capable of this talks about the watches made for observatory trials, not his watch. If you were told otherwise then you were grossly misled. *Can* the P260 be regulated to keep 1-2s/week? I'd wager it can, but so can a lot of other modern movements. I think Adam nailed it with his description and that it's "romantic."
There's a more detailed back story, but the bottom line behind the watch is simply this: Felipe wanted a frankenwatch with a P260 that had better finish than the Be-Ba, and getting it tested gave it a nice story. The end. If you read more than that in "the concept" then I'm sorry to disappoint you. Going back to your original post:
I'm curious if owners of the Observatoires and Chronometre 27 have timed their babies?
No, I haven't
This watch is meant to be super accurate , maybe +- 1-2 secs a week.
No, it's not
So far the very few examples I know are far from this , within COSC, yes but not any spectacular timing.
That's what it was designed to do
Are yours that super accurate and , if not, does it matter to you, given the emphasis of the observatory movement for this watch?
Does not matter to me as long as it keeps reasonable time, i.e. within COSC specs, and that's what I asked of Kari when making the watch
I note that from a few collectors that they have not timed their watch, is it not important? I thought that's the beauty of having this watch.
Not to me, but watches are personal things so YMMV
Nevertheless, it is a super beautiful beast (too big for my wrist though)
That's why I didn't get teardrop lugs 
How accurate is your Kari Obervatoire?
I'm curious if owners of the Observatoires and Chronometre 27 have timed their babies? This watch is meant to be super accurate , maybe +- 1-2 secs a week. So far the very few examples I know are far from this , within COSC, yes but not any spectacular ti...
I have not timed my Kari....
Nor have I timed any other watch of mine for that matter. Its not important to me at all. I start to get upset when it runs +/- 5 to 10 minutes a day and if I wear it for a week its an hour off. Then I send it for service. Luckily, this has only happened ...
Interesting reply and philosophy Asg, reading your reasoning.....
on one hand I agree...a little bit and on the other I disagree totally. Yes, if one wants accuracy it is very easily available nowadays through an I-phone for example and I tend to agree with you that romanticism may be an important factor but only one fa...
Shortly after I got it the offset was 2 seconds/day. I recently wore it for the holidays..
and it was gaining 8 seconds/day. At night it was placed crown up.
Hmm...you may want to place it dial down to slow it down.
Interesting , as it seems from ASG point of view, it's the romantic part of the 'Observatory' history that's important, the accuracy is not. I think understand that view, it does make some sense to me. How about you Ronald, you share the same view? *CL
Yes the historical link is important, but...
I expected better rates in the 1 -2 secs/day.
Observatory competitions - not the watch but the regulator
The watch wasn't the most important part of the observatory tests, it was the regulator - the person who set it up - and their name appeared in the list of results. Highly skilled and experienced, they could spend months getting a watch to observatory lev...
That's really interesting and insightful....
Thank you Nick. I hope to know more timings from others and their opinion on time keeping regrading Observatory movement. *CL
My experience
As posted last January, I wore my Observatoire continuously for a month after it arrived, winding it morning and night as suggested in the paperwork. Total deviation over 30 days was +9 seconds -- pretty good! Something on the order of a third of a second...
Hmmm...is it possible that
the Observatoire is very accurate when one measured every forthnightly or so but not daily. There's one example I know that go up and down within +8 sec -3sec but landed a total of +2 per week on the 7th day testing. Journe once mentioned that accuracy in...
Duirng the month of my trial...
...I checked the watch every day, and it was almost perfectly accurate -- no big swings plus and minus that averaged out over the period of a month. I do think that it helped to wind the watch morning and night for isochronism purposes -- Kari does recomm...
Thanks Gary....
Is yours a version that was sent to the Beasancon test? Yours is very well regulated and truly deserving the name 'Observatoire'. Congrats Cheers, CL
Mine did go to Besancon
...and the results, while well within the requirements, were not as good as my real-world experience with the watch. To be honest, I was mildly disappointed with the test results -- but very pleased with the daily performance/accuracy of the watch itself!...
Very interesting...I had the same experience.
Mine did go to the Besancon too and the result won't that impressive at all but , according to the new owner, the real life timing is very accurate, such as yours. So maybe Kari regulate the watch base on real life situation instead of those tests. I'm no...
Good question
Even though I have not yet timed my Observaotire, I appreciate the fact that it is borne of a vintage Observatory grade movement, I suppose what some have described as part of its romantic history. More than that I enjoy the nearly perfect design and fini...
Oh...another gentleman knows how much
I would love to be able to fit my wrist on that watch. I tried and tried , eventually give up. It's not the fault of the watch , just my wrist. As for Dato, it wears smaller than Obseravtoire due to the case and bezel design PLUS it is also a complication...
wow....so you actually keep track
of the timing after 3months? So what is the daily variants? I'm very impress with your Observatoire Cheers, CL
huh?......
what does this have to do with Alkis? Maybe I ask it wrongly, what I mean is do you happen to know if your watch is gaining constantly at 0.5 sec per day? Or you just happen to note that it is running 1 minute fast after 3 months. Sorry if you understand ...
