Mattwaj Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 hi guys Im a noob, tho in the last couple of months have bought a gen muhle glaschutte, a beautiful omega po ( thanks unixshrk) a nife parnis portugueser (thanks dutchguy2) and a lovely breitling tourbillon (cheers matador), plus a chrnoswiss homage from military time. all imspired by a friend bringing me back an omega copy back from bali, which died when i dropped it... given i cant find anyone in australia to repair them and it is difficult to justify the cost of repair anyway, what do you do? buy cheap and throw away, but have a less sexy looking watch, or spemd more on something more 1 to 1? If the latter, is there any guaramtee it will last longer? Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattwaj Posted September 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) u Edited September 6, 2011 by Mattwaj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattwaj Posted September 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 meant to say *breguet tourbillon. i have breitling on the brain after cheiftangs listing ... wish id been online! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesperMatt Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 If you do a simple search you can get a rundown of most of the movements. From memory I can seem to recall: - Swiss ETA - Easy to find someone to work on, good quality but often times the movements are NOS and should be serviced immediately from sitting around. - Asian ETA Copy - Generally good quality and don't need immediate service, although not all parts are a complete swap with gen ETA - Asian 7750 - Poor quality control from the factory, should be serviced almost immediately. Some have additional gearing to move complications/subdials that are extra prone to crapping out. - 21J - Good workhouse movement, shouldn't require any service but when they do die its cheaper to buy a complete movement or a whole new watch. There are all sorts of movement reviews that will go in better detail if you use the search function. I think you may have posted asking about watch tools before? If not, or if you did, I see you're in Australia and I know WatchBitz is from there. Perhaps he could recommend a watch smith who would be willing to work on reps or, worst comes to worst, if you got handy enough with tools you may be able to decase the movements and be able to give those (at least gen Swiss ETAs) for service. I haven't been in the rep game long enough to personally vouch for longevity of movements and what not, but just like anything I'd go on common sense... I'd never buy more than I'd be willing to lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 I've always bought cheap out of financial limitations, but to be honest, I can't really fault the longevity of the watches. Only ones which 'broke', were ones I started dissecting and damaged before getting the hang of what I was doing ( ) the others're all still going strong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiker01 Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Cheap???? You get what you pay for..... Expensive???? Depends....... Usually, if you buy from our approved source.......Expensive means of better quality of build/construction, materials and movements! QC and water resistance is hit or miss! Some approved dealers promote their QC, but that's something you deal directly with the dealer. I have bought cheap ones when I started this hobby that are still working (built some, too) and expensive ones that died soon after (movement wise).Chronos have higher failure rate than Automatics! Manuals are more reliable......all these are IMHO! Take it with a grain of salt! Good luck and happy collecting! Go Wallabies!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odourboy Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 I'm new at this but I suspect it plays out like many 'collectibles' hobbies or gear passions. Initially, you're like a kid in a candy store and you want to try everything so you buy a variety of low end products and start getting your feet wet. Over time, as you become more informed, you also become more opinionated and tend to ween the low-end stuff your collection, perhaps going for quality over quantity. In time, the fixation may wain and you end up with one or two top quality (if it's time pieces, probably gens) that serve as your workhorse, everything else either sold or gathering dust in the back of your sock drawer. However, I'm not suggesting that you jump straight to a high-end gen - it's the journey, not the destination. Myself, I'm still in the candy store stage and I'm enjoying owning and learning about a variety of watches. I can see myself buying a really nice gen some day, but at this time I'm not ready (sufficiently educated or opinionated) to make that plunge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signumboy Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 well I have had both 21j, asian clone eta , and swiss eta . The 21js have been vgfm only one issue, one of them needed a bit of a bang to get it going , so the eta's have been the slightly better. but I would be very happy with more 21j's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsiadeCuba Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 i agree you get what you pay for. it all depends on how you are in this hobby. if you just an innocent sideliner, then yes go with cheap stuff. if you a hard core enthusiast, then we go for more practical movements like the eta. but then again, expensive is relative to one's self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattwaj Posted September 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 thamks dudes, interesting feedback... re movement reviews and Mr watchbitz, all useful, but still looks like only way to get a watch repared or fixed is to send to the esteemed Zigg. Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatever123 Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 I'm new at this but I suspect it plays out like many 'collectibles' hobbies or gear passions. Initially, you're like a kid in a candy store and you want to try everything so you buy a variety of low end products and start getting your feet wet. Over time, as you become more informed, you also become more opinionated and tend to ween the low-end stuff your collection, perhaps going for quality over quantity. In time, the fixation may wain and you end up with one or two top quality (if it's time pieces, probably gens) that serve as your workhorse, everything else either sold or gathering dust in the back of your sock drawer. However, I'm not suggesting that you jump straight to a high-end gen - it's the journey, not the destination. Myself, I'm still in the candy store stage and I'm enjoying owning and learning about a variety of watches. I can see myself buying a really nice gen some day, but at this time I'm not ready (sufficiently educated or opinionated) to make that plunge. Well said, mate! I second that... I'm in the later stage and got rid of most of my reps to fund some nice gens. I think I will never have more than10 watches at a time because I wear only 2 or 3 in rotation and the rest collects dust... Right now I'm in selling mode again and will probably downsize to 6 or 7 watches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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