How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement

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Making repairs on your watch can be intimidating, but if your watch is running too slow or too fast, you do not necessarily need to take it to be professionally repaired. Save your time and money by regulating the movement yourself, without expensive tools.

Within your mechanical watch is a balance wheel and regulator. The regulator is responsible for how fast/ slow the watch ticks, and is oftentimes the cause of a watch running too slow/ fast. This can be manually adjusted, and is generally an easy fix.

If there are other issues with your watch, or if you try this fix and are still having issues, take it to be professionally serviced. You can usually find signatures of watchmakers who previously serviced it on the inside of the case back! This will give you an idea of how long it's been since maintenance was done on your watch. To find this, follow step one and then examine the case back.

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crwdns2931653:01crwdne2931653:0 How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement

How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement, How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:03crwdne2935265:0

How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement, How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:01crwdnd2935265:02crwdnd2935265:03crwdne2935265:0

How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement, How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:01crwdnd2935265:03crwdnd2935265:03crwdne2935265:0

Identify the case back tool you need. Snap-off backs will be completely smooth. If your watch has a snap-off back, simply slide a case back knife under the side of the backplate and apply upward pressure to snap it off.
Screw-off backplates will have small indentations, as seen on my watch. I am using a wrench to twist the backplate off. Use the round slider to adjust the width of the tips, then tighten them into the indentations on the watch back and twist until it loosens. This exposes the mechanical movement.

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How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:02crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:02crwdne2935265:0

How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:02crwdnd2935265:02crwdnd2935265:02crwdne2935265:0

Locate the balance wheel. It will have a small +/- sign, or sometimes an F/S. The regulator is the small metal prong accompanying these sings.
Be careful not to touch the gears or other moving watch aspects. This can cause damage to it.

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How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:03crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0

Use a non-magnetic screwdriver or other small, pointed tool to gently move the regulator arm left or right (negative or positive) to speed up or slow down the movement.
The '+' or the 'F' indicate making the watch 'faster', and the '-' or the 'S' indicate making the watch 'slower'.

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How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:04crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0

Return the back plate to its original place.

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How to Regulate a Mechanical Watch Movement: crwdns2935265:05crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0

Last, observe the watch over a period of 24-48 hours to see if it gains or loses time, then make adjustments if needed by repeating the process. You can do this by leaving it beside a watch or stopwatch which is correctly regulated, then comparing them after waiting 24-48 hours.

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