Technical question:Effect of gravity on mechanical watches

[boonfei80]

Hi all,

apologise if i placed a irrelevant thread there as i not sure where to post this, so here goes my question, though Rolex does not do watch for space travel:

Many times we saw watches, eg. Omega speedmaster, Fortis, & other misc. brands emphasizing that astronauts wear their watches to space and the watch is able to give accurate time at those 'outer space' condition..................
.......then, I understand from a National Geographic show on space travel SHOWING that time is slower when gravity is less (they show a video simultaneously on 2 clocks, 1 is at earth ground & another in the space shuttle:as the shuttle goes higher into the atmosphere the clock which is in the shuttle starts to goes slower prgressively untill it is at space as compare to the one on earth).
Some watches are made 'tourbillon' also to escape the effects of gravity reinforcing my point that gravity does have an effect on mechanical watches accuracy

So my question is this:
1) If the watch is used in space & so-call gives accurate time to astronauts, how do the watch makers define accurate? they measure it according to time supposely that is slower in space or according to time at earth?

2) Is it all just a marketing tool to say that the watch can 'go' into space to justify its premium and the accuracy of the watch is secondary & never realli tested at all? (if the watch can be accurate in earth, who cares & the watch manufacture would also not bother whether it can perform as chronometer in space)

Sorry for my bad english if some point you dun understand, but still hope you roughly know what i am trying to say.

Any advice here is appreciated.

Regards

Boon

[tomcatf]

In outer space, under zero gravity effect, if you wind your rolex, it move according to the tension of spring and speed is regulate by gears. Unless the tensile strength of spring is affected by gravity, if not speed of movement is the same.