I love my Nigthtflight 2 Vintage - I won the lottery with only 2 tries....

This is a followup on the infamous accuracy string that I started a while back. It created a lot of discussion regarding what one should expect in a mechanical watch in terms of accuracy, and I really don't want to rekindle some flames that occurred then. But to summarize what was said when I inquired about expected accuracy for a NightFlight 2, Steven had stated that a NightFlight 2 was guaranteed to an accuracy of up to 20 seconds per day fast. While one might get better accuracy than that, as many happy NightFlight 2 owners have attested, better accuracy could not be guaranteed. I complained then that buying a mechanical watch was like playing the lottery; i.e., you pay your money and take a chance as far as how accurate your particular watch might be.

Nevertheless, I decided to play the game. I figured that the NightFlight 2 Vintage was a great looking watch and a great value, even if it wasn't a perfect timekeeper. It has a fine movement, and I reasoned that I could even spend a few additional dollars and have my local watchmaker regulate it for me if it shouldn't keep time to my picky standards.

Well this is what happened. I order the watch from Ashford and the watch I received was 25 seconds a day fast. This was unacceptable to me, as it even exceeded Steven's worst expectations for the watch. Rather than have my jeweler fool with it and possibly void a warranty, I simply returned the watch to Ashford and reordered another. The happy ending to the story is that the second watch was more accurate than I could have hoped from a watch costing twice the price. It loses about 3 seconds during the day while I wear it, but it gains those 3 seconds back while it sits, face-up on the nightstand over night. It keeps perfect time! I am just thrilled!

I guess this experience hasn't changed my concerns about sample to sample variability in accuracy of lower cost mechanical watches. As Steven explained, it is understandable based on economics that this needs to be the case for the NightFlight 2's price point. Nevertheless, my experience shows that if accuracy is an important issue(thankfully, for many, it is not), you don't have to settle for just a quartz watch. It is possible to enjoy the beauty of a mechanical watch with good accuracy at an affordable price, though it may require that you be persistent. Wouldn't it be a lot easier, however, if, in the first place, you were just lucky?