The Citizen 9015 movement is now finding a home in more watches and has been around long enough for people to become familiar with the movement.
I wondered what the real-world experiences were like in terms of time keeping and power reserve? What watches do you have with the 9015?
What are the views of this movement in comparison with other competitive manufacturers - Seiko - ETA - Sellita ?
Very interested in everyone's opinions.
Well it seems to perform perfectly in the Smith Everest… it seems extremely solid to my mind. My only complaint (and this is well noted) is the rotor makes a huge noise and seems to over spin in the watch. I wonder if this is just an odd acoustic phenomena of the Everest but I find it a bit annoying in all truth.
I find the reserve good and the time keeping consistent in my Everest. Timekeeping was around +5 seconds for the first couple of years then something happened to knock that out to 20 seconds (I don't know what that was) and it has consistently gained 20 seconds a day since then. I could get it regulated easily but I rarely wear it for more than 2 days in a row so it doesn't matter.Originally Posted by OliverCD
I agree that the rotor is noisy, noisier than any other rotor I've heard but it's only really heard in a quiet room and not in general daily wear.
A long-winded way of saying it's pretty decent.
David
I have the 9015 in a Raven Vintage 40mm and a Helios Tropik SS. I can honestly say the timekeeping is the same, if not better, than my ETA 2824s (standard and top grades). As OliverCD says though, the rotor can go for a pretty good spin sometimes, and maybe the crown winding isn't as smooth as the Swiss versions, but really, I have no problem with this movement at all, especially if it means saving a couple of hundred quid on a watch.
^^^This^^^ But strangely it's very quiet in the 18, it must be the case design.
Seconded in regards to the rotor noise. I believe it's mono-directional which meant that if one flipped ones (left) wrist outwards, you could spin the rotor.
Otherwise solid performance, with hacking, auto and manual winding, good power reserve. Mine ran a little slow but within acceptable limits. Can be user regulated if you have the correct tools, care and courage.
HTH
David
Mike keeps good time in my Armida A6 but it is indeed the whirriest, whizziest rotor around. Maybe it's only loud in large explorer homages??
I typically get 2 - 3% guarantee issues with watches fitted with ETA movements, with the 9015 it's less than 0.5%. Unfortunately, the popularity of the movement means that it has doubled in price in 3 years.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
That's quite interesting when you consider the reverence that Swiss movements are held in.
I have three, used to have four and they all run +5/6 per day, never had any trouble. They all have the same noisy rotors.
My experience compared to a variety of 2824-2s is overall better reliability and timekeeping.
That said, I've had the ETA movement in watches that I've owned far longer than the Miyota, not needed to get one serviced yet.
The first watchmaker I showed the 9015 is very well established in the Netherlands (Wesselink & Vreeker) and he told me he had never seen one before when I asked him to regulate it for me!
I have watches with all the movements you mention. As far as power reserve my Seiko SARB seems to be the best but when I first got it needed to be sent back to be regulated, accuracy wise it's excellent.
My ETA watched (Stowa) are all problem free and within a few days setting in are very accurate.
I have a Kemmner watch with a Miyota that's OK but seems to have a lower power reserve.
***edit***
I can't recall any noticeable noise with the rotor on the Miyota movement my main gripe would be the power reserve.
I think out of the 3 movements the Seiko and ETA are about equal the Miyota is a bit wait and see.
Last edited by robert75; 17th November 2014 at 19:57.
I'll second all that's been said above. The Miyota 9015 in my Everest ran so smoothly and kept time well enough that I wouldn't have guessed that it wasn't an ETA 2824... except for the comically loud rotor noise. I flipped the Everest partially because of the size and partially because of the noise. If they would just change it to bidirectional winding then I think they would have a real winner on their hands. As it is I have steered clear of Miyota-powered watches since then, although I will be the first to admit that it's for completely snobbish and persnickety reasons. If the noise doesn't bother you then it seems a fine movement.
got this Android watch keeps great time my ears or worn a bit so does not seen noisy to me
With these excellent reports of accuracy and reliability I can see I will have to give a 9015 a spin - literally - to find out how loud the rotor sounds. Not too worried about a bit of whirring and wobbling to be honest.
Never had a problem with a 9015. Prefer the date changing on the ETA 2824-2, but that's about the only way in which it's better.
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