Would Like a Little Advice on Automatic Watches

A

archimedes

Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
67
Well its time for a new watch, my old faithful ST Moritz fell off my wrist ( my own stupidity I knew the strap needed replacing) after many years of service. Wasnt able to find it.

I am thinking of going automatic this next go around, and as my knowlege of watches is quite minimal a little help would be appreciated.

My requirements are

-automatic/self winding
-pricepoint of about $500 retail
-200 meter waterproof
-unidirectional rotating bezel (preferably with numbers that wont wear off)
-big easy to see analog hands with luminous second hand
-fairly accurate
-reliable ( I do not want to have to crack the case for at least 10 yrs)
-a satin finish preffered to chrome/shiny

Bonuses would be

-Nice flat profile (I dont want an inch of watch sticking up off my wrist)
-lightish weight (?titanium?)
-black underscreen/face
-date indicator

I am not fussy about

-metal vs rubber strap


I have done some research (went back one year in gadgets n gear) , so far the seiko, citizen are coming up and based on past experience am thinking of another st moritz who now have an automatic.

Reccomendations or warnings appreciated, cant wait to toss this old timex off my wrist.

Thanks in advance

A
 
The only thing about automatic watches is that most need to be worn every so often to keep them running. Not necessarily a deal breaker there, but an automatic watch winder/case may be in order if you end up with a larger collection than you can wear on a regular basis.

Some other brands like Seiko actually use the wrist motion to power a small generator that runs an electronic movement in the watch.

In any case, you might find what you are looking for here:

http://www.watchzone.com/
 
Read a lot of the Timezone forums. There is a wealth of information there.

When you decide on what you want, look for a gently used watch. I have purchased gently used Fortis brand watches for $325. Speaking of Fortis, they lack snob appeal but, work very well. I call them a "tool watch" because I use them like I would a wrench out of a toolbox. It needs to work, be accurate, and doesn't break easily.
 
The Seiko Black Monster fits almost all of your requirements except for flat profile. It is a big watch. Not an inch high but pretty high.

It is a very high quality watch and costs only around $150.00

Chad
 
Ditto the Black Monster. It may be slightly larger and heavier than what you are after, but it is worth looking into. One of the nice things about the watch is that the chunks of glowstuff markers are huge, and the thing really, really glows.

cheers
 
Thanks for the responses folks.

The Seiko Monster is in the running, ( I think I can put up with a few seconds per week error)

The St Moritz Aquamatic 2 is also in the running, not sure about the crystal back to watch the inner workings though, (drawbacks to this?)

One of the citizens ecodrive, model has slipped my cogs ,


I like the looks and simplicity of the Steinharts but am unsure of availablity for me up here, ( me buddies wife can get into whatever is in stock or orderable at basically cost to me.)


My eyeballs are kind of blurry spent to many hours poking around on those watch forums , and digging up watch reviews, there appears to be a subsegment of society who are as crazy about timegear as we are about higher end cutlery,

A
 
I've got a small collection of watches - a few G-shocks, an Omega SMP which I love but only occasionaly wear as well as assorted cheapos that I've accumulated over the years. By far the most comfortable of these for me is a Seiko 200m divers on a 2-ring rhino strap. It's the SKX-171K (pre-monster) silver bezel model.

I like it's simple functionality, the way it looks, the way I can read the dial in an instant any time of the day or night and it's durability (8-10 years of almost constant wear now)
 
look at marathon or the orange or black monster seikos.

the marathons are ~$550 and are imho one of the best looking diver style watches until ya get to the rolex sub or GMT which are about 6X or 8X as much.

and the monsters are classics too, but i do prefer the marathon.

www.marathonwatch.com
 
One thing about the Seiko over most of the other watches mentioned is that Seiko is one of the few watch companies who make absolutely every part of their watches.

St. Moritz is twice as expensive as a Seiko and buys a case from one company and a movement from another then buys a dial from a third company with the St Moritz name on it and all of a sudden they're a watch company.

The Steinhart is made in China and while they are an up and coming watch manufacturer the longevity is unknown.

If accuracy is a problem Seiko and Citizen as well make lots of very nice and durable Quartz watches.

I have two Omegas, a Zenith, a Rolex and tens of Seikos. The watch I have on right now is a Seiko Chronograph and last night I had on my Seiko Divers.

Chad
 
Watches are very personal items, it all depends on how much money you are willing to spend on a watch? Here is my GMT & Small Sebbie, these two are always on me. :D

 
My favorite watch that I own, is a TAG Heuer 6000 Series automatic. (I think that is the series that it is from, as I honestly can't remember.)I have had it for 7 years. It has a green face, and it is stainless steel and gold. It was close to $3,000 when I bought 7 years ago. I searched long and hard for this watch. It was hard to find a watch with a green face from TAG. It is thin and light. It is a awesome watch!! But, like Myakka said, it all depends on how much YOU want to spend.
 
wow looks exactly like my GMT11 great watches imho, got mine in '00 and cant believe how much they have gone up since then.

wish mine had a jubilee band FWIW.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top