Reply With QuoteI'd be open to an appropriately priced quartz from many manufacturers so you get the design, finish and accuracy without the servicing bills.
My only requirement is take the seconds hand off and noone will be any the wiser.
For as long as I've been on TZ UK, I've fancied a Sinn 556i, but I never made it anywhere near buying one
But put a decent quartz movement in there (and take the opportunity to bump up the WR up a notch or two?) and I'd be sold
Last edited by Der Amf; 3rd December 2023 at 10:37. Reason: crossing out ill informed nonsense
I'd be open to an appropriately priced quartz from many manufacturers so you get the design, finish and accuracy without the servicing bills.
My only requirement is take the seconds hand off and noone will be any the wiser.
A quartz PO would be appealing, or bring back the SM300 quartz.
I don’t mind the second hand, but I’d need any premium quartz to be HAQ.
I have a SM120, one of eddies and an Aerospace - I’d like another multifunction and maybe a 2264 or OysterQuartz.
As lovely as I am sure GS are they just don’t seem to appeal to me.
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
You need more than 200m from a field/pilot watch?
A nice quartz version would be cool though. Dateless and destro option for me
There are several Seikos that have the 4R36 movement that would be a lot more appealing to me if they had a quartz movement, and yes, would be fine as a 2-hander.
Still amazed that there isn't a drop in quartz replacement to upgrade (or in some people's mind downgrade) these watches.
I love the movements on some of my auto or hand-wound watches, but for a few, I'd appreciate for them to be a bit more grab-and-go.
Pop a GS 9F movement in one of these :
Or, why don’t GS make a HAQ pilot watch ?
z
Last edited by zelig; 3rd December 2023 at 10:31.
Grand Seiko is an obvious choice - this sports 9F has 200m water resistance.
How about an 8F movement for the independent hour hand? A better travel watch, and it means that you can keep the accuracy when travelling with a minimum of faf.Originally Posted by zelig
Pop a GS 9F movement in one of these :
Oops, thought it was only 10 bar
Even better.
Why don’t GS make pilot style watches ?
z
Make the GS quartz pilot watch, Seiko, you cowards.
(The finger on the monkey's paw curls, and we get a mis-matched date wheel at 4:30.)
There's also the Longines Conquest VHP, 36mm but sadly discontinued and only 50m water resistance.
Last edited by Rocket Man; 3rd December 2023 at 10:43.
The less cluttered dial with hour & minute hands only is fine for me,no date also.
The 2nd hand only has me checking the accuracy because I can,and I can't say Ive needed to time anything to the second........Ever.
I decided a while ago that any quartz I now buy has to have atomic sync, and preferably have solar recharge. That rules out pretty much all auto to quartz wish lists for me but if there was one, I'd have to go for an atomic, solar version of the SKX007.
Just slightly off topic, but my last watch purchase was a quartz, a Casio Lineage. I ditched the bracelet and put it on a black canvas strap. Ideal travel watch.
It'll never happen, but how about a quartz Tudor Black Bay 36?
You think it's a tool watch waiting to happen? That bezel seems a bit plump and pleased with itself to me, a bit like the 36mm Rolex OP. The watch has fewer polished elements than I remember.
The grammar of design language maybe the reason? They do have some Arabic numbered dials though but yes from from a pilot GS.
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Sinn diver, I have a U1 and I love it. I'd like a UX at some point, but the whole return to Sinn for a the battery change and oil refilling makes me slight reticent.
After many years of being a dyed in the wool mechanical watch fan who has been somewhat dismissive of quartz watches I'm beginning to have second thoughts. I don`t work on many quartz watches but by coincidence I`ve just fixed 3 consecutively and it's set me thinking. Generally, a modern quartz watch will run for around 15 years before it needs attention, ingress of dirt and water are the biggest enemies and dirt often finds it's way in when batteries are swapped. By modern I mean early 80s onwards, the ETA designs launched around that time were vastly simpler than the previous generations and consequently they're much easier to fix. The electronic components are (usually) fixed to a small circuit board held on with 4 screws, removal requires care but it isn`t difficult. Stripdown, cleaning and rebuilding is straightforward and there's far less to wear than in a mechanical. Once it's built up and reassembled it should be good for another 10+ years. Contrast this with a mechanical, which will need service every 5-7 years, parts will eventually need swapping to maintain performance and as we all know those parts are getting harder to source.
A bit of a U turn for me, but I`d recommend certain quartz models over their mechanical brothers for long-term ownership. The counter-argument is that a mechanical in worn condition can usually be made to run to a reasonable standard whilst a dead quartz movement with electronic faults remains dead unless a new circuit can be sourced.
