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How Sturdy Are Mechanical Watches?


Rob1

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I'm fairly new to mechanical watches and was wondering how sturdy they are during sporting activities like skiing? Are they able to withstand lots of flinging of arms around and occasionally getting bounced around when gravity gets the better of my limited ski technique! Could I knock something out of line by being too violent with my watch? My new Steelfish certainly looks sturdy, but I wouldn't want to do anything silly to it.

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mechanical watches are NOT ment to take that kind of damage with hard core flipping and throwing -

for example my father screwed up with Gen Chronomat playing golf.

Wear Quartz to do some sort of crazy activity with lots of hand jerking

i don't think that came out right

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Pho.. if done right, you'll get a good charge!

I'm not saying if you whip your hand real fast it will fall apart

but its a precision instrument that runs on gears and oiled jewells - All mechanical watches are subject to gravity

hence, the need for tourbillion - counteract gravity

repeated beating can have an effect on your watch :)

and if its asian :) who knows right :) could have some chicken and rice in the movement to begin with

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Here's a general rule of thumb: When subjected to violent movements, a mechanical movement will likely die before you do, while a quartz movement will probably outlive you. Does that answer your question? ;)

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Rob 1,

I had this same question myself, especially after reading some of the things The ZigmeisterZumba wrote about mechanical watches.

On one hand, I read that many adventurers/explorers like mechanical watches because they feel they are more reliable in extreme conditions than quartz. I also know there are certain models, like the Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon, which can withstand a 7500 xG impact w/o damage.

Then, I read a "The Zigmeister" article where he says slapping a watch into your wrist is like taking a sledgehammer to your cars engine!! Personally, I don't consider slapping a watch into my wrist as a lot of abuse. Dropping it from 30 feet, yes. Hitting it with a hammer, yes. A 2-foot swing into padded flesh, no. :thumbdown: Same goes for the golf scenario. I don't consider golf to be a very abusive sport ... if a watch can't handle a swing of the arms, it's pretty darn wimpy IMO. :g:

I'm still getting mixed messages about the toughness of mechanical watches. Nanuq & epoch say their tough. Who, Phoband & robertk say they're fragile. (Note: if you can't play golf in it, it's fragile IMO. My quartz watches could handle slapping on my wrist & golf easily).

I'm really glad I bought a rep. If I paid $3000 for a real SMP chrono and broke it, for example, skiing (snow or water) I'd be really ticked off. :angry:

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Should we not make the distinctions between mechanical movments :scratch: ? Otherwise, its all apples and oranges.

The watches that I might want to ski with are the new Steelfish with an eta 2824 movement or my Navitimer with an eta 7750. I don't know what the restrictions of wear are for a gen watch, but I guess that if I owned either a gen Steelfish or a gen Navitimer I would be surprised and very disappointed if either stopped working because I'd skied with them.

Does anyone have a high quality replica watch which has stopped working because of mechanical damage from sporting (or similar) wear & tear?

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I don't consider golf to be a very abusive sport ... if a watch can't handle a swing of the arms, it's pretty darn wimpy IMO. :g:

One day, when you finally hit a ball, you'll understand what the jolt of impact feels like. That's what can cause problems. :D

Still, Tiger wears a TAG in adverts, right?

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I asked Omega about shock resistyance regarding my Gen PO and was told that "barring stupidity" there were no sports or activities that I would engage in that would sufficiently shock the watch enough to cause damage. They said golf, tennis, baseball, etc should all be fine. The most likely type of damage that could be caused would be a cracked crystal. The movement has incabloc shock protection and will be fine.

As far as reps, I guess it's how much you trust the watch but with our HQ reps, with ETA movements i wouldn't be inclined to worry too much. If you do, pick up a beater quartz rep for those occasions. I have Joshua's Formula 1 TAG that I use as a beater watch.

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I asked Omega about shock resistyance regarding my Gen PO and was told that "barring stupidity" there were no sports or activities that I would engage in that would sufficiently shock the watch enough to cause damage. They said golf, tennis, baseball, etc should all be fine. The most likely type of damage that could be caused would be a cracked crystal. The movement has incabloc shock protection and will be fine.

As far as reps, I guess it's how much you trust the watch but with our HQ reps, with ETA movements i wouldn't be inclined to worry too much. If you do, pick up a beater quartz rep for those occasions. I have Joshua's Formula 1 TAG that I use as a beater watch.

They are trying to sell you a watch!!!

I'm telling you my fathers breitling i think the rotor fell off, not sure but its F-ed up.

And - for those that don't think golf is violent - they have never played golf - nor have they thought much about the physics of it. Remember, the amount of turn your shoulders do is magnified because its farther out in the circle - you know, like riding the flying chair at the circus

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The watches that I might want to ski with are the new Steelfish with an eta 2824 movement or my Navitimer with an eta 7750. I don't know what the restrictions of wear are for a gen watch, but I guess that if I owned either a gen Steelfish or a gen Navitimer I would be surprised and very disappointed if either stopped working because I'd skied with them.

Does anyone have a high quality replica watch which has stopped working because of mechanical damage from sporting (or similar) wear & tear?

Your gens will not stop working because you skied in them :wallbash: You could pull a Bono and they would come out alive. Do you think Breitling would have made it this far if they could not take such abuse?

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I'm also in agreement with Nanuq, mechanicals, if well put 2gether, are much tougher than most think..

My son's and I have played rough sports, martial arts,..stick fighting, kendo, hiked, and fell in raging waters,

banged them,...all reps mind you without a problem...

Lastly...Believe it or not... plastic spacers act as shock obsorbers....so I was never one to complain about them..

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Roger that! With all the delicate little parts chronos have, I'd exercize a lot more care with them. They're still mostly "incabloc" or derivate on the main shafts, but why risk boogering it? It's hard to beat a good solid shock protected design.

That's what bugs me about the TAG advert. Tiger Woods is wearing the Link Chrono and expects us to believe that his eyeball-searing drives won't hurt it? :blink:

thonk! "Hello, TAG Heuer? I just broke another ..."

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One day, when you finally hit a ball, you'll understand what the jolt of impact feels like. That's what can cause problems. :D

Still, Tiger wears a TAG in adverts, right?

dude, if you feel that much shock at contact, u ain't hittin the ball right.. or so i am told.. not that i am ther resident expert givin that i too frequently feel the shock :lol:

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