Sellita Movements- Anyone Repowering with the SW200?

[OldCorvette]

After reading about Swatch group's reduction in ETA movement availability.. I wondered who would step up and begin to take market share from the space they were vacating.

I would like to repower a Rep with a Sellita SW200.. seems like an easy relatively inexpensive way to Experiment with a new to me Movement while hopefully improving quality. The SW200 is supposed to be very much like the 2824.. I will yield to the watchmakers to explain just how much. It is a Swiss made movement that evidently doesn't have as much detail work done as the 2824.. this is something I can live with as long as the mechanical integrity is there.

http://www.sellita.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=12&lang=en

I'm not one sold on single acts of low quality.. most organizations are human powered and thus have room for human error. I worked in the Automotive industry and can recount stories to you of brand new high quality/reliable American, Japanese, German vehicles being delivered with glaring parts missing, factory tools being left underhood, etc... What does this say about the overall quality of the brand?.. Nothing in my opinion. I would guess some very intelligent, degreed individuals with perfect command of the English language occasionally post replies on this forum with misspelled words.. Things slip sometimes in the course of everyday life. This is why most dealerships have Make Ready departments. I said all this to try and head off anyone telling me how bad Sellitas are from a single problem viewpoint... If a watchmaker here had taken many Sellitas in, tweeked them himself, and found the quality wanting over a period of time I'd be more apt to listen to his complaints.

Anyway.. we are entering a New era in Movements because of ETAs choices.. we aren't going back.

There were alot of great movements made in the 50's, 60's,70's... Patents on most have expired and we live in the age of CNC machining and computer modeling. Zenith and others had some superb movements from that era.. I love to see an old Zenith movement copied/updated/tweeked and offered as an over the counter movement choice...

[grejyedi]

I have five had Christopher Ward watches with Seliita movements (Christopher ward makes quite a nice range of unique Swiss made watches). They more or less use them interchangeably with the ETA 2824 movements except where they have display backs then they use the higher grade of ETA, where you can see the workman ship.

(ie you don't know what you are getting when you buy the watch)

My experience was: Watch 1. The automatic winder did not power up properly and watch replaced after six months under warranty. 2nd watch OK.

Watch 2: Lost 25 seconds a day. Went back to be regulated then OK.

Watch 3. Stopped after a week. Movement completely replaced. Watch (call it watch 5) OK

Apparently the ETA design is an old one and the patent ran out, which is why they can make them, as can the Chinese,

In principle the parts are interchangeable with the ETA ones.

[cigarben]

I have 2 SW200 that are in a couple Invicta watches I had bought several years ago and they have been running strong. I would like to put one in sub that has asian 2836. Don't know about the spacer ring though. Might have to find or make one.

[Danny S]

Owned 3 or 4 Oris divers powered by Sellita movements. Oris decorated (red) rotors. No idea what other mods/adjustments Oris makes to the movement, but mine all demonstrated excellent power reserves and chrono accuracy. I wouldn't hesitate at all to install the SW200.

Haven't been able to locate a "deal" on the movement though. Does anyone have an affordable source for the SW200?