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That's very true. My two quartz watches, a Seiko and a Timex are both reasonably cheap, accurate and save for the odd battery change maintenance-free. My mechan

That's very true. My two quartz watches, a Seiko and a Timex are both reasonably cheap, accurate and save for the odd battery change maintenance-free. My mechanical Seiko on the other hand.... it's beautiful but it seems to have a mind of its own. In the 8 months that I had it it started gaining about 5min a week. I understand automatics do gain or lose a couple of minutes a week, but even so. After being spoiled by the accuracy of quartz, that bugs me.

craigsmansion 7y ago
Just give them a couple of decades. Chances are your quartz watches will no longer work, whereas your mechanical watch will happily tick along, and can still be repaired if it ever breaks down. But 42 seconds a day is quite a lot. You could try to have it regulated (or do it yourself if you're feeling adventurous).
- vinay427 7y ago
  All of my sub-$30 digital quartz watches are still working and are within a few seconds of the current time around 10 years after being purchased and set. A mechanical watch would likely need much more maintenance in that period, perhaps even to keep it running. I still have an automatic mechanical watch, for what it's worth, and in theory it should last longer when maintained but will likely cost far more every year than one of my digital quartz watches would cost to replace even every few years.
  - craigsmansion 7y ago
    In general quartz watches seem to have a lifetime of 20-30 years. Mechanical watches without factory defects should easily run 10 years without maintenance, but it's advisable to have them serviced every few years. But yes, even with their longevity, it's a given that replacing a cheap quartz every few years would probably still be cheaper than a mechanical watch.
  - chris11 7y ago
    I'd say a major quality problem in cheap watches is water resistance. Before I knew much about diving, I tried snorkeling with a couple really cheap watches. They both died. There are some good cheap dive watches, like the Casio MDV106-1A. But in general I wouldn't want to get a cheap watch wet. 30m WR just won't cut it.
    - kennywinker 7y ago
      Hackaday story on waterproofing (700m) the casio f91w by hand... does not look difficult at all! https://hackaday.com/tag/casio-f-91w/ https://hackaday.com/tag/casio-f-91w/
- ljf 7y ago
  Not sure I'd buy that - my old quartz from my childhood (analogue and digital) still work excellently, and keep great time, and only need a battery replacing every 10 years or so. My Chinese automatic lost time after the first year and wasn't worth repairing. My vintage seiko 5 recently had a service/repair - which cost £120 - and yes it works pretty well now, but they replaced the whole automatic innards - just the face/dial/hands and body/strap remain. And it still loses a couple of minutes a week. Unless I take it of for a few days and it stops completely. I love it though and it makes me very happy to wear it - and it looks and feels great. But I wear a Xiaomi mi band on my other wrist for accurate timekeeping (when I need to be sure to make the train or something).
- digikazi 7y ago
  I will attempt to regulate it myself. I have an interest in horology and watch making so it will be a learning curve if nothing else.
willis936 7y ago
If it’s consistently losing or gaining time you can adjust the regulator pretty easily. If it’s random then minimizing thermal cycles helps.
dksbzmx 7y ago
A couple of minutes a week is excessive. Something’s wrong with the watch. When a solar flare finally hits us (or the Ruskies and the Yanks decide to nuke the world), however, your Seiko will still be a minute/week off. Your quartz watches will be week/week off.
- digikazi 7y ago
  Should that happen, if I am lucky/unlucky enough to survive a nuclear exchange, being on time to catch the train will probably be the least of my worries. Having said that, I still have an Olympus Trip 35 in my collection and since it uses a selenium cell and a basic galvanometer to measure exposure, I should be okay to use it and document the aftermath as soon as the dust has settled! Edited for clarity
phubbard 7y ago
That sounds like its been magnetized, which is easy to have happen and cheap to repair. You can DIY with a tool from eBay or amazon. One of the big problems with mechanicals in this day and age is the prevalence of rare earth magnets in all sorts of places, e.g. the iPad has 11 of them, as do many bags. It’s quite easy to accidentally magnetize your watch, and amagnetic movements are still uncommon. (Omega, new ETA, some Rolex).
- digikazi 7y ago
  Thank you for your knowledgeable reply. I must admit it's not something I considered!

