Pallera: Watch Timegrapher

Rest your iPhone on a mechanical watch and find out how it is really running.

Pallera listens to the escapement through your iPhone's microphone and gives you the three numbers a watchmaker's timing machine does: rate in seconds per day, beat error in milliseconds, and balance amplitude in degrees. Then it checks something a timing machine can't: how far the watch actually drifts against atomic time over hours and days. It is named for the pallet fork, the part of the escapement that makes the tick it listens to.

MEASURE
• Rate, beat error and amplitude, live as you measure
• Beat rate found automatically, from 18,000 to 36,000 bph
• The classic timegrapher trace, so an uneven escapement shows at a glance
• A contact meter that tells you whether the microphone is really hearing the watch
• Lift angles for more than 3,000 movements from over 100 makers, including ETA, Sellita, Seiko, Miyota, Orient, Rolex, Omega, Sea-Gull and Vostok, so amplitude is worked out from the right figure
• Corrects for your iPhone's own audio clock, which would otherwise put a reading out by a second or two a day

KNOW HOW MUCH TO TRUST IT
Every reading carries a margin of error that is measured, not claimed: the app checks independent stretches of the recording against each other and reports how much they disagree. When the room is too noisy or the contact too poor, it says so instead of inventing a number. When amplitude can't be resolved, it is withheld rather than guessed. Measure in a few placements and the app combines them into one honest figure. Every reading is explained in plain words: what it means, and whether anything is worth doing about it.

TRACK ACCURACY OVER DAYS
A one-minute reading describes one position and one state of wind. To know what a watch really does, check its drift:
• Set it by the atomic clock on screen, or tap along with the second hand to record exactly where it started
• Check it later by tapping as the second hand passes a mark, or by photographing the dial
• Reminders at 6, 12 and 24 hours, or check whenever you like
• Drift turned into seconds per day, sharper the longer you leave it

SEE HOW YOUR WATCH BEHAVES
• Rate over time, from readings and drift checks together
• Rate by position, with the positional delta a watchmaker judges by
• Rate against amplitude: how the watch changes as the mainspring runs down
• Wind logging with an estimated power reserve, and a warning before it stops

KEEP THE COLLECTION
• Wrist time: days worn, time on the wrist, and a history you can correct
• Quartz watches too: no amplitude or beat error, just accuracy against the clock

FREE, AND PAID
Measuring is free, always: every reading, with its amplitude, beat error and margin of error, and drift checks with their reminders. One purchase unlocks the full reading history, the charts and unlimited watches. Nothing is ever deleted: older readings are kept and appear the moment you unlock. No subscription.

PRIVATE BY DEFAULT
No account, no servers, no analytics, no ads. Your watches and readings stay on your iPhone. The microphone is used to measure, the camera only for photo checks, and the internet only to ask a public time server what time it is. Recordings of your watch are not kept unless you switch that on yourself.

WHAT IT IS NOT
A measuring tool for owners and enthusiasts, not a substitute for a watchmaker's timing machine or a service. It cannot diagnose a fault. Readings depend on your iPhone's microphone and on how the watch rests against it.

Privacy policy: https://cherneywerk.com/timegrapher/privacy
Terms of use: https://cherneywerk.com/timegrapher/terms