I've had several Rolex Subs over the past 30 of so years, one was incredibly accurate, another okay and the worst one, which I purchased new from a Mall jewelry store, was incredibly awful, accuracy wise. The store clerk said it would take a couple of weeks to synchronize with my pulse before it became accurate, I got my $ back and never returned.

I purchased a modded Sub homage watch on WUS, with what my jeweler said was a top of the line ETA automatic movement, but despite trying for the last 4 plus years, he could never get it to stop running 1.5 or so minutes fast per day.

I have a couple of quartz watches, with sapphire crystals (I only buy watches with that type of crystal-I'm kinda clumsy and end up beating the crystals up) and they are all accurate almost to the second over a month or two.

Now I am in the market for a watch. I'm a bit too old and decrepit for another Rolex or Omega so I am probably gonna get a Sub look-a-like quartz, Alexander for example.

But I notice a number of posters here, most of whom I respect based on what they've said over time on many subjects, who are automatic watch buyers/owners.

I wonder why, since they just aren't accurate
as compared to quartz? Is it that you don't care if you're a minute of so off the real time or ...?

Bob

EDITED to add: I only sold that last, very accurate Rolex after I was diagnosed with throat cancer and thought it pretty possible, I would not make it. But I did (so far) and I can't undo it. Then I got prostate cancer and I suppose I made the right decision.

I wear a Seiko SARB035 daily. I like mechanical things and don’t care that it gains a second or two each day. I enjoy looking at the movement through the transparent back.

I like automatics for a few reasons...

I don't have to worry about a battery dying at an inconvenient time (like while traveling)

I like the feel of the movement

I enjoy the builds, the gears, springs, bearings working together in sync to provide an acceptable measure of time.

I am an automatic guy....Citizen, Seiko and Omega. When serviced by a qualified watchmaker...they should give you great accuracy. They will never be quartz accurate but never were meant to be that perfect. I think, my Omega Seamaster with 1120 movement is rated at -4/+6 seconds per day of accuracy. Depending on how still you sit, angle on wrist, activity...it could be 3 seconds slow one day, 4 seconds fast the next and then 2 seconds the next day. When testing...wear it for few days before checking accuracy with normal activity....so get a solid time hack from atomic clock to set it.....then few days or week later do a check on atomic clock and see how far off it is. If it is outside the expectations then a boutique or authorized dealer or someone qualified in working on ETA or specific movement should be found.....the watches are meant to be adjusted as needed...the watchmaker will have the proper tool to assess its exact pulses...and use the regulator to adjust. Not a big deal...time consuming but not difficult for qualified watchmaker/technician.
That all being said....the allure of my watches is they are not perfect...my Seiko is my daily wear watch whether in office or in field.....I wear my Omega out to dinner, business meetings, church, weddings, etc. Part of the love is picking them up...unscrewing crown, setting time, doing a quick shake or manual wind to get them started and slipping it on my wrist...basing the time off my cell phone to the minute, not necessarily to the second.
I prefer the complicated simplicity of a well made automatic.

I like my automatic watch (Rolex "James Cameron" Deep Sea Sea-dweller) for the same reason I like revolvers: An appreciation for a well designed, well executed piece of mechanical engineering. If all I cared about was knowing the time and date, I'd just look at my smart phone.

quote:

I like my automatic watch (Rolex "James Cameron" Deep Sea Sea-dweller) for the same reason I like revolvers: An appreciation for a well designed, well executed piece of mechanical engineering. If all I cared about was knowing the time and date, I'd just look at my smart phone.

Couldn't have said it better if I tried. Mechanical watches, especially those with an exhibition back are awesome to behold. I can buy a $50 quartz Timex that will tell better time than a Rolex, but it will always just be an electronic gizmo, not a mechanical marvel.

quote:

Originally posted by pulicords:
I like my automatic watch (Rolex "James Cameron" Deep Sea Sea-dweller) for the same reason I like revolvers: An appreciation for a well designed, well executed piece of mechanical engineering. If all I cared about was knowing the time and date, I'd just look at my smart phone.

Ditto. On more than one occasion in the past several years, at the end of the day, I would realize that I never once looked at my watch for the time. I love mine because of the engineering and craftmanship it represents. I have several 100-year old pocket watches that I admire for the same reason.

The ONLY thing I don't like about mine is that the back of the watch is solid metal, so I cannot see and admire the guts in action. I do like to watch it as it spins on the automatic watch-winder I bought for it. I consider the watch a piece of artwork.

It's not for everyone but like the posts above I appreciate the complexity of my watches and the functionality/looks of each one as well. Each has a unique style and function from a dive watch to dressier to casual to a 7-day movement. It's not practical and even with a chronometer rated watch like my PO won't be any more accurate than +/- a few seconds a day, but that's not the point.

Hint - it's also not practical to have a safe with 10-45 guns in it. But here we are.

