Quartz Watches DON'T SUCK: Best Quartz Watches Affordable - Luxury
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- Quartz Watches Don't SUCK: Best Quartz Watches Affordable - Luxury. There is this big misconception in the watch world that all quartz is created equally and quartz is inferior to mechanical timepieces. But this just is NOT true. Quartz is NOT all created equally and there are so many watches that are blowing away this category. So that's what we are talking about today!
So there is the most accurate quartz: Citizen and the Calibre 0100 with +1 seconds PER YEAR. Then we have conventional affordable quarts: Timex Q Timex and Tissot PRX. Then we have brands really innovating in the space - creating hybrids like Seiko and Grand Seiko, most notably with the Spring Drive. And lastly, we have the high end interpretation of quartz and that has to be the FP Journe Elegante.
Those are my favourite quartz watches THAT DON'T SUCK! Did I miss anything big?! I feel like Cartier really should be on this list. BIG SWING AND MISS BRITT.
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TIME STAMPS:
0:00-0:45 - Intro
0:46-2:28 - Citizen Eco Drive
2:29-3:26 - Timex
3:27-5:28 - Grand Seiko
5:29-7:05 - Important Shout Outs
7:06-9:04 - FP Journe
9:05-9:24 - Outro
9:25-10:08 - Thank you Patrons - Jak na to + styl
My quartz GS ran one second fast last year. The whole year. One single second. I can grab it any time, it's absolutely beautiful, and it's crazy accurate. I love quartz and I don't understaffed all the hate
I've had my GS quartz since June last year and it's gained about two and a half seconds, I'm still very very impressed and very happy with that.
No one hates quartz.
I have mine since December. I'll check in a couple of months 😂
I don’t hate quartz. I respect quartz. But there is something special about a mechanical watch. Perhaps because you can see it “work” behind a display case back ? Perhaps because you can feel the self winding rotor move ? I feel the same about cars. Even though an EV can be better than a conventional car in every way, there is something that I love about firing up an internal combustion engine and hearing it roar and feeling it vibrate.
One second?????? Might be time for a service buddy. Maybe just throw it away and use your cell phone
i'm a watch gal, but 90% of the time i recommend my non-watch friends quartz watches ngl. Cheap, fuss free, and far more accurate - perfect for anyone who isn't in the hobby nor looking for that one luxury piece.
Yep, same. "Hey Scott, you're into watches, what do you recommend?" More than once I've recommended a Ladies Citizen Eco Drive with a mop dial and diamond bezel. No fuss, looks great, reasonably priced.
Bulova has some smooth sweep quartz movements - the latest example being in the newly relaunched Jet Star. Very affordable and worth checking out.
Battery life is shorter on these movements - but for me that is not an issue, as I would rather have a smoother second hand sweep.
just about to write the same , I used to own the old Bulova tuning fork with super smooth hand to great to see the company that now owns the brand name doing some quartz with smooth running hands or even the new tuning fork they brought out
Absolutely love that movement! The second hand sweep is as smooth as fine vodka. The only issue is that Bulova designers have some weird ideas on how watches should look. They have some amazing watches but they love doing blingy strange designs
Love my Bulova
It's called a mecha quartz movement btw
and pay 40€ for battery replacement every 9 months to 1 year ? 😬
I only ever had quartz watches, but then I bought my first automatic and fell down the rabbit hole 😅 But then, for my 30th, I bought myself a vintage quartz Omega, mostly because it was what I could afford - then a month or two after I bought a quartz dive watch to supplement it! I'm glad I own automatic watches, and I still wear them and I'll probably buy more; but I'm also glad I've rediscovered quartz! Thanks as always for another great video!
Breitling Aerospace - last of the 38mm models with the HAQ Thermo-compensated Quartz. It has Titanium case and bracelet, bi-bezel, 100m WR, a flipping Minute repeater, 2nd time zone, countdown timer, chrono and alarm. Oh an my 18 year old version is running about 3 seconds a YEAR accuracy. It is now my most warn watch - its soooo damn good
Same here. My Aerospace gets more wrist time than all of my automatic watches combined. The usual suspects that hate quartz are the same ones who cry when they scratch thier Rolex as it'll harm its resale value.
One of my squadron’s Aussie exchange navigators had one of these & I was enamored by it. It seemed like a great watch!
