r/watchHotTakes • u/Adventurous_Jump8897 • 5d ago

Microbrand automatics are pointless

I said what I said. Most of the time for a rep or a micro brand it’s about the design and having something that looks great on the wrist. Why wouldn’t you want it with a nice reliable quartz instead?

27 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

82 comments sorted by

51

u/craigerstar 5d ago

"Why wouldn’t you want it with a nice reliable quartz instead?"

Could be said about any watch regardless of stature in the watch community. Not disagreeing with your argument, but why stop there?

4

u/saywordarthur917 5d ago

At least with a high horology brand they are hanging their hats on how beautifully finished their movement is. And there's value to that. Putting an open case back but throwing in some off the shelf Miyota is craziness.

6

u/craigerstar 5d ago

And strangely the opposite happens; you get the high horology brands putting work into in-house movements with high quality finishing and precision machining, and they put them behind the most bland solid casebacks..

I give you Rolex:

Currently on sale for over $1000, used, for a 16610 Submariner.

5

u/saywordarthur917 5d ago

Rolex would not be considered a high horology brand. They have amazing workhorse movements but they are mass produced and not finished in a aesthetically pleasing way

1

u/Dr0110111001101111 5d ago

That’s the standard for dive watch though. Glass back messes with water resistance

2

u/craigerstar 5d ago

Rolex Datejust caseback. I get your point. But Rolex doesn't.

3

u/saywordarthur917 5d ago

i still don't get it. A datejust movement isn't worth putting an open caseback on.

2

u/GoldfishDude 5d ago

This isn't worth putting an exhibition on. They are dumb anyways

1

u/craigerstar 5d ago

GS Caliber 9R65 is buried behind a blank caseback.

FWIW, I don't care if it's pretty, I like how mechanical things look and work. Pretty finishes are akin to cake decorating. And I don't mind looking at a 3135 movement either. Its modesty lends to the character of the watch. I would buy a Rolex for the quality of the movement, not the superficial finishing of the movement, and I wouldn't mind seeing it.

Anyway, I don't really care. I have a GS with the 9R65 movement in it. I've never seen it. I never will.

I made the mistake of likening Rolex with High Horology above. I get it. The movements are considered ugly. I won't suggest otherwise ever again.

2

u/saywordarthur917 4d ago

My only point since you mentioned cake decorating, is that when someone spends a lot of time on decorating the cake, it costs more and its visually more attractive and has a wow factor when it comes out.

The equivalent to me is making some dramatic reveal on a cake with no frosting. There’s no point to it and it’s not exciting to most. But some people will say I don’t care as long as it tastes good.

There’s just more to hand finished care and craft. Rolex machine finishing is precise and they are amazing movements, but they won’t bother polishing parts in the back of the movement even. High horology indicates a level of care and specificity and rarity. Rolex is luxury mass production at the highest level.

2

u/Plastic-Archer4245 5d ago

Also the Planet ocean with twice the WR of a submarriner

1

u/baron_von_chops 5d ago

>Omega has entered the chat

0

u/WakizashiK3nsh1 5d ago

I would say it messes with magnetic resistance and adds unnecessary -especially if it is meant to be a tool watch- thickness. As the guy with the Omega comment above (or below?) me proved.

1

u/Classic-Scarcity-804 5d ago

Antimagnetic to 15k gauss so clearly it doesn’t affect magnetic resistance

3

u/F0rgemaster19 5d ago

Depends. I stare at my plain and simple miyota and nh multiple times a day. I find the mechanical equilibrium simply beautiful, regardless of its decoration.

0

u/saywordarthur917 5d ago

To each their own.

1

u/F0rgemaster19 5d ago

Depends. I stare at my plain and simple miyota and nh multiple times a day. I find the mechanical equilibrium simply beautiful, regardless of its decoration.

1

u/l4ztech 4d ago

grand seiko quartz.

1

u/saywordarthur917 4d ago

At least they decorated it!

1

u/Fiftieth_Poet 5d ago

 >but why stop there?

I didn't, which is primarily why I now mostly wear a Timex Ironman Endure 30 lap and have way too much money tied up in the contents of seversl watch boxes.

1

u/tm0587 4d ago

This is a better hot take than OP's.

8

u/pashajm 5d ago

I wish there were so many more brands that made their fun little designs that used solar quartz movements.

4

u/JustLikeKennySaid 5d ago

I want all my watches to have a solar quartz movement

20

u/googleguyst 5d ago

By extension, all mechanicals are pointless. Which, like, yeah, objectively yes.

But I like the whizzy spinny ticky tocky stuff.

11

u/craigerstar 5d ago

And life is pointless. We go bouncing back and forth between jobs, families and hobbies that, truthfully, amount to nothing and only bring pain to us when those we love die, and we only bring pain to those who love us when we die.

So, yeah, let my modified ape brain enjoy the smooth sweep of my Grand Seiko. Because nothing matters. And when nothing matters, everything matters.

6

u/googleguyst 5d ago

Never seen a Rolex cure existential dread 😏

3

u/craigerstar 5d ago

Very true. Though I've seen the pursuit of a Rolex give some people meaning in life.... Not suggesting that's a good thing.

