Rising costs of eta movements?

[horologist]

I have un officially pulled out from this rep game for much longer than  18 months now- not by choice but by the duress of availability of parts as well as the rising costs of a rapidly drying market!  Sad but true!

 

I still wear my Aligoat  noobmariner daily and the amount of attention it gets from some of the people far exceeds when driving a classic car!  Believe me , i know because I did own a classic muscle car, many moons ago  but it had to go due to other important priorities! 

 

Yesterday I was at the supermarket waiting in line at the checkout and a grey haired gentleman in a nice black suit at my side commented " that s a great looking watch Sir!   I would love to get one of those but I just cannot justify spending all those thousands for one of those that I could have bought 35-40 years ago for under $500".  I just smiled back and said "Thank you Sir, I am glad someone still appreciates quality "without going into the forensics of what it really is.as he did not ask "is that real?"LOL!!  He kept on staring with  amazement and as I later made my way to the car park, I saw him enter a beautiful late model Maserati.  Ironically, I saw nobody stopping him to praise his car?  Maybe a replica Maserati from noobmaserati factory in HK?  Who knows?

 

i was almost about to tell him I can build these replica watches for under $350, but when I thought about it, I hushed up not knowing the current prices of the eta movements.  Upon coming home and looking at what the prices are for new etas, I am shocked that there is nothing new for under USD170 when including shipping and taxes.  I can understand that spare parts are now almost obsolete but complete movements we're still available!

In my last project ,nearly 18 months ago, I paid just USD130 for a new eta 2836-2 delivered with taxes included!  As for clones, just give me a heavy blunt hammer and that is the beginning of the end for them!

[macarone]

Did you get the digits?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thom.son]

This is what it is. I recently bought a ETA 2824 movement from WSO eBay about $220 shipped, but in the end of January I bought it $210 shipped from the same store.

[HorFan]

Go Sellita

[Serafino]

Yup, and as ETA gets harder to access, that leaves a vacuum, and good things will happen, is my guess.

[Timelord]

4 hours ago, HorFan said:

Go Sellita

 

I have noticed that they can be an issue with spare parts!!   In my experience the price difference is very much at par!  

 

The trend I see with the total horology industry is that they will all go the same way!  Once a market has been established with easily accessible products, then it will become "hitting on the head time " with the  "making it hard to get game"  which will sky rocket the prices and the rest will be history!  

 

Just look ook at when Rolex themselves started doing this and then Omega mirrored the same attitude and now eta!  Do you think it will stop there?  You can do it and why should I not  do the same if this is how the consumers will continue to cough up the cash!!

[automatico]

My choice for an Eta substitute would be the Miyota 9015 but it does not match up to Eta 28xx dial. hand, and casing specs afaik.  There is one on eBay for $84.09 plus $2.39 shp.

https://aquacywatch.com/blogs/news/caliber-comparisons-eta-2824-2-vs-miyota-9015

 

Dial foot location info:

https://forums.watchuseek.com/f6/miyota-eta-swap-745187.html

 

Here is something to put a big Ha! Ha! on the greedy swiss movement makers:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/tech/apple-swiss-watches/index.html

Karma is a sunny beach.

 

Another kick in the slats to the greedy swiss watch brands:

Telling Time is rapidly changing.

One example...my wife has worn genuine TAG, R Weil, omega, rolex, Movado, Gucci etc over the years but now she wears an Apple watch day in, day out.  Before the Apple watch she wore quartz lady size Omega SM, TAG diver, or R Weil Tango, her last rolex has been parked 12 or 15 years.  She put it away when it was a month or two from new...her second one btw.  The first one (ref 6916) was nothing but trouble from new, junk imho.  Second one is a sapphire tutone OP no date.  It was Ok.

Automatic watches and women do not mix...in my experience. 

 

I do not see many women wearing high $$ watches anymore, mostly quartz fashion or Apple watches.

I see a few men wearing Apple watches but mostly quartz Seiko, Citizen, Timex, Armatron, Fossil etc...plus the occasional omega, submariner or DJ, real or imagined.

Looks like the Timex vintage reissues are catching on.  Glad to see it.  

 

How it all started:

https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/memorandum-united-states-response-motion-rolex-watch-usa-inc-order-terminating

[Timelord]

5 hours ago, automatico said:

My choice for an Eta substitute would be the Miyota 9015 but it does not match up to Eta 28xx dial. hand, and casing specs afaik.  There is one on eBay for $84.09 plus $2.39 shp

 

 

The Miyota 9015 is a great work horse, reliable and efficient similar to the Toyota Hilux going through a war zone.

