# Watch Crew: What to buy? **URL:** \ **Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [August 23, 2007, 8:38am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295 "2007-08-23T08:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 6:35am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/621 "2010-10-21T06:35:41Z")
> [@boardjnky4](#): > > eco-drives are only made by 1 company… The name is…it’s used in other companies. ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 6:46am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/622 "2010-10-21T06:46:50Z")
doesn’t really account for a large share of quality watches anyways. as a disclaimer, I am not an expert, so some of the things I mentioned above might not be 100% correct. I’m sure bing will lay the smack down. ---
**Author:** ![RobtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@RobtC](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/RobtC)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/623 "2010-10-21T07:11:43Z")
i think everyone in this thread should watch the gyrotourbillon video to get an appreciation for the intricacies of fine watches. ---
**Author:** ![layzie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/layzie/32/7599_2.png) [@layzie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/layzie)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/624 "2010-10-21T07:35:33Z")
> [@Xander](#): > > Bump > > Picked this up. > > ![http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/x_iliohan/Panerai112.jpg](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/uploads/speedlife/original/3X/9/1/918c5109181742c7c67d62697bb62e46c841878d.jpeg) > > X… I love it, what did you end up paying for it? I want to pick up a Panerai but cant decide between them and Bell & Ross. ---
**Author:** ![95d16turbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/977dab/32.png) [@95d16turbo](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/95d16turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 7:46am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/625 "2010-10-21T07:46:33Z")
Citizen makes the Eco-Drive movement. Seiko has a Kinetic movement which is also a quartz watch that uses a capacitor but is charged with an oscillating weight and a little generator thing. Quartz movements will always be more accurate than any mechanical movement. As an example, Rolex timing specifications are -2 +6 seconds a day. Typically they want it to run about +2 seconds a day because of the date change. A quartz watch has a circuit that, depending on which movement it has, will pulse exactly every second, every 3 seconds, every 12 seconds, every 30 seconds or every 60 seconds. When talking about accuracy of a quartz watch, Timing variations are within 12 seconds a year. ---
**Author:** ![EvoMR](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/evomr/32/7186_2.png) [@EvoMR](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/EvoMR)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 7:52am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/626 "2010-10-21T07:52:36Z")
> [@bing](#): > > How pissed are you when you spend $10k building a car and it breaks? > > Watches are a lot cheaper to maintain, get more use (wrist time vs. drive time), and hold thier value better if you pick the right piece. Agreed. ---------- Post added at 10:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ---------- > [@layzie](#): > > I love it, what did you end up paying for it? I want to pick up a Panerai but cant decide between them and Bell & Ross. Get a PAM. I used to have an 03-92 and don’t miss it at all. ---
**Author:** ![95d16turbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/977dab/32.png) [@95d16turbo](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/95d16turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/627 "2010-10-21T08:11:11Z")
> [@boardjnky4](#): > > I’ve got a buddy that wears a brietling daily (at least $5k). He loves the watch, but he was telling me a funny joke about it. He said that since his wife is a massage therapist(owns company), they do a ton of laundry at the house and he helps out. He said just about everytime he reaches into the dryer to pull out the linens, he wacks the brietling against the dryer. He says that everytime it happens, he dies a little inside lol. > > As already stated, it’s more about the mechanics and precision of the build than it is anything. It’s actually kind of funny the way it works out. I’ll break it down. > > There are 3 major types of watches. > > 1. Automatic - It actually winds up while it moves, never needing a battery or to be wound up. I have no idea how it works, but it’s somewhat complex. > 2. Wind up - You may have seen your grandmother spinning that little dial on her watch when you were a kid. That’s sorta similar to a wind up toy, or one of those little toy cars that you pull back, then it zooms forward. > 3. Battery - Obviously, these watches are powered by batteries. > > Automatic is usually NOT the most accurate watch. Due to it’s nature, the fact that it’s not moving to wind up for most of the day, it loses time pretty easily. Usually you have to reset the time every few weeks or so. > > Wind up can be accurate as long as you keep winding it > > Battery is the most accurate. It keeps the best time because it has a constant power source. > > As far as price goes, Automatic is the most expensive and battery is the cheapest. So it’s a bit strange that the autos don’t keep AS good of time. It’s all about the mechanics. You pay more for a watch