Lepsi Watch Analyzer

ut forth that those of us who find ourselves drawn to mechanical watches are of a curious sort. Though quartz watches are superior in their overall accuracy, reliability, and robustness, we are attracted more to watches with fully mechanical micro machines built for one purpose, and one purpose only – to mark the passage of time. In some ways.

For those of us who have not studied the art of watchmaking and repair, this can be daunting. That is, until a tidy tool came along in the form of the Lepsi Watch Analyzer that attaches to a watch, measures important indicators of its health and performance, and tracks it handily on your smartphone.

rior to something like the Lepsi Watch Analyzer coming on the market, you really did not have many good ways to check the accuracy of your watch at home. Sure, you could set it against a known reliable source (say, a GPS- or atomic-synced clock) and then observe if it gains or loses time over the ensuing days. This is the concept that sites like ToolWatch.io work on. Those will give you a basic feel for the timing performance – sort of like the “Check Engine” light on your dashboard. You get one measure, and that’s what you have. If you want something more in-depth, like what you might get on a report from your local watch shop, then something more is required.

hat, of course, is where the Lepsi Watch Analyzer comes into play. Carrying that car analogy forward, this is like plugging into the ODBII port under your dashboard and getting a wealth of information on what is going on with the engine and drivetrain. Here, the Lepsi Watch Analyzer is instead getting into the details of how the movement in your watch (or watches – more on that in a bit) is running. This is accomplished by means that anyone at home will be quite comfortable with. You plug in what looks to be a very beefy 1/4″ to 1/4″ cable, one end going into a pillow on which you strap the watch, and the other end going into your phone or tablet (apps are available for both Android and iOS). With the cabling connected and the watch strapped in place, you pinch the pillow on the sides and slide it into the U-shaped metal base.

Why this metal base? By using this, the Lepsi Watch Analyzer is held absolutely still (as it is quite heavy, at 418g) and gives you a reliable platform for measuring the watch in six positions (yes, the same six positions that a COSC-certification would test for). Before you get into that, though, you need to calibrate the Lepsi Watch Analyzer to the watch being tested. While there is a quick mode for this, I opted instead to use the longer (or standard) calibration, which runs for three hours. I would set this overnight, and then get into the actual timing/testing the next day.

To that end, it was an invaluable tool. For those who pick one up, I dare say that you will not be disappointed with it, as you get precisely what the brand promises – quick and accurate readings. It remains to be seen, of course, how well the timing pillow holds up over time (given the nature of electronics and the squeezing action), but that should be easy enough to replace. And who knows, there may be improvements over time to the tech they have built in as well. So, to that end, it may be an unknown, but it’s not something that would prevent me from picking one up. In the end, I liked the Lepsi Watch Analyzer and the data it gave me, and I think it could be fun to use with the various watches that cross my desk for review