Britt!! Love this video, as I am big fan of quartz watches. My Citizen 300m Promaster Eco-Drive has travelled the world with me as a true GADA watch. But day to day. when I take my Tudors off the wrist, they are most likely replaced by a CWC, Elliot Brown, or Sangin quartz models. Keep up the great videos. Long live the Cult(s), and 4:30 date windows.
It disturbs me when the seconds hand doesn’t line up with the seconds markers 🫣
16 Quartz out of 26 watches and they all hit the markers.
I won't keep a Quartz that misses
Get a mecha quartz movement then simple 🤷♂️
Perhaps it's due to the parallax effect?
Mine does 🙂
Most quartz won’t hit the mark perfectly. The torque of the movement has a lot to do with it along with the gear train in smaller movements.
Such a well done and much needed video! I’m fortunate to own mechanical watches and a spring drive, but I will never stop nerding out about the GS 9F movements. Absurdly understated accuracy by GS, completely in-house, assembled by hand, and beautifully finished. The coolest part being the nearly imperceptible two ticks per second that allow the movement to provide enough torque to move the gorgeous dauphine hands.
Well said Brit! X Iwas a bit snobby about quartz then totally changed my mind. A spring drive is one of my grails and i now have a mixture of autos and quartz in my collection
Longines made the Conquest VHP which was the height of accuracy at a reasonable price point. I really wish they bring it back. Such a great concept and great watch!
@2:47 I have been eyeing that Timex Expedition Field North Post! Thanks for mentioning it.
I feel weird Rolex fangirl like you didn't mention OysterQuartz haha
and I'm happy you talk about Eco-Drive and Expedition North Solar yeaaaaa
Yes, I do have a VHP Longines quartz watch that I use to set the time on my other watches.
Bruno Söhnle Glashütte also finish their quartz movements to a high level. Might be worth checking out for those that don't have anything against quartz.
That's a video that we all needed, thank you! 🙌
I am a senior who comes from the time even pre-dating quartz watches. All I own are quartz dive watches and chronographs. I am also a mechanical engineer. I honestly hate the inaccuracy, maintenance and attention mechanical watches require as a watch enthusiast who never wears the same watch two days in a row. To me, this weird fetish about mechanical movements is analogous to luddites who appreciate vinyl records and kick starter motorcycles. Lost in a time warp...lol. No coincidence that most that own mechanical watches don't have a clue how they even work or ever even changed a watch movement or built a watch from parts. Its magic.
Gatekeepers can talk about heritage and craftmanship and engineering til they´re blue in the face, but the facts remain: quartz watches are generally much better at timekeeping than mechanical ones.
Bro, not everyone you disagree with is a gatekeeper. And literrally no one disputes the fact that a cheap quartz is better at timekeeping. But this is an aweful argument. Wanna know what's even better at time keeping? That's right, your smartphone. It even syncs over the Internet so it always have the correct time. So, if your reasoning to justify a quartz watch is that it's more acurate, you should use your phone instead. Now, if you want to use a watch because you admire heritage, craftmanship and engineering, then you should use a mechanical watch. A Ferrari will always have a shorter maintenance cycle then a prius. But it's a Ferrari, not a Prius.
@@avgvstvs996 I´ll do you one better: you know what is better than a smartphone at timekeeping? The several atomic clocks located around the world. Those are AMAZING at timekeeping. But, sadly, you cannot wear them on the wrist, much like a smartphone. Let´s compare apples to apples and leave the watermelons and bananas out of the conversation, shall we?. If you want more reasons why a quartz is better, let´s see: some of them sync with atomic watches, so you can get smartphone-like timekeeping. Also, you don´t have to set them every damn time you don´t wear them for a week. Some of them are solar powered, so you don´t even have to change the batteries. And they are usually several orders of magnitude cheaper than an equivalent-performing mechanical watch.
And yes, most people cannot afford Ferraris, so there is that also.