Go for something with an ETA 955 or 255 movement and you should be OK long-term. There's also the small but significant issue of far superior timekeeping plus the grab and go aspect.
A first generation Omega Aqua Terra 36mm with blue dial would be on my shopping list, if I find one I might put my money where my mouth is. I have a bimetal Omega Pre-Bond Seamaster Professional quartz that lives in my workroom and gets used as a reference timer, that had the movement rebuilt 11 years ago and apart from replacement batteries when I can remember it's needed zero maintenance.
Purists might knock them, I`ve been guilty in the past, maybe it's time for a rethink? Omega charge over £450 to service a cal 1120 SMP, it'll need it every few years and the price will keep going up, the quartz version makes a whole lot more sense and it's cheaper to buy.
I recently worked on two almost identical Bond SMPs, one quartz and the other cal 1120 mechanical. One will run for over 10 years and give near-perfect timekeeping, the other will need attention again in a few years.......food for thought!
For me, a Speedmaster or better still, Heuer Carrera chronograph would be fantastic with a mechaquartz movement. Always good to go, accurate and precise over time, less concern about the effects of knocking it, needing little if no servicing, and I wouldn’t waste hours on the Timegrapher trying to make its mechanical movement run as accurately as a 20 quid Timex.
Last edited by YCymro; 4th December 2023 at 01:43.
Great post, and good to hear of progression in your views :)
I did.These three........
This for me too,great watches but put of by the oil fill and back to Sinn.
Something I can do without tbh.
A 36 or 38mm quartz Aqua Terra would be a great option?
Have they discontinued the quartz models now?
I want to own a UX someday, the oil fill and subsequent bounce appeal to me as unique aspects of the watch.
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Sinn UX50 would be perfect for me
U50 size with UX tech
First they gave them second rate dials, then they discontinued them.
Not quite the answer to the question, but I have couple of watches where I have chosen quartz over the mechanical equivalent
Seiko 7548. I have an SKX007 but I prefer the quartz
This over its mechanical sibling
If this had a mechanical equivalent, I would still choose it for the 9F movement
Dave
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Last edited by helidoc; 3rd December 2023 at 18:16.
There's a couple of watches that I'd love Damasko to make that would be even better in quartz - keep the cases a little thinner:
A Rolex Sub.
(I'll get my coat!)
Actually yeah I'll have one too please!
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Yep, count me in for a quartz Sinn U50
Last edited by Rocket Man; 3rd December 2023 at 22:33.
That would be a travesty.Pop a GS 9F movement in one of these :
Or, why don’t GS make a HAQ pilot watch ?
z
EZM1. It would be quite easy to do, as well.
Keep the Ti, make it thinner (top to bottom), use the Ar tech or oil fill it. Either way, it'd be a killer watch
Vostok Amphibia Scuba Dude, obviously
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
You win.
Still making Dave proud
- Tutima M2 Seven Seas (Orange dial)
- Panerai PAM00048
- Sinn UX50
- Omega Speedmaster Professional
- Rolex Explorer II 16570 Polar (40mm)
- Bulova Lunar Pilot (a 40mm version with a bog standard quartz if the 260hz movement in the 43.5mm "smaller" LP is too big for a smaller case)
- IWC Chronograph 3706
- Smiths Everest PRS-25 (quartz version with flat sapphire without milky ring)
- Seiko SKX007
Also, Rolex need to start making the Oysterquartz again, without a silly price tag ... (fat chance on both counts I know ... )
One of my issues is that it's not that simple. Breitling for example charge £405 for a Complete Service on a regular quartz (£505 for an ana-digi) and £460 for a regular mechanical.
But they insist that you have a 'Complete Service' rather than a battery change / 'Maintenance Service' if they haven't seen the watch for 4+ years. So you might have a mechanical lasting maybe 5-10 ten years without needing a service, and you might feel (from it having lived mostly in a drawer, monitoring its timekeeping, maybe using a timegrapher) that it can safely wait. But when the battery goes on a quartz at say 4 years you can't safely ignore it, BUK will insist that it needs a Complete Service and you're £405 lighter. So in a ten-year period the quartz might you cost twice in servicing what the mechanical does.
BUK are probably the silliest when it comes to quartz servicing; maybe other manufacturers are more reasonable.
IDK I’d want a quartz chronograph (except ana-digi) - they always seem clunky, maybe the mechaquartz were better?
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
Agreed, I have a quartz SMP 300 which I wear often.
The benchmark is the Seiko 7a28 or 7a38 lineage for me. Beautifully slim chronograph watches !
Scale those up into the 39-42mm case of the 3706 or the Speedy and you'd have a hell of a good watch :-)
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