What are hacking seconds?
A feature that stops the seconds hand when you pull out the crown to set the time, so you can synchronise the watch to the second.
How it works
When you pull the crown to the time-setting position, a lever touches the balance wheel and stops it, freezing the seconds hand. Set the hands, push the crown in on the exact second, and the watch restarts in sync.
The name comes from military 'hack' time synchronisation, when troops set their watches together. Most modern mechanical movements hack; some inexpensive ones, like the older Seiko 7S26, don't.
Questions
- Is it bad to stop the seconds hand?
- No. Hacking is designed for exactly that and does no harm to the movement.