Tickline: Watch Timegrapher

An acoustic timegrapher for mechanical watches and pendulum clocks: rate, amplitude and beat error from the ticks, with a live paper tape.

Coming to Google PlayFinished and waiting for its Google Play listing.

Free
Works offline
No account
No subscription

App languages: English · Deutsch · Français · Italiano · Español · Português · 日本語

Tickline turns a phone into a timing machine. Lay a mechanical watch on the phone with its crown by the microphone: the app times every beat and shows the rate, the amplitude and the beat error, with a paper tape like a bench timegrapher.

Test the watch in several positions the way a watchmaker does, follow how it keeps time on your wrist over days, and keep a record of every watch and clock you own. Pendulum clocks get an in-beat figure to set them ticking evenly.

Screenshots

Why we built it

Free measurements that run out, then a paywall. Every measurement and every feature is free, with no limit. The only purchase removes ads, which never show while measuring.
Numbers that jump about or a screen full of dots. Each beat is timed against an averaged picture of the watch's own tick, and nothing is shown until the readings agree. A noisy moment keeps the last good reading, marked as held.
Amplitude that ignores the movement. The lift angle is set per watch, with presets by movement family, and the sound of each beat is shown so you can see what is measured.
One reading, no history. Readings, positions tests, an accuracy log and a service record are kept per watch, and a PDF timing report can be shared.

Features

A real timing machine readout

Rate in seconds per day, amplitude in degrees, beat error in milliseconds.
The beat rate is detected automatically, from 12,000 to 43,200 bph, or set by hand.
Live paper tape: a fast watch leans one way, a slow one the other; two lines mean beat error.
The sound of each beat, with its first and last sounds marked, so you see what is measured.
No number until the readings are steady. A noisy moment keeps the last good reading, marked as held, instead of showing nonsense.
Says so when it hears a quartz watch, instead of measuring the wrong thing.

Positions test

A guided test dial up, dial down and standing on its edge (2, 5 or 6 positions).
Each position is recorded by itself once three readings agree.
Mean rate, delta between positions, mean amplitude and the drop from flat to upright: the figures a watchmaker regulates by.

Accuracy on the wrist

Compare the watch with the phone's network time every day or two.
Tickline works out the real daily rate as you wear it, with a chart of the offset.

Pendulum clocks

In-beat figure and a beat bar: see at once whether tick and tock are evenly spaced.
The clock's measured beats per hour, and its rate in seconds per day once you give the nominal rate.
Clock train calculator (beats per hour from the wheel and pinion counts) and pendulum length.

Your collection

Every watch and clock with its beat rate, lift angle, photos, notes and every reading.
Service log (serviced, regulated, demagnetised) and a reminder when the next service is due.
Share a timing report as a PDF, export readings as CSV.
Backup and restore to one file: nothing is lost when you change phones.

Honest and helpful

English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. Works offline. Sound is analysed on the phone, never recorded or sent. Free with ads, never while measuring; one optional purchase removes them, and every feature stays free either way.

Lift angle presets by movement family, with the common 52° as default.
A guide to what the numbers mean, healthy ranges, the positions, putting a clock in beat, and when a watch needs a watchmaker.
A phone microphone is not a bench machine with a contact pickup: Tickline shows a confidence-checked reading and tells you how to place the watch for the best result.

How it works

A high-pass filter keeps the escapement's clicks and drops room rumble and voices; a short peak envelope marks each click. The oscillation period (tick plus tock) is found by autocorrelation, checking that half the period also repeats, so half and double rates are rejected; a watch's beat rate is then matched to the standard rates within 2.5 %.

The sound is folded over the oscillation period, which averages every tick and every tock into a clean picture of each. Every beat is then timed by cross-correlation with that picture, within a millisecond of where it should fall, and a robust least-squares fit gives the beat period (the rate) and the offset between tick and tock (the beat error).

In each averaged beat, the first sound (unlocking) and the last (the drop) are found; the balance takes that long to cross its lift angle, so the amplitude is A = LA / (2 sin(pi t / P)), with P the oscillation period, the relation timing machines use.

On 400 synthetic recordings held back from tuning (nine beat rates from 14,400 to 43,200 bph, rate errors up to 400 s/d, beat errors up to 4 ms, amplitudes 170-320 degrees, noise, knocks and room echo), confident readings had a median rate error of 0.14 s/d and a median amplitude error of 0.3 degrees.

Honest limits

A phone microphone is not a timing machine with a clamp and a contact pickup: the result depends on the placement and the room, and amplitude is only right when the lift angle is.
It measures watches and clocks with a balance or pendulum escapement. A quartz watch steps once a second and has nothing for a timegrapher to measure; the app says so.
It shows when a watch needs attention. Opening it, regulating it or putting it in beat is a watchmaker's job unless you have the tools and the practice.

Questions

Can a phone app work as a timegrapher?

Yes, acoustically: the escapement's ticks are loud enough for a phone microphone when the watch lies against the phone in a quiet room. Tickline measures rate, amplitude and beat error from them and shows a paper tape like a bench machine.

What is a good amplitude for a mechanical watch?

Fully wound and dial up, about 250-310 degrees is healthy for most modern watches. Upright positions read 20-40 degrees lower; below about 200 degrees a watch usually needs winding or a service.

What is beat error?

How unevenly the balance swings to each side, in milliseconds: half the difference between the tick and the tock intervals. Under 0.5 ms is good; under 1 ms is acceptable for most watches.

What lift angle should I use?

The one in the movement maker's technical document. Most lever movements are close to 52 degrees, which is the default; co-axial escapements are much lower (36-38 degrees). The angle changes the amplitude, not the rate.

Why does my watch run at a different rate on my wrist?

A timegrapher measures a few seconds in one position. On the wrist the watch changes position, temperature and wind. Tickline's accuracy log compares the watch with the phone's network time over days to give the real daily rate.

Does it work for pendulum clocks?

Yes: it shows whether the tick and tock are evenly spaced (in beat), the measured beats per hour, and the rate in seconds per day once you give the nominal beat rate. A calculator gives the beat rate from the wheel train or the pendulum length.

Can it measure a quartz watch?

No. A quartz watch steps once a second and its accuracy comes from the crystal; Tickline recognises it and says so. Use the time checks to see how it keeps time.

Is anything recorded or sent?

No. The microphone sound is analysed on the phone and thrown away. There is no account and no server.

Private and offline

Runs entirely on your phone and works offline. No account, no sign-up, and your data stays on your device. The app shows ads through Google AdMob; see the privacy policy. Privacy policy.

Free. An optional one-time purchase removes the ads; nothing is locked and there is no subscription.