Expensive quartz watches

[anonymous-user]

I was given an Omega Seamaster Quartz for my 50th, just over 5 years ago. Lovely watch, performed first battery change a few months ago. 'Only' cost around £1500 at the time.
Keeps perfect time & is as good as new.
My Casio 'running' watch, purchased around the same time @£25 is still going strong too!
Equally accurate..

[TheGuru]

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.

Really? How so? What new Omega can you buy that doesn't use an ETA movement?

There will be exceptions of course, but what I've raised is still relevant, that many luxury automatic/manual watches are no different from quartz in that they have cheap movements in relation to their retail price.

Like it or not, Tag and Omega are fashion brands, you are paying am enormous markup for the brand and marketing.

[Lorne]

Mosdef 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)

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.

I think IWC are using in-house movements now, although as you point out they used to use a modified eta 7750 in the Spitfire Chronograph. I use a very similar spec and similarly modified eta 7750 in my watches. Would be nice if each movement was Eur 50, but the reality is north of £700 by the time it's ready to go into a watch.

[hilly10]

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

[NDA]

hilly10 said:

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

Depends what you consider 'expensive' I guess. I have a few watches and a £200 (ish) Citizen is one that I wear when travelling. A clever watch that looks good too.

[ZesPak]

hilly10 said:

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

I'm quite new to this, but does quartz stop working after 30 years?

[Lorne]

ZesPak said:

hilly10 said:

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

I'm quite new to this, but does quartz stop working after 30 years?

It might, depends on the evaporation rate from the plastics. They harden as the hydrogen evaporates and can crack, which buggers up the capacitors and circuits. My old SL lasted 20 years before things like the roof lock sensors and engine management started going wrong. The engine itself was just as smooth and perfect as day 1, but that's mechanical. Luckily though you can swop a quartz movement out for a new one as they're not so expensive.

[anonymous-user]

ZesPak said:

hilly10 said:

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

I'm quite new to this, but does quartz stop working after 30 years?

A quick google gives numerous examples of 40+ year old Quartz watches still going strong.
So no they don't implode @ 30 years !

[ZesPak]

Lorne said:

ZesPak said:

hilly10 said:

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

I'm quite new to this, but does quartz stop working after 30 years?

It might, depends on the evaporation rate from the plastics. They harden as the hydrogen evaporates and can crack, which buggers up the capacitors and circuits. My old SL lasted 20 years before things like the roof lock sensors and engine management started going wrong. The engine itself was just as smooth and perfect as day 1, but that's mechanical. Luckily though you can swop a quartz movement out for a new one as they're not so expensive.

I was thinking this... a new movement every 20 or more years will be far less expensive than servicing anyway?
I'm just trying to place hilly10's statement.

[BobToc]

It's an interesting question, I've occasionally thought about buying my wife a JLC Reverso, which I believe are quartz for women. Crazy amount to spend if they simply wear out after 30 years.

[BobToc]

Although having just looked they're now all manual winding or automatic it seems. Did I misremember or have they changed?

[GCH]

BobToc said:

Although having just looked they're now all manual winding or automatic it seems. Did I misremember or have they changed?

You misremembered - they offer quartz, manual, and a few automatic reverso models, and not just for women.

[Lorne]

ZesPak said:

Lorne said:

ZesPak said:

hilly10 said:

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

I'm quite new to this, but does quartz stop working after 30 years?

It might, depends on the evaporation rate from the plastics. They harden as the hydrogen evaporates and can crack, which buggers up the capacitors and circuits. My old SL lasted 20 years before things like the roof lock sensors and engine management started going wrong. The engine itself was just as smooth and perfect as day 1, but that's mechanical. Luckily though you can swop a quartz movement out for a new one as they're not so expensive.

I was thinking this... a new movement every 20 or more years will be far less expensive than servicing anyway?
I'm just trying to place hilly10's statement.

Yes, and as noted by others, many run for 40+ years, so not all quartz movements are the same. Plus I guess sitting on a wrist isn't quite as hot as under the bonnet of a big merc so the plastics will last longer than in a car.

I think the key thing with a quartz is to have battery changes, and eventual movement change, done by an independent rather than the original manufacturer. My wife has a couple of quartz Cartiers and battery changes from them are ridiculous prices.

[Wills2]

TheGuru 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.

Really? How so? What new Omega can you buy that doesn't use an ETA movement?

Seriously? Just do a bit of research....

[GC8]

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

He isn't really full of top advice. Panerai were the masters of fitting a cheapo crap movement (re-tasked Unitas fob watch movement) into new case and charging a comical price for it.

[GC8]

Also: whilst you may be able to buy Sellita or ETA movements for £50ea in bulk, neither Omega nor TAG Heuer use them. Yes they use ETA movements, but no they don't use the base grade versions of any model, let alone 2824-2s.

Remember: opinions are like aholes.

[critical mass]

BobToc said:

It's an interesting question, I've occasionally thought about buying my wife a JLC Reverso, which I believe are quartz for women. Crazy amount to spend if they simply wear out after 30 years.

Not all - a number of models are available as either quartz or mechanical. There is a price differential.

[blueg33]

I use s £300 Tissot quartz to tell the time to my mechanical watches and on days when I need to catch the train. The current battery is 5 years old, it gains just a couple of seconds in 6 months. The watch was purchased at Lisbon airport 15 years ago and still looks pretty good.

It is on its second battery. Tissot/Omega charged £80 to change it, but that included a full case and strap polish, and maintained water resistance at 200m

[TheGuru]

GC8 said:

Also: whilst you may be able to buy Sellita or ETA movements for £50ea in bulk, neither Omega nor TAG Heuer use them. Yes they use ETA movements, but no they don't use the base grade versions of any model, let alone 2824-2s.

Remember: opinions are like aholes.

It's no good getting all defensive, you have missed the point completely

The OP was advised by someone to avoid expensive quartz's because the movements are cheap and relative to the price there is no value.

My point is that it is exactly the same with most automatics, especially those with ETA or Sellita movements. You're a fool if you believe these large corporations are paying big dollars for the ETA movements and are having expensive resources hand-making them for weeks. They use modified ETA, so maybe adds £50 to the costs. The point is the cost of the movement is still a very minor part of the overall cost and not that much different from quartz watches

And cheap is not necessarily synonymous with poor quality,

[GC8]

Jimboka said:

ZesPak said:

hilly10 said:

Personally I would never buy an expensive quartz watch. A mechanical watch is for life or even three lifetimes not so a quartz.

I'm quite new to this, but does quartz stop working after 30 years?

A quick google gives numerous examples of 40+ year old Quartz watches still going strong.
So no they don't implode @ 30 years !

In 40+ years you might not find many 2017 watches still going, though. I have an Omega quartz which has more jewels in than an Oysterquartz movement. Current movements tend not to be as durable.