When Is It Ok To Buy A Quartz?
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I recently put a battery in my old mid eighties Seamaster and have been digging it. You put it on in the morning and it actually tells the correct time! And it's crazy thin!
A less fabourable recent experience with quartz was taking in my wife's 4 year old Cartier and discovering that the battery wasn't just dead, but actually leaked and destroyed the watch. On the other hand, Pearl River Battery Plant No. 3 probably saved $0.001 in manufacturing costs on the battery, so it is totally worth it.
A less fabourable recent experience with quartz was taking in my wife's 4 year old Cartier and discovering that the battery wasn't just dead, but actually leaked and destroyed the watch. On the other hand, Pearl River Battery Plant No. 3 probably saved $0.001 in manufacturing costs on the battery, so it is totally worth it.
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Nice watch mine says hi, my wife gave me this one for my birthday in 2014 I guess.![]()
My current quartz watch is a no non-sense Victorinox SA, the dial is particularly easy to read and a 5-year battery life. I feel safer with this watch as the movement can tell me when to replace the battery.
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Your wife has very good taste in watch, I see that she picked the blue dial for you instead of the black or white dial.
Quartz watches are nice, but getting the battery changed out can be a PIA. Example: I once had a Corum Trapeze that I really liked. It was in the $1800.00 range when new. Took it to a jeweler to have the battery changed after about 4 years and she put a long scratch across the intricately detailed back. I let my girlfriend pick it up, and didn't get it back until a few days later. I went in and complained, but she claimed it was signed for as being ok when it was picked up. I had no recourse. That really pissed me off.
Another time : (I live in a small town that has one guy that works on watches). He only installs batteries that last one year. He dates them when he puts them in. So I went to a jewelry store in a mall to have a battery changed in a Tag Heuer I used to own. I asked for the jeweler to do it, but was told he doesn't have time to change batteries, the clerks do it. She said it would only take a min. I gave her the watch and her phone rang. She answered it as she was trying to remove the back of my watch, and started talking. I could see the screwdriver going all over the back of the watch. I finally got her attention, and told her to forget it. I didn't want my watch scratched all to hell. She gave me a " well !" look, and handed it back.
So when My Breitling Aerospace needed a new battery I sent it in to be CLA'd. Expensive, but I didn't want to trust it to any of these idiots around where I live.
So yeah, I like quartz watches, but they are a pain when battery replacement times comes. Especially if you have a costly quartz brand. I don't trust myself to open up a watch and change it out. I'm too damn klutzy.
Another time : (I live in a small town that has one guy that works on watches). He only installs batteries that last one year. He dates them when he puts them in. So I went to a jewelry store in a mall to have a battery changed in a Tag Heuer I used to own. I asked for the jeweler to do it, but was told he doesn't have time to change batteries, the clerks do it. She said it would only take a min. I gave her the watch and her phone rang. She answered it as she was trying to remove the back of my watch, and started talking. I could see the screwdriver going all over the back of the watch. I finally got her attention, and told her to forget it. I didn't want my watch scratched all to hell. She gave me a " well !" look, and handed it back.
So when My Breitling Aerospace needed a new battery I sent it in to be CLA'd. Expensive, but I didn't want to trust it to any of these idiots around where I live.
So yeah, I like quartz watches, but they are a pain when battery replacement times comes. Especially if you have a costly quartz brand. I don't trust myself to open up a watch and change it out. I'm too damn klutzy.
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When you can't justify buying an automatic, cos quartz are cheaper and they don't count as part of the collection, right?
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That's true. Luckily I don't regularly need to tell the time to an accuracy of 0.05% in a day.
"What's the time?"
"Well, my watch says is 4 minute past 7, but it's mechanical so for all I know it could well be 4 minutes and 6 seconds past 7. I'm terribly sorry I just can't tell you the time"
"What's the time?"
"Well, my watch says is 4 minute past 7, but it's mechanical so for all I know it could well be 4 minutes and 6 seconds past 7. I'm terribly sorry I just can't tell you the time"
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I bought a quartz once. I never wear it.
It kind of defeats the purpose for me; not the purpose of having something that tells the time on your wrist (I own a phone that syncs to a time server, has multiple alarms, stop watch, moon phase, anything you can think of), but rather the purpose of owning older, mechanical technology.
Quartz simply does not meet that need.
Plus they're not all that accurate; they easily go off by multiple seconds each month, and my phone doesn't.
It kind of defeats the purpose for me; not the purpose of having something that tells the time on your wrist (I own a phone that syncs to a time server, has multiple alarms, stop watch, moon phase, anything you can think of), but rather the purpose of owning older, mechanical technology.
Quartz simply does not meet that need.
Plus they're not all that accurate; they easily go off by multiple seconds each month, and my phone doesn't.
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Yes, point taken. There are some people who need that level of accuracy, however. In my job - breaking news - mere seconds matter. It could mean the difference between thousands of engagements and tens of thousands. Get it up first? Win.
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If we are looking from a pure economic standpoint;
$10 every four years, less if you do it yourself, versus $200+ every 5 years to service an automatic or hand wind.
Which is cheaper in the long run?
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If I really cared to know, I can get access to Cesium clocks (with redundant backup.) For everyday high accuracy (within milliseconds), the NTP protocol, although in reality I'm not going to perceive much below 1 second resolution.
For watches-- accuracy is a relative term and that's OK. I don't want to be OCD about my hobby. Unless it's defective, non-HAQ quartz is typically acceptable to me. I've seen quartz with ~30-60 second drift/day but that's the exception and not the rule.
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I love highly accurate watch. Quartz usually provide this area of advantage. I do love highly engineer accurate mechanical movement too. It show the level of top mechanical engineering require to produce a robust and accurate movement. It will depend which area of watch you are into. For example, a dress watch comes with mechanical movement will be more suitable. While a military type watch , having a quartz movement will be more suitable.
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