Watch Recommendations

How reliable are they? Maybe, I'm thinking about it all wrong.
Mechanical chronographs? Well, the chronograph mechanism is a complication and it adds failure points. Failure points have to do with the mechanical parts, including the pusher seals. The chronograph components also contribute to the service cost. I have rarely had problems with mechanical chronographs.

With quartz watches, with the exception of kinetic* movements, there are not really any extra failure points. However, the pusher seals wear more if you use the chronograph frequently. The micro stepper motors that use the hands are pretty much indestructible with normal use. I have an ana-digi Citizen that I got when I was about 10 years old and it's still working now, 49 years later. That module is still being made by Citizen. It's that reliable.

* a kinetic movement has a rotor, gearing, and a little generator, so there is mechanical wear involved and some fragility if exposed to shock, extreme temperatures, moisture.
 
Yeah, I think any rotating bezel would be a problem.
I find a timing bezel very useful because it can serve as a countdown or countup timer when diving, cooking, parking, getting out of Dodge. Slide rules may be problematic depending on your closeup vision. I would hate having to pull out reading glasses to use the flight computer.

Another feature to consider is a date or day/date function. In a mechanical watch it's a complication that adds a failure point and it may add a bit to the service cost. Many watches are offered in version switch or without date. Consider whether or not you can even read the date. Then there is the cyclops magnifier option.
 
The best (to me) looking and easiest to read, while very short lived analog watch I had, was a fake Bell & Ross I got in Vietnam on very cheap. I have a few analog watches, mostly quartz and a Breitling that's automatic but cannot find a way to like them for some reason, anyone has a recipe? :) My daily is Suunto Core for many many years now.
 
Mechanical chronographs? Well, the chronograph mechanism is a complication and it adds failure points. Failure points have to do with the mechanical parts, including the pusher seals. The chronograph components also contribute to the service cost. I have rarely had problems with mechanical chronographs.

With quartz watches, with the exception of kinetic* movements, there are not really any extra failure points. However, the pusher seals wear more if you use the chronograph frequently. The micro stepper motors that use the hands are pretty much indestructible with normal use. I have an ana-digi Citizen that I got when I was about 10 years old and it's still working now, 49 years later. That module is still being made by Citizen. It's that reliable.

* a kinetic movement has a rotor, gearing, and a little generator, so there is mechanical wear involved and some fragility if exposed to shock, extreme temperatures, moisture
 
Most Citizen, Seiko, Casio quarts watch will literally last decades, and can be found for cheap. Beyond this level, you are adding more bling, but not more function in most cases.

Don't be fooled into thinking you need to spend $750 for a functional watch. Even an automatic. Swiss automatics come up regularly for $300. Check Slickdeals and other deals sites until something pops up that interests you.

Case in point, this watch is $203.69 at Jamashop

Screenshot 2025-01-27 173201.webp
 
Most Citizen, Seiko, Casio quarts watch will literally last decades, and can be found for cheap. Beyond this level, you are adding more bling, but not more function in most cases.

Don't be fooled into thinking you need to spend $750 for a functional watch. Even an automatic. Swiss automatics come up regularly for $300. Check Slickdeals and other deals sites until something pops up that interests you.

Case in point, this watch is $203.69 at Jamashop

View attachment 261015
That's very similar to my dead Citizen. It was a Perpetual Eco-Drive Atomic.
 
Most Citizen, Seiko, Casio quarts watch will literally last decades, and can be found for cheap. Beyond this level, you are adding more bling, but not more function in most cases.

Don't be fooled into thinking you need to spend $750 for a functional watch. Even an automatic. Swiss automatics come up regularly for $300. Check Slickdeals and other deals sites until something pops up that interests you.

Case in point, this watch is $203.69 at Jamashop

View attachment 261015
Automatic watches are kind of cool just because they are. But keep in mind ....for automatic at like the $700 level. When it comes time to service it, which is inevitable. The service is like $300. So the watch is basically totaled. For my money, you either get a quartz which will work better than any automatic and for a longer time at a fraction of the cost. Or, go ahead and get a fancy automatic because it makes you happy and accept that you're going to have to pay to service it someday and it won't be as accurate as a quartz watch etc etc.
 
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Automatic watches are kind of cool just because they are. But keep in mind ....for automatic at like the $700 level. When it comes time to service it, which is inevitable. The service is like $300. So the watch is basically totaled. For my money, you either get a quartz which will work better than any automatic and for a longer time at a fraction of the cost. Or, go ahead and get a fancy automatic because it makes you happy and accept that you're going to have to pay to service it someday and it won't be as accurate as a quartz watch etc etc.
Citizen Eco-Drive is solar powered quartz watch. Seiko has their Prospex brand. Orient also makes a solar powered quartz.
 
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Citizen Eco-Drive is solar powered quartz watch. Seiko has their Prospex brand. Orient also makes a solar powered quartz.
Seiko Prospex models are largely automatics. And most Orient watches use Seiko automatic based movements.
 