 

Three problems in using it as a direct substitute to replace in a Noobmariner or any rep purchased from our reliable friendly dealers.

 

(1) As you have declared, it does not match up the dial casing and hand specs.  As for dial feet being off, then it is a "No" right away for me.  I hate, HATE,........hate, hate,..... with an absolute passion cutting off dial feet and trying to glue, epoxy, solder or whatever miracle substitutes the relocation of dial feet.  I have disposed of many great dials because of this problem.  Out of 9 or 10 of them that I have tried this, by all sorts of methods such as buying new dial feet to epoxy on, it is a hit or a miss and the chances of when casing the dial with movement, they seem to break off, especially when realigning the stem and trying to make case clamps to hold it in tight or even to remove the movement again for a replacement.  I only have one that has worked and it is with an eta onto a genuine dial, which has had the one of the hands slightly off line, and  I am not game enough to take out to realign simply because of this happening until service time. 

 

(2) the 3.9mm thickness of the mechanism versus the 5.25mm eta may present stem alignment problems.  I am not skilled enough to make modifications to address this issue

 

(3) finding the right hands would be another issue.

 

5 hours ago, automatico said:

I do not see many women wearing high $$ watches anymore, mostly quartz fashion or Apple watches.

I see a few men wearing Apple watches but mostly quartz

 

Regarding ""many"" women, whether they happen to be rocket scientists or just lame Janes,  I have noticed that they usually always put aesthetics before quality, safety, practicality and durability regardless of cost.  It is just the way the sea is made up of water and the earth is made up of soil.  Not a criticism and to disclaim myself from any wrong doing, I will label this as my opinion only from my observations!!!!

 

There is nothing surprising or wrong with wearing an Apple watch or no watch at all regardless of gender.  A woman's best friend are diamonds -not watches!!!  A man's best friend is his dog and maybe his watch if funds will permit it!!!!  An expensive mechanical watch is now an anachronism item, very much like wearing a top hat at a the royal gala. Nobody would wear a top hat when going to the supermarket unless you have a sane enough creed for it!!! You have a watch on your phone or if you really miss wearing something around your arm, just look for a cereal carton with children's free bees added in those cartons and you may be lucky to get an accurate reliable working watch - who knows!!!.  I usually wear one of these plastic give aways when doing the garden which I throw away at the end of the season.

 

Automatico,  I love your posts and they are so informative and a true asset for me to cut and paste in my archives.  Thanks for them as I am sure others feel the same

[automatico]

"I hate, HATE,........hate, hate,..... with an absolute passion cutting off dial feet and trying to glue, epoxy, solder or whatever miracle substitutes the relocation of dial feet."

 

Me too, I never felt good about it.  I used a rlx 15xx spec dial on my JMB '1016' project and made a movement spacer that allows the dial to lay against the spacer, stuck down with Gorilla glue with dial strips between the outer edge of the spacer and case to help hold things in place.  It has been Ok but I just do not like having no dial feet even when the whole assembly is held tight in the case by case clamps/screws.

 

"I usually wear one of these plastic give aways when doing the garden which I throw away at the end of the season."

 

I also wear a plastic cheapo watch when outside working.  The current beater is a blue and gray all plastic 'No Boundaries' watch that has been going for 7 or 8 years with a batt each year and a strap now and then...it's a tuff little sob (Hattori/Seiko PC 21 mvt).

PC 21 short story:

When we closed our watch store I brought all the leftovers home.  Most were cheapo fashion watches and Disney watches with PC 21 movements in them.  Some have been stored 8 or 10 years and will not run.

Why not?

Because the plastic wheels are stuck together.

How to fix them? (they do not come apart)

Check for a 'pulse' with a Horotec Pulse tester.

If it has a pulse (almost all do), lay it on a Horotec Turbo and shock the pizz out of it.

Most of them take off with the second hand flying around and around.

The 'Turbo' uses a 9V batt and gives them a rapidly pulsating inductive jolt.

Sure beats taking an Eta 28xx apart.

 

        

 

I wear mostly a vintage watch of some sort or an Accutron II.  I do not wear a genuine rolex much at all because of their current policies.  I do wear a Replex now and then though.

Replex!  Did I just coin a brand name?  Maybe it will make me rich and famous!

...or put me in jail.

 

"Automatico,  I love your posts and they are so informative and a true asset for me to cut and paste in my archives.  Thanks for them as I am sure others feel the same.""

 

Thanks!  I appreciate it. 

 

[oldtools]

Replex!    I love it!