Comment by kijin

4 years ago

The parts last quite some time if properly maintained. If you're worried about replacement parts availability, stick with the most popular movements such as the ETA2824/SW200 series or Seiko's NH35 series.

7 comments

kijin

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yobbo  4 years ago

For example, the size and fit of Seiko "calibers" are the same going back further than NH35, which means far older watches can accept NH35 as replacements. Even sub-assemblies and parts of NH35 fit straight onto 7s26s from the 90s.

NH35 can be serviced, but makes more sense an assembled replacement part. The same argument can probably made for the entire watch. The appeal of using one watch for 30 years is more in romantic fantasy than practicality.

criddell  4 years ago

A lot of watch fans are happy when they see a watch brand use an in-house movement. I’m exactly the opposite for the reason you say - the popular movements are going to be easily and inexpensively serviced for much longer.

That said, a lot of in-house movements are little more than tweaks and high end finishing applied to existing commodity movements.

  • kijin  4 years ago

    Exactly. The flip side of the recent proliferation of "barely in-house" movements is that there's actually even less diversity of movements in the mid-range watch market than the brands would have you believe. So in the long term, it's going to be fairly easy to get any of them serviced. Just replace some springs and gears with compatible parts from a 2824/2892/7750/whatever and stick the brand's pretty rotor back on.

  • mickael-kerjean  4 years ago

    Ever since I picked the hobby of fixing old mechanical watch, in house movement is my number 1 criteria for not buying because of the availability of parts.

  • _fat_santa  4 years ago

    I'm with you on this. I see a ton of custom watches that end up using a Seiko automatic movement or an ETA. A bit like Lotus using Toyota Camry engines.

    • kQq9oHeAz6wLLS  4 years ago

      Not just custom - Seiko used to (still does maybe) provide manufacturers with bare movements, even with the company name on it. That means you'll find "no name" watches from the 60s onward with Seiko movements. That makes servicing, repairing and replacing them much easier and cheaper. Same with ETA.