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A storied Swiss brand. Nice watches with military pedigree. I have never owned one so no personal experience with the brand.
Invicta bought Glycine a few years back. They live on the lower end of the Swiss watch spectrum. Perfectly fine watches, that meet the swiss made rules.

The thing with Swiss watches, is that many use the same movements, many made by ETA, but the price point varies widely. With a Glycine, the entry price is relatively low, but other Swiss makers, using the same movement, will price several times more expensive. This is where the jewelry element comes into play...
 
Since crystals came up we should shine a light on them.

Acrylic: pretty break resistant, scratches but light scratches can be buffed out.

Resin: think cheap Casio. Just nasty. Looks quickly very ugly. Often not replaceable because it's part of the case or fused with the case.

Mineral glass: scratches fairly easily but is pretty shatter-resiatant.

Hardened mineral glass: marginally more scratch résistant than standard mineral glass.

Saphire-coated mineral glass: more scratch résistant than sapphire but may flake or chip off. Shatter-resistant like mineral glass

Sapphire: depending on the quality almost equal to mineral glass in shatter resistance but far more scratch résistant. It's my choice for anything but a beater watch. For a beater I prefer standard mineral glass.

All crystals other than some resin crystals are replaceable.
 
Seiko and Orient have a few solar powered models.
Orient watches are value oriented, largely automatic based. Seiko makes everything: various types of automatic, solar, battery quarts, Kenitic, etc. Both Seiko and Citizen have an amazingly wide range of technology in their watches
 
And now that we have looked at crystal options we should examine anti-reflective coatings. AR coating may be applied to the outside, the inside, or to both sides of the crystal. I prefer an AR coating only on the inside because the coating doesn't wear off over time. An external coating will start looking ugly if it gets scratched. However, you can easily remove an AR coating by buffing the crystal with glass polish. Another issue with AR coatings can be the color they may give reflections of the crystal. It's common to see a very blue color, especially on the crystals of cheap watches.

We should also talk about coatings and carbon diffusion treatments that make watch cases and bracelets more scratch-resistant. Plain old 316L steel has a hardness of up to only 225 VH or so and grade 2 titanium has under 150 VH, which is really soft. Tegimentation or kolsterizing are two common methods of surface hardening that offer up to 1,300 VH. DLC or diamond-like-carbon coatingsoffwer up to 9,000 HV.
 
Invicta bought Glycine a few years back. They live on the lower end of the Swiss watch spectrum. Perfectly fine watches, that meet the swiss made rules.

The thing with Swiss watches, is that many use the same movements, many made by ETA, but the price point varies widely. With a Glycine, the entry price is relatively low, but other Swiss makers, using the same movement, will price several times more expensive. This is where the jewelry element comes into play...
Yeah, Invicta gobbled up Glycine. Invicta was once a classy brand going back to the 1830s. It went downhill as a result of the quartz crisis and became something else. But I digress. Luckily, Glycine are still able to do their own thing.

ETA movements are no longer used in watches by manufacturers other than those that belong to the Swatch Group because ETA can't sell their movements outside the group. Sellita makes clones of many ETA movements and those are available to watch manufacturers outside the Swatch Group.

When you say "the same movement" you have to add nuance to that statement. For example, an ETA 7750 may be in a very basic version in a $600 watch but a higher grade version may be in a $1,000 watch, and an even higher grade version in a $2,000 watch. What's the difference? Fit and finish, swapped out and upgraded components, better finishing, decorations, more time spent on assembly and on regulating, testing, etc. I have an old Breitling Chronomat with a high-grade Valjoux 7750 that is leagues more refined than the much newer ETA 7750 in my Sinn 142. Never mind the difference in brand, ETA bought Valjoux in 1985 and all 7750 movements are essentially they same but they are not because they exist in the following grades: elaboré (mid-level or basic), top (high-end), and chronometre (high-end plus chronometer certified). Beyond the different grades, each watch manufacturer may modify a movement. This is partially driven by the desire so they can call their movement an "in-house design." This sort of lie is quite common even with the top brands, although over the last 15 years or so, making true in-house movements has become more common. For example, Breitling used to use the ETA 7750 profusely in their watches and the called it the Caliber 13. Nowadays they use their own chronograph Caliber B01.


Swiss made, Swiss legal definition - it's mostly hogwash and a form of protectionism. You can either argue for it or against it based on personal views.

The watch was completely developed and prototyped in Switzerland

The movement must be must be Swiss-made

The movement must be cased in Switzerland

The watch must have undergone and passed a full inspection by the manufacturer in Switzerland

At least 50% of the watch's components by value must be Swiss-made (A very large number of Swiss watch parts have been made in HongKong for years - many parts that are made abroad are worked over or finished in Switzerland)

At least 60% of the watch's manufacturing costs must be incurred in Switzerland.
 
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