Britt, just feeling grateful for you and your vids. You do a great job and just so chill. I love the peaceful vibe. So, ya know…..thanks 😊❤️
I love quartz! Why? Well I was a kid when quartz watches were “the latest thing” and I still remember how exciting they were. I was used to a manual wind Timex(with date!) and suddenly these magical little quartz digital watches arrived with their “floating” digits, buttons, a stopwatch, a backlight, an alarm that bleeped!!! It was like something straight from the future! We take all that stuff for granted now but back then they were just incredible. I’m actually smiling while I type this because all my wonder and excitement and emotions from getting my first (Zeon)quartz digital watch for Christmas are flooding back. That’s what thinking about quartz watches does for me. Quartz crisis? Nope, quartz revolution! :-)
FP Journe’s reimagination of quartz power drain in the Elegante is a testament to his horological curiosity. I am mostly agnostic about quartz versus mechanical and have owned/own two GS 9Fs, two Citizen Campanolas and five G-Shocks. The now discontinued but still available Campanolas were JDM studio products which had amazing finishing and were complication rich. Along with the Elegante, they show the high horology potential for quartz even over and above the GS 9Fs. I draw the line at Cartier because I find it dodgy that a majority of all Cartier watches have been quartz watches made for luxury poseurs (don’t get me started on quartz tank watches with vermeil coated cases) for most of the decades following the sale by the Cartier family. While there were luxury quartz references offered by Rolex, Patek Phillipe (Genta’s Ellipse masterfully designed for PP), Piaget and JLC (the Odysseus), these offerings elevated quartz and were not volume/profit grabs as was the case with Cartier. People are aghast at higher priced quartz titanium and/or carbon offerings by both Citizen and G-Shock but they are wonderfully practical and will not require expensive service every 5 to 10 years. At $1500.00 per service for a high horology watch, even a $3,000 quartz watch like some of G-Shock’s MR-G references will effectively pay for itself in service cost savings in a reasonable period of time (10 to 15 years).
Hi Britt! Love your channel and love what you do here. I just want to chime in and say that yes, watch collectors have a real blind spot and hate on for quartz and I don't know why. As a professional watchmaker who makes a lot of his money from mechanical overhauls, even I have to admit there are some quartz watches I just adore and will not part with. Also for me collecting is about history as much as it is just having what I like, and ignoring the impact the courts has had on the history of watchmaking or even on the world itself is just unthinkable.
I am currently wearing my citizen ProMaster titanium diver while I'm watching your video.
Courts is so wonderful for its accuracy and also for how affordable it makes complicated watches like chronographs.
I'm also a huge fan of G-Shock and have several. In addition to the titanium diver I have another citizen Eco-Drive and several seiko kinetics in addition to traditional battery powered quartz watches.
A spring drive Grand Seiko, particularly the chronograph, is one of my Grails. I love the innovative technology and honestly a GS was the first really expensive watch I put on and thought to myself, "this is really special." Rolexes don't do that for me but a grand Seiko does.
Also, I think anyone who says that a grand Seiko spring drive isn't quartz is frankly a little psychotic. Anytime peace with the quartz crystal regulating the time is quartz. Full stop. Having a spring for the power source does not make it otherwise, just like having a battery doesn't make the original Hamilton Ventura or a 1960s tuning fork Accutron a quartz watch. Spring drive is probably the biggest hybridization between mechanical and quartz watchmaking but that doesn't mean it isn't quartz.
One final and possibly important question: was your Journe insured and if so did you get any insurance money to help you buy the other one? I think protecting our collections is something that we as watch collectors don't talk about enough.
Thanks for a great video and I look forward to more.
Spring drive is more than just a mechanical power source. It's mechanical drive train too. Quartz only regulates the speed of the (mechanical) flywheel.
@@greenbow7888 I did know that but didn’t articulate it well. Thanks for the reply! 🙂
Great video Britt. I have a Bulova JetStar with the precisionist movement. It's amazing. 262,000 Hz movement with a smooth sweep like a GS spring drive.
They are great
My daily is a Breitling Endurance Pro and i love it! Accurate, light and super cool!
That watch is cool. My friend has had his eye on one.
@paulbrown2422 I brought a couple of different colour straps too, really gives you a different look and feel!
T4yc. I have a Seiko Landmaster with the Spring Drive movement. It's a very different watch with it's bullnose crown at 12 o'clock. But it's Spring Drive, and I could spend hours watching the second hand sweep around the dial. It's also titanium and has an asymmetric case, therefore wearing brilliantly for it's size.
I have a few quartz watches and i enjoy them as much as the others. When the MoonSwatch and all these other "Mission to (insert planet)" came out it didn't take long 'til everybody complained about these things breaking. I then discovered the Pagani 1701 in red/white that was named "Mission to Alaska" be Jody from JustOneMoreWatch - and that's a really cool piece in stainless steel with a VK 64 in the back! Also there are two G-Shocks and a vintage Citizen with a date pointer that i got for graduation. They're all great and they all get wrist time.
