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Hi there
So i have noticed quite often the more expensive or complex the movement a timepiece has the more expensive it is so why and how does Vostok manage to cram 30 Jewels or more into their watches for under £100. I just received a orient kamasu Today and I'm over the moon with it, i got it to be my new daily but would i have made a better decision buying a Vostok because of the extra jewels? I got the Orient as i wanted a well built, priced, in house reputable diver that didn't break the bank and my research pointed me in this direction for what i wanted to spend but do more jewels mean a better movement Or at least Better than one that has quite a lot less?. I'll probably end up buying a Vostok to collect as they have sparked my curiosity many times now but i can't help but think are they severely underrated as i haven't seen anything else around that price with a similar amount of Jewels? Any information would be much appreciated and i apologize for the writing errors, i am not the best when it comes to typing on a phone, cheers big ears.

 

[MX793]

Sometimes, yes, but not necessarily.

 

[Tsujigiri]

Not anymore. Watchmakers used to cut out jewels on cheaper watches that were meant to be disposable, but now that synthetic rubies can be produced cheaply that's not going to save a lot of cost.

Different jewel counts mostly come down to design; if the movement layout has more bearings the watch will likely have more jewels. Of course a more complicated watch will have more bearings, and therefore more jewels, but two watches that do the same thing can also be made very differently. For instance, a modular chronograph will have almost twice as many jewels as an integrated chronograph just because of the way it's designed. They both will accomplish the same tasks (most would say that the integrated chronograph is actually a better design).

 

[MX793]

Not anymore. Watchmakers used to cut out jewels on cheaper watches that were meant to be disposable, but now that synthetic rubies can be produced cheaply that's not going to save a lot of cost.

Different jewel counts mostly come down to design; if the movement layout has more bearings the watch will likely have more jewels. Of course a more complicated watch will have more bearings, and therefore more jewels, but two watches that do the same thing can also be made very differently. For instance, a modular chronograph will have almost twice as many jewels as an integrated chronograph just because of the way it's designed. They both will accomplish the same tasks (most would say that the integrated chronograph is actually a better design).

In mechanical movements, it seems like they will use however many jewels are necessary to get the job done. In quartz, you can see some differences in jewel counts between cheap disposable quartz and higher end quartz, similar to the pre-quartz days when a cheap mechanical would have very few jewels while a higher end one would have more.

 

[Watchbreath]

Sure wasn't the case during the 'Jewel Wars". I believe the winner was 100.

 

[Tsujigiri]

In mechanical movements, it seems like they will use however many jewels are necessary to get the job done. In quartz, you can see some differences in jewel counts between cheap disposable quartz and higher end quartz, similar to the pre-quartz days when a cheap mechanical would have very few jewels while a higher end one would have more.

Yep, although you don't really need jewels in a quartz to get it done, that's more of a nod to traditional watchmaking in a premium quartz watch. The difference is that the gear train in a quartz isn't under an immense amount of tension from a mainspring, so having ultra hard bearings isn't so critical. Especially if the second hand is driven independently from the hour and minute hand, which eliminates a lot of the gear train you'd normally see.

 

[catsteeth]

As MX793 says, sometimes but not necessarily.

I'll just add that when shopping channel watches boast of the amazing number of jewels a watch has. You can be pretty certain just from that, jewel count is irrelevant to quality.

 

[JayVeeez]

Nope. It looks nice most of the time tho. 💯

 

[John MS]

The raw count of those doesn't really tell you much. It's how effectively the overall design including jeweling works together. The well thought of ETA 2892-a2 has 21 jewels while the ETA 2824 has 25 and the Omega 750 movement has 17 jewels.

 

[Rolexplorer]

The Russian watches (I have several Vostok's) can sell for "so little" because of the large difference in value between the Ruble and the U.S. Dollar.
For example, a Vostok that sells for 7,677 Rubles will be purchased for $100.00 U.S. Dollars.
The Ruble is roughly equal to (at this time and day) 0.01298 U.S. Dollar

The Russian watches with a lot of jewels are actually quite expensive watches. It all depends on your particular country's exchange rate versus the Ruble.

7677 is a LOT of Rubles, but no so many dollars.

So you can see that Russian watches are fantastic values for the outlay of dollars.

 

[Gumby992]

You bet! My Waltham 100 is 5.88 times better than a 17 jewel watch.

 

[Russ1965]

Sure wasn't the case during the 'Jewel Wars". I believe the winner was 100.

 

[dfwcowboy]

 

[Russ1965]

Winner

 

[catsteeth]

I see your Rolex Pave Diamond and raise you a pugilistic J&Co I can't flex harder million carat more if I tried watch.

 

[Pongster]

And at one point I read that manufacturers deliberately lowered jewel count to save on importations duties.

 

[drunken-gmt-master]

And at one point I read that manufacturers deliberately lowered jewel count to save on importations duties.

True, the U.S. once had tariffs on imported watches that were tied to the number of jewels, so Swiss companies would sell models w/movements that had fewer jewels (e.g., Omega calibre 502 v. 503 in Seamasters, Glycine's Airman Special) for the American market.

 

[sticky]

Since the “jewel wars”, where manufacturers would try and cram as many jewels as they could into a movement I believe that the jewel count has to be for “functional” jewels only but even so more doesn’t necessarily equate to better.

 

[lvt]

Not necessarily, unless all the jewels are functional, not just decorative.

 

[Watchbreath]

Not necessarily, unless all the jewels are functional, not just decorative.

Cool looking rotors.