Expensive quartz watches

[taxboy]

What is the collective view on the more expensive watches with a quartz movement. The reason I ask is that my Oris repair means its not worth going ahead with and so I will need to look for a new watch. I chose the Oris many years ago apart from its looks was the fact it was mechanical appealed to me. I was also led to a degree by my dealings with a master horologist who told me that he refused to sell expensive quartz watches as he couldn't face a customer knowing the price of the movement compared to the rrp.

Now this was probably 20 years ago but does this still hold true or hae things moved on

[clockworks]

What's wrong with the Oris that makes it not worth repairing?

Personally, I wouldn't spend more than a couple of hundred on a basic quartz watch, for the same reason that your watch guy stated - the perceived value just isn't there for me. I have spent a bit more on a few Citizen "atomic clock" watches though.

[taxboy]

The cost needs new dial, hands plus a service. As I only had it serviced a couple of years ago Im loathe to invest the £310 in getting it repaired

[PJ S]

Define “expensive” in relation to a quartz watch, and how would that tally with the £310 needed to fix the Oris for another 7+ years of likely faultless running?
What exactly is wrong with the hands and dial? Are either or both affecting the timekeeping?

[geezerbutler]

I have one premium priced quartz - an Omega 2264 Seamaster 300 (black wave dial and sword hands). It was £995 at time of purchase. Watchfinder currently have one up for sale at £1900, so I'm confident I would get back what was paid as there is demand for these quartz watches as so few luxury brands still have quartz in their range.

I think the cost was OK mainly for the overall quality of the thing. It's been absolutely faultless. It's rarely more than a second or two out when being reset for BST (which is easy as it has a quickset hour hand that doesn't hack the movement). The second hand hits every marker perfectly (a pet peeve of mine with many quartz watches). And the build quality means it looks pretty much brand new after 5+ years of ownership (with only one battery change in that time). Super comfortable bracelet and superb lume.

It's nice to have a watch you can just grab and go at any time which is likely to be ready to go with no winding or resetting.

[GCH]

My daily is an expensive JLC quartz.


Plenty of other high end manuals - including of the same model - but for day to day it is great just to grab and go,

[Bibbs]

I've 2 Quartz Breitlings, but only as they 'do something else' as well as tell the time (Emergency & Emergency Mission).

I wouldn't go for it otherwise. My others are manuals/automatics.

[taxboy]

PJ S said:

Define “expensive” in relation to a quartz watch, and how would that tally with the £310 needed to fix the Oris for another 7+ years of likely faultless running?
What exactly is wrong with the hands and dial? Are either or both affecting the timekeeping?

For me in this context expensive is £1000 plus.

The watch has obviously lost it waterproofing as condensation suddenly appeared on the inside of the glass and hands and stopped running totally, although I do baby it a bit, ie I don't swim, wsh with it on, and even take it off to wash the car.

My concern is I had it fully serviced 2 years ago and it's gone wrong again so I'm thinking I'd probably be better placed putting the repair money into something new. If I twas convinced the repair would give me another 7+ years of service then I wouldn't hesitate

[TheGuru]

taxboy said:

I was also led to a degree by my dealings with a master horologist who told me that he refused to sell expensive quartz watches as he couldn't face a customer knowing the price of the movement compared to the rrp.

Now this was probably 20 years ago but does this still hold true or hae things moved on

But most expensive automatic/manual watches are exactly the same. They use €50 ETA movements. Tag Heur, Omega etc.

Probably need to be spending £5k+ to even start getting in-house movements on the luxury brands (e.g Panerai)

[taxboy]

TheGuru said:

But most expensive automatic/manual watches are exactly the same. They use €50 ETA movements. Tag Heur, Omega etc.

Probably need to be spending £5k+ to even start getting in-house movements on the luxury brands (e.g Panerai)

Thanks for that it was something I wasn't aware of previously

[Dermot O'Logical]

TheGuru said:

But most expensive automatic/manual watches are exactly the same. They use €50 ETA movements. Tag Heur, Omega etc.

Probably need to be spending £5k+ to even start getting in-house movements on the luxury brands (e.g Panerai)

Panerai would never put a cheap movement into an expensive watch *<cough>* Brooklyn Bridge, anybody?

[Mosdef]

TheGuru said:

But most expensive automatic/manual watches are exactly the same. They use €50 ETA movements. Tag Heur, Omega etc.

Probably need to be spending £5k+ to even start getting in-house movements on the luxury brands (e.g Panerai)

I think that used to be true with Tag and to a lesser extent Omega but a number of Tag Carreras now have Zenith El Primero movements and the Omega Co-Axial movement is pretty special. Not sure what has happened with IWC but they used modified ETA/Unitas in some very expensive watches for some time, as did Panerai.

