Post by dsimon9 on May 30, 2016 10:38:47 GMT -6
I was visiting a watch forum, when I read a posting about a Hairspring app. Went to the iOS app center where I found several hairspring apps for the iPhone. None of the four apps were free. The price range was between $3.99 and $12.99. The lowest priced app claimed to be able to determine how fast/slow the watch is running. The priciest app, includes frequency diagram, measures rate, beat error, amplitude and beats per hour. I was curious, but not that curious so I ended purchasing an app for $4.99. I used the built-in microphone in the earbuds which ship standard with the iPhone. Here is a quick review of the app - Hairspring.
For starters, all four apps seem to operate the same way. You connect your headset to the iPhone and you place the microphone underneath the watch's case-back. Ideally, the watch should be in a very quiet environment, and resting in something soft like, in my case, a towel. You then start the app. Hairspring will first go through a "collecting data" mode where it determines the frequency of the watch among other things. Once the data is collected (described by the app as being "synchronized") it will start to graphically display the amount of time the watch is gaining/loosing per day. I have included an example in Figure 1. As you can see, it states the amount of time the watch is running slow/fast. It also gives you the flexibility of saving the data for future reference.
I used the app on a Breitling Navitimer, Swatch System51, Rolex GMT (1986), and Rolex SD. There are two main traits of interest to me. The first being the accuracy of the app, and the second being the precision. To determine accuracy I used data collected from my Breitling. For the precision, I looked at the data's range. On May 11, the Navitimer time was synchronized with my computer's time. As of today, May 30, the watch has gained an average of 2.4sec/day. Well within the COSC spec. Looking at figure 1, you can see the app is displaying a value of 1.5sec/day in a sample window of little bit over one minute. The range/precision, at least to me, looked pretty good to me. The accuracy was off by 0.9 seconds per day. Of course, at the moment I am looking at only one watch.
I continued testing with the Swatch and the two Rolex watches. A trend quickly became apparent. Although I don't show the data, as the thickness of the case-back increased, the app had increasing difficulty synchronizing. Also, the accuracy of the app decreased and the precision worsened. In tests where the case-back was clear/glass, the app performed relatively well (Breitling, Swatch). With the Rolex GMT, it took a couple of cycles before the app synchronized with the watch, and the range of time gained/lost per day widened. Finally, the SD proved the most challenging. It took several minutes for the app to synchronize and the range in time was totally unrealistic. The range was in the order of +/- several hundred seconds (ex. 500 seconds per day). Thinking about it, it makes sense. The performance of the app is directly tied it the iPhone's microphone ability to "hear" the ticking of the watch. As the case-back thickness increases ticking becomes more muffled making it more difficult for the app to capture data well.
In conclusion, the app is a bit of fun to use, and it will give you a general idea of how much time it is gaining/loosing per day. The functionality of the app appears to be dependent upon the thickness of the case-back. Of course, one could propose using a higher end microphone would increase the accuracy/precision of the app. Is the app worth $4? I would say no. It boils down to "you get what you pay for". It is definitely not a replacement for a dedicated piece of equipment such as a timegrapher(?).
Hope you all enjoyed reading this review.
For starters, all four apps seem to operate the same way. You connect your headset to the iPhone and you place the microphone underneath the watch's case-back. Ideally, the watch should be in a very quiet environment, and resting in something soft like, in my case, a towel. You then start the app. Hairspring will first go through a "collecting data" mode where it determines the frequency of the watch among other things. Once the data is collected (described by the app as being "synchronized") it will start to graphically display the amount of time the watch is gaining/loosing per day. I have included an example in Figure 1. As you can see, it states the amount of time the watch is running slow/fast. It also gives you the flexibility of saving the data for future reference.
Figure 1
I used the app on a Breitling Navitimer, Swatch System51, Rolex GMT (1986), and Rolex SD. There are two main traits of interest to me. The first being the accuracy of the app, and the second being the precision. To determine accuracy I used data collected from my Breitling. For the precision, I looked at the data's range. On May 11, the Navitimer time was synchronized with my computer's time. As of today, May 30, the watch has gained an average of 2.4sec/day. Well within the COSC spec. Looking at figure 1, you can see the app is displaying a value of 1.5sec/day in a sample window of little bit over one minute. The range/precision, at least to me, looked pretty good to me. The accuracy was off by 0.9 seconds per day. Of course, at the moment I am looking at only one watch.
I continued testing with the Swatch and the two Rolex watches. A trend quickly became apparent. Although I don't show the data, as the thickness of the case-back increased, the app had increasing difficulty synchronizing. Also, the accuracy of the app decreased and the precision worsened. In tests where the case-back was clear/glass, the app performed relatively well (Breitling, Swatch). With the Rolex GMT, it took a couple of cycles before the app synchronized with the watch, and the range of time gained/lost per day widened. Finally, the SD proved the most challenging. It took several minutes for the app to synchronize and the range in time was totally unrealistic. The range was in the order of +/- several hundred seconds (ex. 500 seconds per day). Thinking about it, it makes sense. The performance of the app is directly tied it the iPhone's microphone ability to "hear" the ticking of the watch. As the case-back thickness increases ticking becomes more muffled making it more difficult for the app to capture data well.
In conclusion, the app is a bit of fun to use, and it will give you a general idea of how much time it is gaining/loosing per day. The functionality of the app appears to be dependent upon the thickness of the case-back. Of course, one could propose using a higher end microphone would increase the accuracy/precision of the app. Is the app worth $4? I would say no. It boils down to "you get what you pay for". It is definitely not a replacement for a dedicated piece of equipment such as a timegrapher(?).
Hope you all enjoyed reading this review.
