Ive just taken delivery of a Seastern "Doxa" that uses the NH35. I have a generally low expectation for all Seiko automatic movements, you never really know what you will get in terms of rate/day and beat error can often be pretty lousy even on their higher end watches (not just calibre NH35). Anyway with some trepidation I wound the Seastern up and stuck it on the timegrapher to see how bad this one behaved and just like some other Chinese makers, Seastern have either been lucky or have taken the time to try to regulate the movement which came with a worse case beat error of 0.1 degrees (0 in two positions) and a rate range of +5, 0, +8 and -3 secs/day depending on orientation, the amplitude was also very decent. I'm more than happy with that performance for a £150 watch and remain curious as to why Seiko who are more and more following the $$ these days cant do something similar with their own products.
Keith
I suspect that these people do regulate the movements prior to sending them out, not long ago I had a Steeldive with the same movement and it was very accurate as apposed to the numerous poorly regulated 4R/6R movements I have recently owned in watches. I will no longer buy Seiko low end autos because they are so badly regulated, it proves they can run pretty well if regulated.
It's definitely down to regulation and of course a modicum of good luck on these cheaper movements.
My Seestern with the NH35 is + 7 seconds per day, very decent on such a cheap watch whereas my Seiko Turtle was +40.
I managed to get it down to +20 and then gave up as I don't have a timegrapher.
Traded the Seiko and am keeping the Seestern.
Cheers,
Neil.
I bought a Pagani Design Submariner lookalike , from this very forum,which has a display back and the movement is marked "NH35A". It might be a genuine Seiko movement but is keeping to 1 second a day which is good enough for me.
My Steeldive Tuna is excellent, within 5 secs a day on the wrist👍
My Undone is now 2 years old and has run at a consistent +4 s/day since new.
Last edited by markbannister; 9th December 2021 at 17:14.
People like to rubbish the NH3* for it's on-paper performance, but I've got or had over a dozen watches with NH35 or NH38 movements and they've all been well within the tolerances and a couple, in watches I suspect were regulated, have been down in the low single digit s/d range.
When an NH35 movement dies, just throw it away and buy another for next to nothing.
OK, it's not haut-horology, but it's a real workhorse movement that is vastly underrated IMO.
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Originally Posted by notnowkato
Same experience, and I've also had a couple of Heritor watches (turtle case Seiko knock-off really) which have performed just as well.
No knocking the movement from me, it is what it is; Seiko however do get negative criticism for charging a comparative premium for a watch that could perform much better if regulated like these small Chinese companies seem to do. Yes they are usually in spec but that's not hard is it when the spec is so easy to meet.
Keith
Pretty much spot on
Great Doxa homage,just added this black dial to go with my orange.
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Have an NH35 in a Boldr and, whilst it keeps good time, what surprised me is how smooth it is to adjust, manually wind and when wearing it the rotor movement is silent. Doesn’t feel any different to ETA watches I have.
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I agree.
I've got a collection of nh35 base dive watches. All were running to no more than say 12 seconds a day. Regulating them all to within 5 seconds a day and no more than a 0.3 beat error wasn't difficult if you know what you are doing. That's pretty impressive.
I used a new NH35 movement in this SKX I modded, was worried it would need regulating but it kept really good time straight from new. For the price they are probably hard to beat.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I’ve gone on record on another thread about this - I have an OceanX Sharkmaster 1000 which is a direct homage to the James Cameron DSSD and is fitted with what is clearly a regulated NH35. It loses 1.2 seconds per day in use. My actual DSSD loses 2 seconds per day.
Simon
My own experience was a "Steeldive Willard" +2 seconds straight out of the box, bezel, chapter ring - all perfect, the Seiko workhorse movement maybe "throwaway" but it's robust and probably good for 20 years or more.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
NH35 often gets a raw deal. Sure it is a basic movement but it is essentially a 4R35 which no one ever cribs about.
Also very impressed with this movement. Had a few Steeldives and all have been superb.
I've got a RZE endeavour fitted with a nh38 that keeps almost perfect time, it was out about +2 seconds in a week. Might just suit my habits and I've been lucky but it shows what's possible.
That black dial is handsome.Great Doxa homage,just added this black dial to go with my orange.
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I like the orange and white hands.
Cheers,
Neil.
Just picked up a Seiko mod with the NH35 movement, its consistently running at 0 seconds per day but with a beat error of 2.2, should I be concerned.
I had two Unimatics with the NH35. The first one kept really great time, the second really didn’t. Luck of the draw I suspect
D
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Indeed and it's cheap enough to throw away and replace if it goes wrong.
When offered the choice of an NH3* or a 'better' movement in a watch I always choose the NH3* as I've universally found them reliable and accurate, often better than the 'superior' movements out of the box.
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Walterwek is your man to answer this. Basically both figures should be as near as possible to 0. Beat error should be set first. It sounds like the main regulation has been set to compensate for the bad beat error figure.
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