Very nice video Britt,love the F.P Journe. Citizen Blue Angel does it all and sets itself every night using a radio signal to the atomic clock in Denver
Great to meet you yesterday and what good timing talking about the quartz VC! 🤯
Quartz fan. In addition to the movement, there are many aspects to the making of a watch, from the face to the bezel to the date window (if there is one), to the hands and the indices and more. I wish for more quartz options from Omega and Tudor and others.
I prefer quartz watches. They're more accurate, they need less maintenance, and they cost less. I wish that more mid-to-high end manufacturers would place quartz movements into their highest quality cases and designs using their highest quality bracelets. I have an old Omega Seamaster quartz, and it is great. If they made the current Seamaster with the white dial in quartz, I'd buy it.
A few additions to your quartz list:
- Bulova's "Precisionist" line has battery powered high accuracy quartz movements that move at 16 beats per second, the movement is smoother than a high beat automatic. Not for small wrists.
- Accutron produces quartz watches powered by electrostatic generators. They look interesting (a little like the old Bulova Accutron Spaceview) but they're too large for my wrist.
- Seiko makes the VH31 mechaquartz movement whose regular second hand beats 4 times per second. This is not a chronograph. I've seen it used in some watches from Hemel and Dan Henry.
- Grand Seiko makes battery powered quartz watches that are accurate to 10 seconds/year (some limited editions to 5 seconds/year)
- Citizen "The Citizen" line are high accuracy watches (+/- 5 seconds/year), they also have perpetual calendars and independently movable hour hands.
- ETA makes a line of high accuracy movements, Marathon uses them in the SSNAV (Stainless Steel Navigator) watches. The Certina brand uses them as well.
- Some quartz watches keep accurate time by using an external reference (long wave radio, Bluetooth, GPS). It was kind of cool seeing a watch automatically switch to daylight saving time at 2AM this morning in the US. I have a watch I have not set in years (a solar Casio).
A really good battery or solar powered quartz watch should warn you when the power gets low, not just quit. Look for an end of life (EOL) or low charge indicator in the spec sheet or manual.
I bought a Junghans form C chronograph last year and am grateful that they made a quartz for us poor folk. I couldn't afford their automatics.
Solar powered quartz watches, do not need the rechargeable battery replacing either.
I have a few quartz watches I like after many years of ownership - A small pre-G all stainless Casio from the early 80's, a 35.5mm Seiko SQ from the same era, a too-big radio controlled Citizen Eco-drive and, of course, a 35mm PRX which gains only 4 sec. a year. The Citizen is nice in that I have an always accurate timepiece to reference in setting the mechanicals.
I was always attracted to Breitling's thermocompensated quartz. Also: Longines Conquest V.H.P.!
Great video. While not a quartz guy I think this video is a nice diversion from Omega-Tudor-Rolex. Your vids are great, thanks. PS> Went to Timmies with the wife yesterday - very nice.
Great video Britt and agree on the Elegante. It's the grail watch for me and have always to buy one, but shame that I can't even get on a waitlist. Oh well..
I personally enjoy quartz watches, they are always ready to go, whenever I open my watch box.
Some great watches mentioned in the video, however I feel like Sinn UX and the new U50 Hydro deserve to be in the video as well. I dont understand why literally no one is talking about this series of watches from Sinn with the Hydro technology and quartz movements. They are like the ultimate rugged watches, ready for anything.
Quartz watches are BETTER. I'm just not paying 10k for a quartz watch.
Britt, you forgot the Chronomaster line of Citizen. They give Grand Seiko some serious competition.
I love my quartz watches. These are generally my grab-n-go watches for weekend errands, vacations, or travel. My favorites are the Casio Royale, the Duro, the CasiOak (these last three being my travel watches), and the Brew 8-Bit (such a fun watch, the metal bracelet is even better than the PRX bracelet).
I have an eco drive and it keeps very good time. Wayyyy better than my auto obviously. Never needs a battery. Love it.
My "The Citizen" AQ4100-65W with the A060 is a favorite in my collection. Stunningly beautiful watch with a washi paper dial and nicely finished titanium. The A060 is a solar HAQ that is more capable than most 9F movements with +/- 5 seconds per year accuracy and a perpetual calendar.
