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How to get a good reading, what the numbers and messages mean, and how to reach us.
Measuring a watch
- Wind the watch and let it run for a few minutes.
- Open Measure and choose Watch. Hold the case back or the crown against the bottom edge of the phone, where the microphone is, in a quiet room. A soft surface under the phone helps.
- The beat rate (for example 28,800 per hour) is found in a few seconds. Keep still while the averaging window fills: 10, 30 or 60 seconds.
- Tap Save reading to keep it with that watch.
Rate is seconds a day fast (+) or slow (−). Beat error is half the difference between the tick-to-tock and tock-to-tick intervals, as Witschi timegraphers define it. Amplitude is how far the balance swings, worked out from the movement's lift angle: set it under Lift angle (52° unless your movement's specification says otherwise). If amplitude shows a dash, the first, quietest sound of each tick could not be told apart from the noise; rate and beat error are still valid.
Six positions
Tap Positions on the Measure screen and follow the steps: dial up, dial down, then crown up, down, left and right. Record each position once its window is full, or skip it. The result shows each position and the delta, the difference between the fastest and slowest position.
Measuring a clock
Choose Clock and put the phone on the case close to the movement. Clocks from 400 to 14,400 beats an hour are found automatically; slow clocks need about a minute. Choose a Target, the beats per hour your clock should run at, to see its daily rate. The in-beat figure shows how unevenly tick and tock are spaced; a clock is in beat when they are even.
What the signal meter means
| You see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Good signal | Nothing; the numbers are steady. |
| Fair or Low signal | Follow the advice under the numbers. Readings still show, but trust them less. |
| Faint ticks | Press the case back or crown against the bottom edge of the phone, or plug in a wired headset or USB microphone and pick it from the Input menu. |
| Background noise is hiding beats | Move away from voices, music, fans and other clocks. |
| Beat timing varies | Keep the phone and the watch still; don't hold the watch in your hand. |
| Too loud | Move the phone a little away. |
| No steady ticks yet | Check the watch is running and touching the phone near the microphone. |
| Microphone access is off | Turn it on in Settings › Beat & Rate › Microphone. |
Phone clock correction
Every rate is measured against your phone's own clock, which can be a few seconds a day fast or slow. If you know the error, for example from a watch whose rate you know, enter it under Settings › Phone clock correction. Rates then include it, and the Measure screen says so.
Export
Settings › Export all readings (CSV) shares every reading as a spreadsheet file through the share sheet.
No watch to hand?
The Input menu on the Measure screen offers two demo recordings, a pocket watch at 18,000 beats an hour and a wall clock at 7,200. They run through the same analysis as the microphone, so you can try every screen.