craigsmansion 7y ago

Just give them a couple of decades. Chances are your quartz watches will no longer work, whereas your mechanical watch will happily tick along, and can still be repaired if it ever breaks down. But 42 seconds a day is quite a lot. You could try to have it regulated (or do it yourself if you're feeling adventurous).

vinay427 7y ago
All of my sub-$30 digital quartz watches are still working and are within a few seconds of the current time around 10 years after being purchased and set. A mechanical watch would likely need much more maintenance in that period, perhaps even to keep it running. I still have an automatic mechanical watch, for what it's worth, and in theory it should last longer when maintained but will likely cost far more every year than one of my digital quartz watches would cost to replace even every few years.
- craigsmansion 7y ago
  In general quartz watches seem to have a lifetime of 20-30 years. Mechanical watches without factory defects should easily run 10 years without maintenance, but it's advisable to have them serviced every few years. But yes, even with their longevity, it's a given that replacing a cheap quartz every few years would probably still be cheaper than a mechanical watch.
- chris11 7y ago
  I'd say a major quality problem in cheap watches is water resistance. Before I knew much about diving, I tried snorkeling with a couple really cheap watches. They both died. There are some good cheap dive watches, like the Casio MDV106-1A. But in general I wouldn't want to get a cheap watch wet. 30m WR just won't cut it.
  - kennywinker 7y ago
    Hackaday story on waterproofing (700m) the casio f91w by hand... does not look difficult at all! https://hackaday.com/tag/casio-f-91w/ https://hackaday.com/tag/casio-f-91w/
ljf 7y ago
Not sure I'd buy that - my old quartz from my childhood (analogue and digital) still work excellently, and keep great time, and only need a battery replacing every 10 years or so. My Chinese automatic lost time after the first year and wasn't worth repairing. My vintage seiko 5 recently had a service/repair - which cost £120 - and yes it works pretty well now, but they replaced the whole automatic innards - just the face/dial/hands and body/strap remain. And it still loses a couple of minutes a week. Unless I take it of for a few days and it stops completely. I love it though and it makes me very happy to wear it - and it looks and feels great. But I wear a Xiaomi mi band on my other wrist for accurate timekeeping (when I need to be sure to make the train or something).
digikazi 7y ago
I will attempt to regulate it myself. I have an interest in horology and watch making so it will be a learning curve if nothing else.

willis936 7y ago

If it’s consistently losing or gaining time you can adjust the regulator pretty easily. If it’s random then minimizing thermal cycles helps.

dksbzmx 7y ago

A couple of minutes a week is excessive. Something’s wrong with the watch. When a solar flare finally hits us (or the Ruskies and the Yanks decide to nuke the world), however, your Seiko will still be a minute/week off. Your quartz watches will be week/week off.

digikazi 7y ago
Should that happen, if I am lucky/unlucky enough to survive a nuclear exchange, being on time to catch the train will probably be the least of my worries. Having said that, I still have an Olympus Trip 35 in my collection and since it uses a selenium cell and a basic galvanometer to measure exposure, I should be okay to use it and document the aftermath as soon as the dust has settled! Edited for clarity

phubbard 7y ago

That sounds like its been magnetized, which is easy to have happen and cheap to repair. You can DIY with a tool from eBay or amazon. One of the big problems with mechanicals in this day and age is the prevalence of rare earth magnets in all sorts of places, e.g. the iPad has 11 of them, as do many bags. It’s quite easy to accidentally magnetize your watch, and amagnetic movements are still uncommon. (Omega, new ETA, some Rolex).

digikazi 7y ago
Thank you for your knowledgeable reply. I must admit it's not something I considered!