More often than not, I have close to $20k of mechanical watches in a drawer or on winders, but on my wrist… my Bell & Ross Type Demineur. It fits my 6.2” wrist perfectly, keeps almost perfect time, and I don’t care that it’s a 26 year old quartz watch.
I just bought a vintage Longines quartz Moonphase. Loving it. More quartz and you need to do a special on Moonphase.
Excellent content. Strength to strength. Best watch channel, I think
I enjoy automatic, but man...I bought an Citizen Eco-Drive Divers watch and it is lovellllly! It's very practical and durable.
Great choices and informative! I love quartz. More than half of my collection are quartz. Love these dependable and accurate beauties.
Love a quartz watch! Own both automatic and quartz watches and regularly find myself grabbing the quartz ones for convenience as can’t be bothered having to set the time when my automatic watches have stopped 😂
I love my automatics, but I enjoy my quartz watches, too! From Casio, I’ve got a G-Shock 5610, a Pathfinder, & an MRW-200H. I’ve also got a Garmin Instinct for hiking & exercising.
I’d never heard of F P Journe watches before watching your video, but….wow!
Anyway, thanks for another super video, Britt.
I got one of the old double branded GS quartz models a few years ago and stopped wearing most of my other watches. Pretty much set and forget except for time changes and changing the date over. Plus 200m water resistance on an everyday watch never hurts
About that Journe... Well, it moves like a Seiko, like a Casio, like a Citizen, like a Breitling, Longinges or Omega. In order for the hands to go to sleep, there has to be more than one stepper motor added to them. So in the video you can spot the minute hand jumping every 5 seconds or so. Whereas in a Grand Seiko 9F quartz movement, everything moves mechanically, except for the seconds hand. And because of that, the minute and hour hands sweep smoothly (moving once per second because they're geared with the seconds hand).
So that Elegante has a movement with even less mechanical parts in it than some Citizen I can name.The technology of the quartz movement seems unremarkable to me. And I would guess that Journe hasn't invested much R&D into quartz, but just outsourced some of the core movement and then added his visual flair.
Great video! I think the Casio Oceanus line and Bulova make some incredible quartz watches. I'm a mechanical snob and own a Casio Oceanus OCW-T200S-1AJF, GShocks and gift many Bulova
I've owned the quartz PRX and thought it punched well above its weight being sporty and dressy. But the tough solar Casioak has been one of my favorite purchases. I call it my adventure watch b/c I take it everywhere.
One of the many absurdities of the very expensive watch world is the virtually complete prohibition against quartz watches. This is driven by nothing more than snobbery because basically 100% of the unwashed plebes use quartz watches...and because quartz movements have the original sin of being-gasp-much cheaper! It is easier to try and justify the cost of a $10,000 watch if it has a "mystical" in house mechanical movement than a nice quartz one for $15.
That FP Journe is sublime. Glad you got another one.
I have heard of Grand Seiko for years and knew they had some specific spring drive movement that people go on and on about, but never knew quartz was involved, you have just blown away everyone else's lack of information in a few seconds!
I think this is intentionally obscured by Grand Seiko and the people who go on about it. It's still really cool, as it uses no battery but instead a miniature generator powered by springs, but fundamentally it counts seconds using a quartz crystal.
This is not exactly a secret, here is GS's video on Spring Drive: czcams.com/video/BQ4yxc7EviQ/video.html
It shows and mentions the quartz oscillator. This video is 7 years old.
@@ge48421 Yet you wouldn't believe the people yelling at me about it on Reddit.
Great subject! So many great quartz watches! My fav is my Breitling Aerospace. I like Breitling superquartz. That JP Journe looks so cool, but looked up price…can’t believe you didn’t have insurance???
I have a question I have two watches on my mind one is Citizen NH8393 other is PRX Quartz, Citizen is automatic and the PRX is you know quartz. I can't decide which one to get. Also please keep in mind I wear suits for work so it needs to be a dress watch.
I liked the Citizen BN-0151 Eco-Drive diver (0:35) so much, I bought another one. So I have the blue and the black. Best starter watches out there
A mechanical watch can’t be a “tool watch” when quartz exists.
I've got a Timex Harborside in 42mm, blue dial with gold trim. Been a great watch for $40.
That was NOT bad singing! It was lovely. Keep singing, please!
Oh, and, quartz watches...
To this day, my best watch, accuracy-wise, is a Mallard Dura 8, purchased in 2003. It uses a 7-year lithium battery, and is accurate to well within 5 seconds per year.
