ANALYTICS

Measure. Analyse. Track.

 

Measure the accuracy of your mechanical watches. In the past, only a watchmaker could measure the accuracy of a mechanical watch. With Frederique Constant Analytics, it is now possible to measure the accuracy of your timepiece by yourself efficiently and at low cost. SwissConnect developed an easy to use device and app to measure the state of your watch. In line with our Accessible Luxury philosophy, we offer Analytics for a very attractive price.

DOWNLOAD APP HERE

Accuracy

The hallmark of a great timepiece is accuracy. A measure of accuracy is a measure of value. Each mechanical timepiece has a tiny Balance Wheel that acts as a pendulum. Every oscillation back and forth should take exactly one second. But if the Balance Wheel mechanism is off by a just a matter of a few degrees, the watch timekeeping accuracy of the watch will suffer.

Measure

Place the ingenious Analytics Clip on your watch and launch the Analytics App, available for iOS and Android. Within seconds, Frederique Constant Analytics measures the accuracy of your mechanical watch. It measures the precision of mechanical watches, with an accuracy of at least ±0.2s/day.

Visualize results

An oscilloscope shows the audio waveform in real time. The result is plotted in a chart, which can be saved for later reference.
Also, Analytics can record and save a long-time measurement, e.g. for 12 hours, to analyze the long-time performance of your watch.

Multiple Watches

Frederique Constant Analytics supports a wide range of frequencies, covering almost all mechanical watches available on the market:

14,400 VPH
16,200 VPH
18,000 VPH
19,800 VPH
21,600 VPH
23,400 VPH
25,200 VPH
28,800 VPH
36,000 VPH

In case you don’t know your watch’s frequency, you may use frequency auto detect.

Track

Frederique Constant Analytics connects to the SwissConnect Cloud. When you measure one of your watches, data is saved to your cloud account. You can track accuracy measurements over time on the Frederique Constant Dashboard. We encourage you to monitor your watch collection and record all measurements. This will enable you to follow your timepieces over the years and detect when each should be serviced.

Knowledge Base

Frederique Constant offers a growing Knowledge Base on mechanical watch accuracy, maintenance and service. There are various reasons that the accuracy of a mechanical watch changes over time. Particularly the balance spring can change in strength from the micro-stresses to the metal they are made of. Moreover, watch escapements are lubricated with oils — long lasting oils, but oils nonetheless — and as those oils age, the rate of a mechanical watch changes as well.

Backup & Restore

Once you have registered your SwissConnect Private Cloud Account, the Analytics app will backup your measurements to the cloud and keep data available anywhere. You can easily restore data if you switch to a new smartphone.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does Frederique Constant Analytics work?

Frederique Constant Analytics is composed of a clip with a microphone that measures the sound signal generated by the mechanical movement of the watch. The application analyses the sound signal and can tell the precision of the watch.

Does Frederique Constant Analytics work on Quartz watches?

Frederique Constant Analytics only works with mechanical watches.

Does Frederique Constant Analytics work with my smartphone?

Frederique Constant Analytics application was developed for iOS and Android platforms. However, some smartphones may not be compatible with the application or the clip. Please check the supported device list.  

Do I need an internet connection to use Frederique Constant Analytics?

You need an internet connection to authenticate the clip serial number, to create a Frederique Constant Analytics cloud account, to back-up and restore measurements.

To perform measurements on watches, you don’t need an internet connection.

Why should I create a Frederique Constant Analytics cloud account?

The first time you launch the application, you need to create a cloud account in order to authenticate the serial number of your clip.

Then you can use your cloud account to log in and use the application.

On your cloud account, you will be able to store your watch measurements. Thus, you can keep track of the behavior of a watch. If you change phone, you can restore all your data.

What happens with my Frederique Constant Analytics cloud data?

Your data is securely stored on your cloud account, hosted and backed-up in Switzerland and remains anonymous.

Can I use my Frederique Constant Analytics clip on several phones?

With your Frederique Constant Analytics cloud account credentials, you can log in the application on several smartphones.

What can I do if the measurements are not satisfying?

Please check the Troubleshooting page.

What is the effect of a Noisy Environment?