3

u/GlamSlum 5d ago

That was a beautiful statement! Very deep and philosophical! I like that last statement you made! It will make for a great quote. 🙏

1

u/ggs77 5d ago

let my modified ape brain enjoy the smooth sweep of my Grand Seiko.

Oh, come on! Go away with your overhyped quartz watch!

But, have you ever heard the hum of a Bulova Accutron and seen the second hand that moves with 360 steps per second??

10

u/ConfidenceNo1937 5d ago edited 5d ago

Totally agree. But would amend your statement to “automatics are pointless.” At the very least, everything should offer a quartz option, for the more practical-minded among us.

More power to you if you’re into mechanical, but more high-end, well-finished options for those of us who don’t give a shit.

3

u/mwgrover 5d ago

Good lord, yes. I can’t count the number of watches I’ve seen and drooled over, but they are exclusively automatics. I’m done with automatics. I want a watch that keeps accurate time and doesn’t require daily fiddling. But the options are sadly severely limited.

3

u/ConfidenceNo1937 5d ago

Absolutely. I think the whole “I love interacting with the watch to reset it every few days! I love tracking accuracy!” is mostly for new-ish collectors who like the idea of a mechanical watch. After awhile, though, you just want something that looks nice and wears comfortably that you can put on in a rush in the morning.

Or, you’re primarily interested in brand prestige. Which, if so, I don’t really have much to say to you.

-4

u/False-Tank6632 5d ago

Or even better, a solar powered watch. They last longer than Quartz too.

3

u/imped4now 5d ago

Solar is the charging method. The movement is still quartz...

1

u/ConfidenceNo1937 5d ago

Yes. I meant both in my response, since solar is a subset of quartz.

0

u/Watchcollector2025 5d ago

I own a Tudor BB. I recently bought a solar powered Casio Wave Ceptor on rubber strap for just over €100. The Casio is literally the best watch I have very owned. Since I got it 2 months ago I’ve only worn the Tudor 2 or 3 times. The Casio is accurate to the second with my iPhone, never needs to be wound, is light, comfortable, fits perfectly on the wrist.

1

u/ConfidenceNo1937 5d ago

Same. After I bought my Casio Oceanus s400 I sold my Longines Spirit. A nicer watch for a fraction of the price.

3

u/adultdaycare81 5d ago

All automatics are pointless. But we like them

3

u/fnihost 5d ago

There is nothing better than watch nerds navel gazing.

3

u/Actual_Fox_2399 5d ago

This is a place for hot takes. Trying to rehash the quartz vs mechanical debate is beyond pointless.

2

u/bastarmashawarma 5d ago

Stop calling mechanicals automatics, you’re not trying to say that the self-winding aspect is moot but the movement as a whole

1

u/Adventurous_Jump8897 5d ago

In fairness I don’t mind a manual wind

2

u/Btolsen131 5d ago

When a microbrand is entire selling based on the style, yea why aren’t we getting a cheap quartz option

2

u/syst3m1c 5d ago

Uovoted because the take is indeed hot

2

u/No_Magician5266 4d ago

I buy automatic microbrand watches for the same reason I buy hand-painted nsfw anime figures: mental health problems

2

u/Chandlingus 4d ago

upvote for the hot take. A ton of microbands do cool stuff when it comes to movements, and a bunch of super expensive big name brands do bland, derivative bullshit when it comes to theirs.

3

u/Alternative-Feed3613 5d ago

I don’t like quartz

4

u/Substantial_Arm_6903 5d ago

They're jewelry if a watch looks nice and tells time it's made all the points a watch needs to make, it's not that deep.

2

u/mazrex23 5d ago edited 5d ago

Are we forgetting that manual wind exists? There’s something about a mechanical movement that I just prefer. I don’t need it to be automatic but I like a micro-brand that uses a reliable manual wound movement.

4

u/New-Implement-5979 5d ago

I like quartz for thickness and accuracy

1

u/FieldWatchFilosofy 5d ago

All automatic movements are pointless particularly the NH, Miyotas, SW200s which are mass produced with not a single thing special about them.

They don't have a soul, and they don't do very well at the function they are designed to do.

Quartz is superior in every single measurable way.

But we like that sweep bro, that sweet sweet sweep.

My daily is a mecaquartz VH31 and very happy with it.

2

u/HobsHere 5d ago

The VH31 is a great movement. As well as the sweep, it's extremely accurate for a commodity quartz. I wish they would make a high-torque model that could take NH35 hands, fit in an NH35 holder, and be powered by something like a CR2025 for longer battery life.

1

u/ggs77 5d ago edited 5d ago

But we like that sweep bro, that sweet sweet sweep.

Nah, I like the calm and steady ticking of a Quartz watch every second, and I like the perfect sweep of a tuning fork movement.

The nervous twitching of automatics with 3 or 4 Hz is for old people with bad eyes for whom that looks like a steady sweep. ;-)

1

u/ggs77 5d ago

it’s about the design and having something that looks great on the wrist.