As it turns out, Mallard watches are no longer being made. They were produced using Swiss parts (including ETA quartz movements) by Jules Borel of Kansas City, KS. Sadly, the member of the Borel family whose project they seemed to be passed away a couple of years ago.
Keep singing!
I'm very fond of both my Citizen eco-drive and my Seiko solar Padi watch. They are key parts of my collection.
Great topic! To all collectors, don’t be a snob.
Timex is doing fantastic lately. Beautiful watches. And you’re right, Grand Seiko Quartz is sublime, Spring drive is a perfect hybrid. Love it!
Tissot quartz watches for me at the best for the entry level price it offers. 😎
Love it when you have a Patron song. Especially this one. Real cute.❤❤❤
Love quartz! Particular ones I’ve enjoyed owning are: the high accuracy Grand Seiko, the Cartier Tank, and the Tag Heuer Solargraph. Also my vintage mid sized SMP.
That song at the end was really nice
I’ve watched many of your videos. Recently I discovered a brand that has a tenth. The Chinese brand was founded in 1988. TIANWANG brand of Hong Kong listed company. I ordered a dive watch. 200 meters waterproof automatic mechanical watch. Product quality is very good. the most important is. They provide two years of after-sales service. If there is any problem, just replace it with a new one. Makes me very at ease. I'd love for you to do a video on it. I think it's really worth it
Nice video Brit. Can you do me a favour though, when you start a video can you state what watch you are wearing? You wear some great watches but it's difficult to catch what they are. Please and thank you 😊
I used to dislike quartz, but I realized it isn't the movement I don't like, it is the second hand missing the markers that I hate. Digital seconds on a Casioak or digital, sweeping like Bulova or Seiko vh31 are great and I would be happy to buy a Grand Seiko quartz knowing they bother to get it right.
I love watches, quartz included. nuff said
This can be related to electric guitar players who turn their noses up at anything that is not a tube amp, ancient technology that requires lots of maintenance.
Yeah, but you're not a guitarist if you're not plugging straight into a tube amp with no pedals!
/s
I love both worlds and own quarz and automatic watches. Still when you have to 100% rely on a timepiece, and don't want to spend 10k+, there is no other way than Gshock.
great job as usual
I didn't know about the Elegante's sleep function, that's rad! I highly suggest looking at the Longines Prima Luna for women. It's a spot where quartz makes tons of sense IMO - a moon phase complication.
The Eco-Dive would still have a battery. It would just be rechargable. If it didn't, it would stop when the sun goes down.
I'm obsessed with the Breitling Aerospace. It will be my next watch once I save a bit more. Specifically the older 42mm Aerospace Advantage.
Great vid Britt. Eco drive does have a battery, it’s a rechargeable one that is charged by light.
Actually it's a capacitor that stores the charge. Similar to a battery but not a battery, since the charge is stored in a field, rather than chemically.
Nice selection here ! I just miss the Bulova Lunar Pilot (or the Precisionist) for the awesome accuracy and reputation in the watch community 😊
I wear an automatic at the weekend, and quartz watches throughout the week. The grab and go element for work.
I wanted to swap movement on my longines conquest ladies in 34 mm case for spring drive…but it’s impossible and watchmaker looked at me like I’m crazy….so now I have to tolerate quartz movement in it….
Love your pope tier Casio.
Got my heart set on a Rolex Quartz Day Date 🙂
Great topic! After collecting watches for awhile and owning several excellent vintage and modern mechanical movements, I found I don’t need the rest of my collection to have them. Nothing special about mass produced mechanical movements to me. I’d rather save money and buy cool design, fun quartz watches like those from Brew, Citizen, Tissot, Furlan Marri, Mr. Jones, etc
Nice. I’ve got mechanical and Quartz, Gshock, x-33 Skywalker and a GS Quartz GMT, that in can set my other watches by.
I just cannot be arsed to replace the battery for regular quartz watches
But give me solar quartz and we are talking
The FP Journe is gorgeous ! But so expensive though. Please Britt, tell me what you think of Frédérique Constant watches. Is this a good brand ? Thank you.
I have a Bulova JetStar. I bought it for under $400 USD on December 4. I had to set it ahead for daylight savings time today. It was still WITHIN ONE SECOND of the correct time, after three months.