John - my friend…
I think you are stretching a bit in your post. First - observatorie is the name of the watch. The pesaux 260 WAS originally made as an observatorie grade movement. Never, at least in all my conversations with Kari and in reading the literature and examini...
One last thing…
The Kew A is many many many things fantastic and important and historic and… one thing it is not - beautiful. I have seen it in person and it's owner agreed with me - it's not a beautiful watch. It's a small oyster case with a plain dial. It's the h...
Hi Adam...
You are making an assumption without fully knowing me even though you said we are friends. You truly owe me a dinner ;-) Never in any of my post I mention anything about you and the 'relationship' of your watches as I know and truly try to understand your...
I concur
... just on the Kew A.: it is very beautiful to my eyes. Although I wish its size were a little larger, being 34mm is still fine with me, and I usually prefer small size to large. And yes aesthetics can be very personal (no right or wrong) and I'm glad I ...
HI John -
Let me start off be stating that I'm not looking to start a fight or argument with you. I do consider us friends – and I know you do too ? I will email you privately to ask for clarification to some things you posted - Anyway - I do believe that your init...
Thanks Adam....
Why did I not test the watch myself? A very good question and I shall answer you honestly as a true gentleman. I told my friend I will wear the watch for a day to see if it is too big...if it is too big, I will let him know. AND.....I will not wind the wa...
Hi CL, if you think the concept of the Observatoire
is accuracy similar to a watch that entered an observatory competition (Kew A, Patek, etc.), then you completely missed what the watch is about. Like Adam said, there were never any claims that it would have 1-2s/week accuracy, nor did I specify that as a...
Thank You Felipe.....
That's exactly the type of 'simple' answers I was hoping to get from the owners. The expectation of such watch and how it performs in real life. No doubt I know it is capable to perform at an Observatoire standard if given the extra consuming regulatiing ...
Somebody mentioned Patek?
Dear Felipe, nothing intended against you. I am just using your post as an excuse to express my ideas about watches. I own and have owned quite a few Pateks and quite frankly I would never associate them with precise timekeeping. It is true that the name ...
HI CL,
I didn't measure mine before I sold it but as the watch is already within +/-2~3 secs deviation it will be very difficult to improve upon. My believe is the observatory tests were performed under clinical environment and will never measure up to the rigor...
Congratulation....
I will email you. Please share with me your new watch, sound very interesting. You are really enjoying yourself with really interesting pieces recently Truely happy for you *CL
3 more questions
Dear CL, I am not sure either I understand your situation and the intention of the thread you've initiated. Did you not order your Voutilainen already in fear that it might be too large for your wrist? What do you expect people to think when they hear tha...
My reply to you is very simple and straight forward....
Hope you can comprehend and not over read it. I have a 6.25 inch wrist, so a watch that's too big for me is usually PERFECTLY FINE for others. Average wrist is around 6.5 to 6.7 inches....... so that's not a demerit point for this watch in term of size. A...
CL, I believe your question is valid..
.. I do agree that as a watch collector you're totally entitled to ask questions regarding accuracy of a watch based on others experience. But my personal experience in these forums tells me sometimes owners are very protective of their holy grails. It on...
Thank you....I think this sensitive
mainly because the sentence are worded and not spoken. So online forum has a certain limitation and thus things are easily misunderstood. I can understand that and thank you for believing my good intention Cheers, CL
Well said, Sidney
Sidney - you said it perfectly. I totally agree that the forum should be more open to both good and bad comments. Most of the time I only see comments about how great a watch is. Any negative comments or questions get zapped with no mercy. No watch is per...
I suppose that I expect better rates than I am seeing...
I did not expect 1 sec/week, but 1-2 a day, Stiil the watch looks nice and the finish is on a par with Dufour. I would like to see that movement regulated and then monitored at home for a few months.
Helping accuracy
As one who sometimes adjusts watches I have some advise for those who are wanting the most accuracy. As the wearer you can help with this. First of all be as consistent as you can with your wearing habits. Don't wear the watch all day one day and only 2 h...
Sound advice
and remember that some of these time-checking devices may not be as relevent to everyday experiences plus the positional controls! And they may need to be re-calibrated (German: geeicht). after a couple of years. Yes, this is necessary for some strap-on, ...
The name Kari is definiely on par with Dufour :-)
Have you ever thought of having watchmaker such as Alkis to try regulating the watch? He knows this watch well and it is a very simple movement. Since it's just regular regulating, you do not need any special parts plus Alkis is a very careful person. Ima...
one more thing.....
my old lange used to run at +8 sec a day. What I did is I have the watch dial face down while resting in my watch box at night, it then becomes a constant +2 sec a day. Maybe you should try this first. *CL
Kari doesn't not think this is a problem if the rate is constant...
and only 8 sec/day.
If it is constant....
I guess it's actually good. Again, have you tried putting the watch dial down? In the past I ever had my Lange watches (they tend to run fast on my wrist) at around +6 to 8 sec constant. A visit to Alkis and they are down to +2 to 3 sec a day constant. Qu...