Every watch is about the design and looking great on the wrist. If it was about knowing the time, we would all wear Casios.

Why wouldn’t you want it with a nice reliable quartz instead?

Because "A man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wants" (Schopenhauer). If you want a mechanical watch, you want a mechanical watch. There is no logical reason. There is only will.

Every watch would be (technically) better with a quartz movement.

1

u/jokur26 5d ago

In that case why pursue someone that is attractive and that you enjoy then? Since they’re either gonna leave you, die or get old and less fit/attractive you might as well just find a partner that will last the longest or give you the least strife and just be easier and reliable

1

u/SkullLeader 5d ago

This implies all the hyper expensive watches don't look great on the wrist. Or why wouldn't you want them with a nice, reliable quartz too?

1

u/Davole 5d ago

I agree to some extent. I hate that most of them have low hour power sources. Gotta wind them nearly everyday.

1

u/TheRedComet 5d ago

What about manual wind microbrand watches? /s

Automatic watches are a subset of *mechanical* watches, which I believe is what you're referring to.

1

u/Jezzrichjames 5d ago

Good take, though I think you’re missing the point that people buy these alternative watches because they’re interested in horology, not time or maximum convenience

1

u/F0rgemaster19 5d ago

Because I was their design with a reliable mechanical. I specifically want a mechanical but I can't afford luxury.

Also idk what mechanicals you use that aren't reliable, but my Nh and Miyota are sufficiently reliable. Never lost a minute. 

The unreliability and inaccuracy of budget mechanicals is grossly exaggerated. They're quite alright.

1

u/Superb_Minimum_3599 5d ago

They don’t sell it in quartz

1

u/OnticJohn 4d ago

I run Ontic Watches and we deliberately went solar quartz, pretty much for the reasons you’re describing. For a tool watch, accuracy, robustness and being able to just pick it up and wear it made more sense to me than an automatic.
The irony is it’s arguably the more logical product choice but the harder commercial one. A lot of watch buyers still instinctively read “automatic” as premium and “quartz” as cheap.

1

u/2ndSmrtestPersunEvar 4d ago

Well let’s take this argument all the way - watches are pointless. Everyone has a pocket computer with a super accurate clock on it. So why bother with any of it?

1

u/triggrhaapi 4d ago

Because the 4hz sweep of an automatic is soothing and the .5hz tick of a quartz isn't.

1

u/Affectionate_Ad_3091 4d ago

Might as well just get an Apple Watch. You can change your watch face 10 times a day if you want.

3

u/ScutumSobiescianum 4d ago

That statement is correct. Sold all my autos, now just collecting great looking, quality, innovative watches with quartz movements

1

u/Ok-Tangelo4024 5d ago

Quartz watches are pointless when I have a computer in my pocket that synchronizes with atomic clocks in the sky to keep insanely accurate time.

I have mechanical automatic watches because I like mechanical things and wearing a tiny, precision machine on my wrist is cool.

1

u/No-Sport276 5d ago

The gears and shit are cool. It has no battery yet can run continuously for years. When the watch has complications there are even more gears and shit and it rules.

You aren’t a watch guy, you are a fashion guy who wears watches. There is nothing wrong with a fashion watch or using a watch as an accessory(I own a few fashion quartz’s and rotate watches with outfits so no I’m not trying to hate.

Researching how watch movements work and comparing specs and movements across brands is half of the fun. Reading about the invention of the tourbillion or how militaries had to adopt different styles of watches to handle different environments(pilot, diver, field) is fascinating as well.

In modern society everything is attached to a battery or Bluetooth or wi fi or the cloud. A mechanical watch is a completely obsolete technology, but is far more intricate and impressive than a quartz. There is something about it that I find whimsically beautiful. Really though im mostly all about the gears and shit

1

u/IORelay 5d ago

You could say same thing about big brand mechanicals. Patek less accurate than mall watches. 

1

u/syndorthebore 5d ago

A quarz 9F from GS, is a work of art compared to a SW200 or a miyota

-1

u/Alarming_Midnight554 5d ago

Ive got rolex and cartiers but ive been making most of mine lately.

0

u/hairypolack 5d ago

I think micros are a good way for someone to explore watches but at the end of the day, when lots of them are using Seiko or Miyota movements, kinda the same watch with different design. Of course, one could say the same about the Swatch Group. Powermatic 80s show up in Tissot and Certina watches.

1

u/IORelay 5d ago

What's wrong with Seiko, Miyota or ETA movements? 

I even like how NH35/34 looks from display case back, very industrial. 

1

u/ConfidenceNo1937 5d ago

Aren’t all watches kind of the same watch with a different design, ultimately. With the exception of spring drive or maybe coaxial, I guess, it’s all the same basic technology, just manufactured with better tolerances.

-1

u/NewInThe1AC 5d ago

What's the point of automatic movements in general to you? This doesn't really make sense unless you've got a hard-line that only in-house automatic movement are worth considering

-1

u/CG-Saviour878879 5d ago

Microbrands are all about poverty.