that has GREAT parts and is reliable. You pay EVEN more if that watch company has been around a long time and their reputation is stellar. Any watch can be accurate if kept maintained. How many mechanical devices do you know of that run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for years and years without having anything done to them? Basically just watches and clocks. Automatics have an oscillating weight inside which spins when the watch is moved. This turns 2 reversing gears that turn another gear which connects with the mainspring and winds the watch. (Probably doesnt make any sense, but when you work on them everyday… it’s a little easier to picture them) The high grade mechanical movements can be accurate as long as they are properly maintained and oiled. As for automatic being the most expensive and quartz watches being the cheapest, that is false. There are many quartz watches that are more expensive than a mechanical watch but then again, it depends on the brand. ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:21am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/628 "2010-10-21T08:21:30Z")
> [@95d16turbo](#): > > Any watch can be accurate if kept maintained. How many mechanical devices do you know of that run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for years and years without having anything done to them? Basically just watches and clocks. > > Automatics have an oscillating weight inside which spins when the watch is moved. This turns 2 reversing gears that turn another gear which connects with the mainspring and winds the watch. (Probably doesnt make any sense, but when you work on them everyday… it’s a little easier to picture them) The high grade mechanical movements can be accurate as long as they are properly maintained and oiled. > > As for automatic being the most expensive and quartz watches being the cheapest, that is false. There are many quartz watches that are more expensive than a mechanical watch but then again, it depends on the brand. Kind of sounds like you’re trying to argue with me or prove me wrong. I didn’t mean that EVERY auto watch is more expensive than every quartz watch on the market. I meant it as a general rule of thumb. Also, I didn’t mean that all autos are innacurate. I simply meant that since they aren’t moving much while sitting at a desk, or on a nighstand every night, they are losing power and thus slow down. Or maybe you rotate watches, so it could go days without moving at all, which means it would stop running eventually and the time would have to be reset. As opposed to battery watches which have constant power 24/7. ---
**Author:** ![95d16turbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/977dab/32.png) [@95d16turbo](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/95d16turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:26am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/629 "2010-10-21T08:26:33Z")
> [@boardjnky4](#): > > Kind of sounds like you’re trying to argue with me or prove me wrong. I didn’t mean that EVERY auto watch is more expensive than every quartz watch on the market. I meant it as a general rule of thumb. > > Also, I didn’t mean that all autos are innacurate. I simply meant that since they aren’t moving much while sitting at a desk, or on a nighstand every night, they are losing power and thus slow down. Or maybe you rotate watches, so it could go days without moving at all, which means it would stop running eventually and the time would have to be reset. As opposed to battery watches which have constant power 24/7. No, I’m not trying to argue or prove you wrong. Just stating what I know seeing as I am a watchmaker. ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/630 "2010-10-21T08:30:21Z")
Cool, hard to read tones here (unless it’s quatrokrant) For luxury watches, what type of maintenance is recommended? If buying used, should maintenance be questioned? Curious to get a watchmaker’s perspective on that. ---
**Author:** ![95d16turbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/977dab/32.png) [@95d16turbo](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/95d16turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/631 "2010-10-21T08:50:28Z")
Well with most watches, The maintenance recommended is to be cleaned/overhauled every 5 years or so. But no one follows the recommended servicing period. Rolex for example, They recommend every 3-5 years for servicing but when you pay upwards of a grand to service your watch, you typically dont want to have it done every 3 years. If buying a used watch, I would 1st: make sure its authentic and 2nd: ask about when it was serviced. Whenever we buy a used watch for resale, we ALWAYS do a complete overhaul on it to be sure that it is in proper running order. ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/632 "2010-10-21T08:53:29Z")
cool, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/bing/32/7211_2.png) [@bing](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/633 "2010-10-23T18:50:22Z")