[NDA]

Some quartz movements are better than others - up to 6 or jewels.... so I am informed.

I had a quartz Ebel, which was stolen in burglary, and always thought it was a decent watch.

[sad61t]

Grand Seiko have some well finished quartz watches starting in the low £2000s:
http://www.seiko.co.uk/collections/men/grand-seiko...

The 9F62 calibre is in-house too:
www.grand-seiko.com/about/movement/quartz/9f62/

[blueg33]

Of course even Patek Philippe do quartz movements

[drainbrain]

blueg33 said:

Of course even Patek Philippe do quartz movements

Hard to find a ladies PP that isn't quartz. Well, maybe not 'hard' but many of their ladies watches are quartz.

Edited by drainbrain on Monday 10th July 11:55

[Wills2]

taxboy said:

TheGuru said:

But most expensive automatic/manual watches are exactly the same. They use €50 ETA movements. Tag Heur, Omega etc.

Probably need to be spending £5k+ to even start getting in-house movements on the luxury brands (e.g Panerai)

Thanks for that it was something I wasn't aware of previously

Unfortunately his comments are quite wide of the mark when it comes to Omega and simply not true.

[blueg33]

Wills2 said:

taxboy said:

TheGuru said:

But most expensive automatic/manual watches are exactly the same. They use €50 ETA movements. Tag Heur, Omega etc.

Probably need to be spending £5k+ to even start getting in-house movements on the luxury brands (e.g Panerai)

Thanks for that it was something I wasn't aware of previously

Unfortunately his comments are quite wide of the mark when it comes to Omega and simply not true.

Plus Tudor do really good in house movements in watches from about £2k (the movements have been reviewed as being at least as good as the movements in their sister company Rolex)

[terrydacktal]

GCH said:

My daily is an expensive JLC quartz.


Plenty of other high end manuals - including of the same model - but for day to day it is great just to grab and go,

Don't you find it tiresome to have to keep reminding people it's not a reflection of your success and wealth though?

[UnclePat]

blueg33 said:

Wills2 said:

taxboy said:

TheGuru said:

But most expensive automatic/manual watches are exactly the same. They use €50 ETA movements. Tag Heur, Omega etc.

Probably need to be spending £5k+ to even start getting in-house movements on the luxury brands (e.g Panerai)

Thanks for that it was something I wasn't aware of previously

Unfortunately his comments are quite wide of the mark when it comes to Omega and simply not true.

Plus Tudor do really good in house movements in watches from about £2k (the movements have been reviewed as being at least as good as the movements in their sister company Rolex)

Yes, I agree with most of the above corrections.

Plus, from an ETA perspective, you need to factor in that whilst they (or their Sellita clones) are extremely common & used by many, many brands at very differing price points, they are not all the same in terms of either cost or quality.

Each movement generally comes in 4 separate grades - those buying in bulk (i.e. circa 1,000 units or more) might well be able to purchase an ETA 2824-2 or similar for about £50 each for the most basic 4th best 'Standard' grade movement, but the 2nd best 'Top' grade would cost maybe £100 more, for which you get much better decoration, accuracy & materials. The best 'Chronometer' grade is the same as the 'Top' version, but sent to 'COSC' for 15 days of testing & certification, which adds maybe another £100/£150 on top again.

Then IWC, Omega, Tudor etc. have historically tended to further modify or hand-adjust their base ETA movements to their needs, which all adds cost.

Sometimes it's hard to see past the marketing smoke & mirrors, and most people don't care enough to ascertain the technical differences, but two brands can use the same ETA family movement but have very differing movement qualities within.

In terms of the cost differential between Quartz & Mechanicals? Watches are luxury goods - value for money is often an alien concept. In some cases, a dirt cheap Swiss Ronda Quartz or a base-level Swiss Mechanical movement might not differ hugely in terms of the unit cost of each - maybe £50-£100 of a difference - but the mechanical version will invariably be priced much higher than the cost difference between the internal movements, and that's artificial pricing by the brands, because mechanical is seen by some (or at least advertised as such) as the more desirable, aspirational, horological option.

It's a bit like Carlsberg used to advertise - "Reassuringly Expensive".

There is though another factor - there's more to go wrong with a mechanical, as they tend to be more delicate than Quartz movements, susceptible to hard drops etc., so there is greater potential for them to returned under warranty for repairs, replacement etc. I have no doubt that the Brands bear this in mind by adding in a little 'fat' to the price to cater for the increased warranty costs with their mechanicals.