Frederique Constant Analytics is designed to be extremely sensitive to sound, especially to high-frequency sound. Finding a quiet place helps a lot to get a reliable result.

What is the Measurement Time?

The measuring time is how long Hairspring takes to calculate the precision. The shorter the measuring time is, the faster the result will come out, but with a lower accuracy. The longer the measuring time is, the slower the result will come out, but with a higher accuracy. Usually, a measuring time of 30s is enough to get a ±1s/day accuracy. Tap the settings button to set the measuring time and the watch’s frequency.

Why is a longer Measurement Time better?

A longer measuring time helps to get a more accurate result, it is more likely to be affected by noises, which means if a noise goes into the system, it will affect the result for longer time if we choose a longer measuring time. In a noisy environment, a shorter measuring time helps to get a more reliable result, though with less accuracy.

What is the Oscilloscope?

The oscilloscope shows the waveform of the signal, with a length of exactly 1 second. It will automatically amplify the signal to a proper amplitude for easy observation. The frequency of the watch can be calculated from the oscilloscope. For example, if there are 6 tick-tocks in 1 second, the watch’s frequency = 6 * 60 * 60 = 21600 (VPH). The noise level can also be told from the oscilloscope. The wave height shows the level of noise.

What is the Frequency?

The frequency of the watch is how many times the balance wheel oscillates forth and back in one hour. It is usually expressed in VPH (Vibrations Per Hour) or BPH (Beats Per Hour). Reference the watch’s manual to get the correct value. If not sure, use Auto Detect. Tap the settings button to set the measuring time and the watch’s frequency.

Which Frequencies are supported?

SwissConnect Analytics supports wide range of frequencies:

  • 14,400 VPH
  • 16,200 VPH
  • 18,000 VPH
  • 19,800 VPH
  • 21,600 VPH
  • 23,400 VPH
  • 25,200 VPH
  • 28,800 VPH
  • 36,000 VPH

What means Beats per Hour (BPH)?

The top-line statistic when describing a mechanical watch movement is the BPH. In other words, the number of times the balance wheel will swing half a rotation over the course of sixty minutes. This relates directly to Beats per Second:

  • 14,400 bph = 4 beats per second
  • 18,000 bph = 5 beats per second
  • 21,600 bph = 6 beats per second
  • 28,800 bph = 8 beats per second
  • 36,600 bph = 10 beats per second

What is the Rate?

Rate shows how fast/slow the watch runs in seconds per day. This is the most basic statistic and will at least let you know how accurate your watch is. If your watch is COSC certified, in order to be in good health it needs to be running between -4 and +6 seconds per day. Otherwise it will depend somewhat on the watch, but with a few exceptions you should consider the following to be a good range of your movement’s health:

  • Excellent: +/- 7 s/d
  • Acceptable: +/- 20 s/d

What is Amplitude?

The measure of the amount of rotation in the swing of the balance wheel, in either direction. Amplitude is higher when a watch is lying flat and usually falls when the watch is in a vertical position, due to increased friction. Amplitude can also fall as the watch winds down and the mainspring delivers less power.
Amplitude is a good indicator of the movements health and if is too high or too low, or that changes too much in different positions, can indicate a problem with the movement.

  • Excellent: 270-310 degrees
  • Acceptable: 250-270 degrees

What is the Beat Error ?

Beat Error shows how equal each swing of the balance wheel oscillation is. It is the amount of time by which the duration of swing differs from one side to the other in the oscillation of a balance wheel. Its value is calculated by subtracting the duration of the second vibration from the duration of the first vibration.

  • Excellent : 0.0 – 0.5 milliseconds
  • Acceptable : 0.6 – 1 milliseconds

What is the Lift Angle?

Lift Angle is the angle the balance passes through while interacting with the pallet fork. Most modern watches have a lift angle of 52 degrees. Generally lift angles range from 44 to 58 degrees. The are exceptions, for instance the Omega Co-Axial movement angle is 30 degrees. Along with the Rate, Lift Angle is the second required information in analyzing the performance of a watch movement. Given those, Analytics can calculate balance wheel Amplitude and Beat Error.

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