you guys are still largely missing the mark. The movement in that Panerai was made in Switzerland by a guy named Sven who went to university for 3 years then apprenticed for 2 years with ETA SA in the same division that his father and hie father’s father worked in and where thier wives and mothers work in the office or in marketing. The assembly of the movement takes 3 hours and 200+ individual steps known by heart in a lab-coat labratory with high precision equipment that is made from just as high a grade of material spec as the components of the watch itself. The company goes back hundreds of years and the brand is managed by men and women who would lay their lives down for it. The movement in a Citizen Eco-drive is made by a farmer in china who moved into the city because droughts from the smog that is created by over-manufacturing made it impossible for him to feed himself and his 5 kids (only 3 of whom will reach adulthood… the boys). He works in an upscale sweat shop and worked his way up to assembly from garbage detail after 3 weeks in training which consisted mostly of upgrading the dexterity of his fingers and learning how to read diagrams written on on the back of old fax paper from a dot-matrix printer that is in a pile of old printers in the bathroom (alley) out behind the building. He can’t pronounce citizen and wont make in a year what it costs to buy one used in a pawn shop where all citizen watches end up after 3 years for $50 OBO. Appreciation for craftsmenship, legacy and old-school innovation is why swiss auto’s keep their value and why they will always be awesome even if a battery powered Tommy Hilfiger watch, assembled by the chinese farmer during the second half of his 12 hour shifts when they switch the logos on the same watch movements from citizen to TH, keeps better time. Kind of like how a Corvette Z06 is faster than a Ferrari F430… but the corvette is made on an assembly line by unionized, over weight middle american men who get drunk on thier lunch break (worse than chinse farmers) whereas Ferrari is the equivalent of a high end swiss auto. Guys who know that pick up on it when you have an awesome watch… Guys who appreciate that are worth connecting with. Women who appreciate that are probably hot. i swear we went through this a couple times in this thread already. ---
**Author:** ![buffalo\_vr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@buffalo\_vr4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/buffalo_vr4)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/634 "2010-10-23T19:48:50Z")
you gonna look like a fool if you spent more than $1000 on a quartz watch. I know there are lots of tags and omegas out there are quartz movement, better to spend a few more dollars and get the automatic. ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/635 "2010-10-23T20:15:45Z")
Bing, really well said I don’t think spending more than 1k on a quartz makes you look like a fool. It all depends on the watch though. ---
**Author:** ![buffalo\_vr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@buffalo\_vr4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/buffalo_vr4)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/636 "2010-10-24T09:27:10Z")
i’m not a watch expert but sure have owned a lot of high end watches as well as the inexpensive ones. have opened back case of all watches i’ve owned, always curious as to what the hell is in it and what it looks like. swiss quartz is bit better, but the regular quartz movement tend to contain cheap materials like plastic parts. for example, here is my daily wear [http://cgi.ebay.com/Omega-Seamaster-Professional-Large-Bond-Watch-2541-80-/280572027081?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item41536560c9](http://cgi.ebay.com/Omega-Seamaster-Professional-Large-Bond-Watch-2541-80-/280572027081?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item41536560c9) exactly the same execpt mine is mechanical movement. a lot of times watchmakers would make two exact same watches but different movements, and if you goona pay over a thousand, you might as well pay a few hundreds to get the better movement. ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/637 "2010-10-25T11:55:39Z")
Anyone have any recommendation for inexpensive women’s watches? I bought the fiance a seiko a few years ago. That POS died after a few years. I feel bad about it, so I want to get her something half-way decent. She like watches with a “dainty” look (small band, girlie look, etc…). Would like to find an affordable swiss quartz that won’t die in 2 years. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/bing/32/7211_2.png) [@bing](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/638 "2010-11-05T17:36:28Z")
my wife has one of those gucci watches where you can swap out the bezel and buy different ones that match your purse, shoes, nail polish… it’s hecka gay in some ways but also super versatile and practical in others. plus it says gucci on it which is instant-BJ … bidding on a speedy right now btw… ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/639 "2010-11-05T20:34:15Z")
word…they’re at least swiss movement too I’ve been working on convincing her that a larger watch is better. We were at the gym the other day and the back of a magazine in the lobby had a SUPER baller women’s rolex with diamonds around the bezel. She turns around and says, “I want THAT one”. I think I have created a monster. Plus, I’ll be wearing a breitling way before she is wearing a rolex…and that aint happening anytime soon post pics!!! ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/bing/32/7211_2.png) [@bing](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295/640 "2010-11-05T21:19:34Z")
i saw Knight and Day on the airplane the other day and Cameron Diaz wears a stupid Rolex Sub the whole time… it looks retarded on her wrist… also, Cameron Diaz is ugly. [Previous page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295.md?page=31) [Next page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/watch-crew-what-to-buy/34295.md?page=33)