So. perhaps, reading the posts above, I might-might, that is, be a bit OC as I want to know the TIME, the real time, the correct time, accurate time, not an approximation.

I like the automatic with the so-called top of the line ETA movement I spoke about earlier, but 90 seconds fast a day is crazy. It's got a back window, too, and I think it, like the sapphire front, is sapphire. So I can take it off, turn it over and watch it gain time right in front of me.

If I could get another (or the same) Rolex like I sold four years ago, well I might do it, but I just can't make myself take a chance and buy another auto and find out it's crazy inaccurate and it can't be regulated.

Bob

quote:

but 90 seconds fast a day is crazy.

Even the cheapest Seiko 5 with the 7S26 movement is suppose to keep +50/-20 a day. I have a Seiko 5 that keeps about -10 a day, and my Seiko SKX013 keeps about -20 with the same movement. If someone couldn't regulate an ETA below +90/day something was wrong. Sounds like it might have been magnetized.

I like mechanicals for all the above mentioned reasons...and the type of movement is also called the "caliber" A friend of mine asked why I wear a watch instead of using my phone...I told him if I wanted to pull something out of my pocket to check the time I would get a pocket watch

I find the history of timekeeping fascinating. Man's quest to make a machine to track time accurately has without a doubt helped us advance. The way they were used in early navigation is amazing.

I don't know. The jeweler I have used for many years is good. He serviced Rolex watches, and always did a great job on mine.

He is frustrated with the movement running so fast, I think, and, perhaps, I need to try to find a second opinion from another jeweler.

But I don't know anyone locally I'd have confidence in to do anything watch wise, so I gotta look around for someone in another city or state.

I'm one of those OC (Okay, I admit it) who never takes off his watch except to rinse the germs, sweat and old soap off in the shower.

Bob

All watches are gizmos.

Mechanical watches are gizmos where you can see the moving parts. Gears, springs, rachets, bearings, etc. all put together and viola! it keeps track of time on your wrist! What other thing has all the simple machines combined into something you can wear? How cool is that?

I like automatics because I appreciate the engineering and craftsmanship involved in making a watch that is powered by me and my movement. I like to feel the rotor swing.

I’ve never really felt the urge to get a Rolex but the current Omega Seamaster Professional is to me a modern art masterpiece that happens to be functional. The caliber 8800 Omega movement is just amazing. I also love that unlike boring AF Rolex with their steel case backs Omega has a display caseback that showcases that gorgeous movement.

I have almost zero tolerance for a watch that doesn’t keep VERY good time. I know which of my daily watches run fast and which run slow and rotate so that whatever I’m wearing is #1 an automatic and #2 no more than 15 seconds off atomic time while it’s on my wrist.

Buy a quartz if:
- absolute down to the second time over a long period of time matters a bunch to you,
- you don't care if your watch has a soul or not,
- mechanical beauty is lost on you (the back of a Speedy is amazing!),
- you don't have so many watches that you get tired of changing batteries all the damn time and
- you aren't interested in owning some of the best watches made.

Seriously though, I never pick up a watch and find it running. I change my watches almost every day. So a second or two every matters zero to me. I have to reset them when I put them on anyways. I own one quartz watch and it's crazy how few wears I get of it before it's time to change the battery again.

Like the OP, I can't see a reason to spend that much money on a mechanical movement. I am enjoying a new Apple Watch Series 5, with far more capability than any real watch. I also enjoy driving a 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster with 26,000 original miles. So, it is possible to treasure mechanical devices, yet purchase a more functional watch.

For me it is about what makes them work.
All the little gears and springs working in unison to basically tell time and in some cases, also the date.

In some cases it is how it looks.
My Breitling has a bright yellow dial, my Omega has an orange bezel.

For some it could be function.
A dive watch,a field/pilot watch,a GMT function or a nice dress watch.

There are lots of reasons, it all just depends on a persons taste and likes.
It also depends on how much people are willing to spend.

quote:

with 26,000 original miles.

well, I mean...you don't enjoy driving it that much.

I will add, I find it odd that we don't all understand this. Do we only own one AR, one pump shot gun and one Glock 19? My wife says the only thing that makes less sense than my gun collection is my watch collection.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:

I will add, I find it odd that we don't all understand this. Do we only own one AR, one pump shot gun and one Glock 19? My wife says the only thing that makes less sense than my gun collection is my watch collection.

The best way to get around that one is to get your wife involved in not only gun collecting but also watch collecting
I did this many years ago and my wife has more watches than I do
It also makes it easier to get a new gun/watch into the house
I think I may be ahead on guns tho, but not by much

I tried that. Sadly it didn’t work. She loves the MOP Steinhart Ocean 1 diver I got her so much that she hardly wears it because she doesn’t want to “mess it up”.

Wives, uhhh, I forgot! I got my wife a Rolex years ago. It's one that keeps great time, too. She wears it for several weeks, then puts on her Fit Bit, then wears her ....

And she likes guns, too.

Bob