So I guess my comment didn't upload. Long story short, Girard Perregaux was instrumental in the development of quartz, teaming with Motorola to produce the first 32000 Hz quartz movement, but moire importantly the first scalable one. The Astron and Beta 21 were still not ready for full scale deployment when the GP 350/352 came out. One of my favorite qz pieces ever made came out in the 80s, the Laureato Equation. They housed the same movements in cheaper versions, but that Laureato is not only horologically interesting, but just stunning to behold (making allowanced for the two tone look), and they put an exhibition caseback in to show off their movement, which was in gereral a rarity but I'm hard pressed to think of any displayed qz prior to about 2010 (I think GS did some around then). Watches like that are why I tell people I'm not generally interested in anything over $4000, because if I bought those, I wouldn't have the money to pick up gems like that one which are hiding in plain sight in the ~$1500-$3500 range.
I would like to add an honourable mention: the Bulova Precisionist (e.g. Ref 98B316). It has a high performance quartz that allows for the second hand to essentially sweep almost like a Grand Seiko, and it has a super-smooth chronograph function to boot. All that for under $1000!
One of the most valued watches in my collection is a 9F62 powered Grand Seiko. Every watch collector I know has a respect for quartz timepieces.
Simlar story for me, I have a SBGP007/9F85-0AA0. Love the idea of this in quartz due to less/easier maintenance. I'm fortunate too, the bracelet fits me perfectly (its one of my few watches that do not need to have micro-adjustments).
100p the one's that hate quartz are usually new collectors. Because they think they have to like it's to be expected. The whole quartz analog watches don't have a soul kills me. Especially since quartz analog movement's have alot of mechanical parts. Shit talking quartz is such a cliche. I love both autos and quartz
Right now I am on my Quartz phase..I just purchased a vintage Citizen pro-master with a "paddle" handset.
Furlan Marri is a great brand using Seiko's VK mechaquartz movements (quartz timekeeping, mechanical chronograph complication) under an obscure vintage sector bicompax Patek chronograph design that is an absolute steal if you don't mind paying CHF 550 for what is basically a quartz piece. They are also using those propositions to better fund their now sector time-only cowhorn lugged mechanical piece, and an all-mechanical column wheel chronograph sector chronograph.
My early 90s TAG Heuer is still ticking away having never had more than batteries. Another TAG from the late 00s and more recently Tissot, Alpina and Dwiss quartz have all been added to the collection. The Citizen 0100 @ 02:12 is the only watch I have convinced myself is worth more than $10k and importantly wouldn't attract the wrong attention if worn on the street. The FP Journe is a stunning watch but since yours was stolen see my previous point.
Love my Tissot seastar quartz watches
I love mechanical but lately I've been fascinated with quartz and I think it's because I just bought a digital watch which I haven't worn one in like 10 years.
I've had a number of G Shocks for a while, but I recently picked up the relatively new Marathon Navigator in Steel for half off. +/- 10s a year, thinner, better looking, and more wr than the old version I have. It's the first steel cased quartz watch I've owned since I got into watches and transitioned from what I would call low quality watches, and I've been surprised by how much I enjoy it. I still enjoy my mechanicals slightly more, I'd say, but despite feeling quite different, the enjoyment gap isn't that wide. I'm glad I went for it, because I feel like my horizons in what I'll take a serious look at in the watch world have broadened a bit.
Both my Citizen Rolan eco-drive and Tissot “Gentleman Watch” are quartz. I also enjoy the classic mechanical watches too. Is there a rule to have a quartz watches serviced over a certain period of time?
Some decent Quartz watches, but can’t believe you didn’t mention a watch with the Bulova HPQ Precisionist movement and 262kHz sweeping seconds hand. It’d be on my list, but I don’t have a great CZcams channel and you do! 😜
I just wish Citizen UK would import some of their high-end stuff.
My first watches when I was a teenager were all quartz. I didn't know anything about mechanical watches and I looked at watches as a utility and then I saw my friends Seiko 5 and I was flabbergasted by the fact that his watch kept time perfectly well without a battery in it or anything just springs, gears and levers. The engineering is what got me. I think what Grand Seiko has done with the Spring Drive is awesome! I have to own one one day.
Bulova deserves a shout for both the chronograph module in the Lunar Pilot and their Precisionist movement (although both would benefit tremendously from a size reduction).
Have both mechanical and quartz and enjoy them all. No snobbery here. Just don't need the word "automatic or quartz" on the dial to remind me of what I am wearing.