Timex any good?? Considering putting these on xmas list....
Discussion
Good basic watches. Nothing wrong with them, but they don't have the watch snob factor.
Recently they've started selling mechanicals with the Seagul ST25 movement that you find in most Parnis watches.
Try a look at these, there are some with retrograde date and a power reserve:
http://www.manbushijie.com/products-2.html
Parnis watches aren't anywhere near as reliable as a Timex will be. But you'll get three for that money. And they'll be mechanical rather than quartz (less accurate, less reliable but they never need a battery and with a display case back they're nice to look at.)
HTH
Recently they've started selling mechanicals with the Seagul ST25 movement that you find in most Parnis watches.
Try a look at these, there are some with retrograde date and a power reserve:
http://www.manbushijie.com/products-2.html
Parnis watches aren't anywhere near as reliable as a Timex will be. But you'll get three for that money. And they'll be mechanical rather than quartz (less accurate, less reliable but they never need a battery and with a display case back they're nice to look at.)
HTH
I've pulled the trigger on this for my daughter :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timex-Youth-Girls-Reader-L...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timex-Youth-Girls-Reader-L...
I haven't seen the movements in these T series yet, but every quartz movement I have seen from Timex over the past decade or so has been truly nasty in terms of build.
I've lost count of the number that have come in because one of the plastic rivets or clips that hold them together has broken off during a battery change elsewhere. Sometimes I've managed to save them, sometimes they've been a write-off.
Ok, so technically you could say that's down to heavy handed battery changing but, to me, a movement that literally falls apart when handled by the sort of places most people go for batteries (we're talking respectable jewellers here) is barely fit for purpose.
Several of them have also had a nasty habit of the handset seizing so that, as you set the time, you rip teeth off wheels. That's always a write-off because the movements simply can't be repaired and are the only non-Chinese movements I actually refuse to replace because of the high risk of returns.
As I say, I don't know if that Timex Tradition has been continued in the new ranges, but it's a brand I'd honestly suggest approaching with caution anywhere outside their "throwaway" ranges from personal experience.
I've lost count of the number that have come in because one of the plastic rivets or clips that hold them together has broken off during a battery change elsewhere. Sometimes I've managed to save them, sometimes they've been a write-off.
Ok, so technically you could say that's down to heavy handed battery changing but, to me, a movement that literally falls apart when handled by the sort of places most people go for batteries (we're talking respectable jewellers here) is barely fit for purpose.
Several of them have also had a nasty habit of the handset seizing so that, as you set the time, you rip teeth off wheels. That's always a write-off because the movements simply can't be repaired and are the only non-Chinese movements I actually refuse to replace because of the high risk of returns.
As I say, I don't know if that Timex Tradition has been continued in the new ranges, but it's a brand I'd honestly suggest approaching with caution anywhere outside their "throwaway" ranges from personal experience.
mikeveal said:
Standing corrected!
Didn't realise they were that bad. I was aware that in the 70's they used plastic pin pallet movements that were basically throw aways, but not that the new stuff was churned out with the same philosophy.
Thanks Vario.
The thing is, as you said in your original post, they are reliable as long as they're left sealed up in the case. But at some point they'll need a battery and that's where the problems start.Didn't realise they were that bad. I was aware that in the 70's they used plastic pin pallet movements that were basically throw aways, but not that the new stuff was churned out with the same philosophy.
Thanks Vario.
To give some idea of the problems, this is the battery side of their M965 movement:
You can see all the little grey plastic melted "dots" that hold the metalwork down - they're what keep it in one piece, and they break off very easily indeed. I can buy in a box of them at about £8.90 each.
Compare that with the roughly equivalent (3 hand + date) Miyota 2115 which you'll find in equivalent brands like Sekonda, and a lot of "minor" ones like Reflex:
Almost all metal (the green plastic is only a support for the date disk), and held together with screws. These are good enough quality to strip and service if they go wrong but, with a cost price of £3.40 in equivalent volumes (yes, that's under half the price of the Timex!), they're simply not worth repairing!
To be fair, the circuit on the Timex does include a driver for an EL backlight but that's little consolation when it doesn't work anymore!
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