timegrapher.ai
Six times a second, your watch confesses everything: its rate, its balance, its health. Timegrapher listens through your microphone and writes it all down. No hardware — and no account needed to measure.
A timegrapher distills everything a watchmaker needs to know into four readings, taken live from the sound of the escapement.
Seconds gained or lost per day. −4 to +6 s/d is chronometer territory; ±15 is honest daily wear. The number everyone asks about first.
The asymmetry between tick and tock. Under 0.5 ms is excellent. Past 2.5, the escapement is fighting itself and may stop.
How far the balance wheel swings. 220–310° is a healthy heart. Below 200, the mainspring is tired or the oils have gone dry.
The cadence of the movement, detected automatically from the sound. 18 000, 21 600, 28 800: each calibre keeps its own meter.
Every tick becomes a dot; every dot takes its place in the column. One glance shows the whole diagnosis.
Rest your watch face-down beside the microphone. The escapement's whisper, a few thousandths of a pascal, is enough.
Each tick is caught, filtered, and timed against the expected beat. The same arithmetic a six-thousand-dollar machine performs, in your browser.
AI reads your numbers against your movement's spec and flags what's healthy, what's drifting, and what to fix before it becomes a repair.
"Your Submariner is gaining 8.2 seconds a day. Magnetism, most likely. Thirty seconds with a demagnetiser and it'll sit back inside chronometer spec."
A timegrapher is an instrument that measures the performance of a mechanical watch by listening to its ticks. It reports rate (seconds gained or lost per day), beat error (the timing difference between tick and tock in milliseconds), amplitude (the balance wheel's swing in degrees), and BPH (beats per hour, the movement's frequency).
The COSC chronometer standard is −4 to +6 seconds per day. For everyday mechanical watches, ±15 s/d is perfectly acceptable. Beyond ±30 s/d the watch usually needs regulation. Rate varies by position, so measuring in several orientations gives a fuller picture.
Beat error is the timing difference between the tick and the tock of the escapement, measured in milliseconds. Under 0.5 ms is excellent, under 1.5 ms is fine for daily wear, and over 2.5 ms can cause the watch to stop. It is corrected by adjusting the hairspring collet or stud, usually a job for a watchmaker.
Amplitude is the arc in degrees through which the balance wheel swings on each beat. A healthy watch shows 220 to 310 degrees when fully wound. Below 200, the mainspring may need winding or the movement may need cleaning and fresh oil. Very low amplitude usually means the watch is due for a service.
For rate and beat error, yes: the arithmetic is identical. The difference is the microphone. Hardware units use a contact microphone clipped to the case for a cleaner signal; a laptop microphone works well in a quiet room. A clip-on contact microphone (about $15) closes most of the gap.
Match the movement's specification. Most modern ETA and Sellita calibres run at 28 800 BPH; many Seikos at 21 600; vintage movements often at 18 000. If you're not sure, Timegrapher detects the BPH automatically from the sound and confirms it in the frequency reading.
The most common cause of a suddenly fast watch is magnetisation, which makes hairspring coils stick together. Demagnetising takes thirty seconds with an inexpensive demagnetiser and is safe to do at home. Other causes include a regulator set too fast or a worn escapement.
Your watch has been keeping notes. It takes a minute to read them.
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