Which movement do you prefer and why?

 

Whichever one is thinner

 

8800 is an 11.5 ligne movement that is 4.60 mm tall. 8900 is a 13 ligne movement that is 5.50 mm tall.

 

8800 has a single barrel and 55 hours power reserve. The 8900 has 2 barrels and 60 hours power reserve.

The 8900 has 4 more jewels and has the jumping hour hand, which changes the date as well. The 8800 has the traditional date change.

 

and this is why I prefer 8800 over any 85/8900
If you have one watch in the collection it does not matter lots how does it change the date. You will wear it and the date will be correct for 30 days out of the month probably. Changing one or two days per month is not a big deal.
If you have more watches, chances are that one will stop before you wear it again and you have to set the correct date.
The semi-instantaneous date change in 8800 is simple, fast and not annoying at all. 85/8900's date change feature is completely the opposite
And I don't like how long does 85/8900 need to flip a date disc, it reminds me Seiko 7s26 date change.

 

The one thing I noticed with my single barrel and twin barrel Omegas and I heard others say this, is with the twin barrel, the time keeping is more consistent and stable over the entire power range compared to a single barrel. It is noticeable between the 2 when the power reserves are getting low.

 

Have one piece with 8800 and 3 with 8900 and strongly prefer the second one:
- don't need to worry where the hour hand is to set the date
- I travel a lot through time zones and jumping hour without seconds hand stop is a thing for me
- it does not bother me to rotate the hour hand a few times around if I need to push the date by a few days

Last, but not least, I reckon 8900 rotor is more silent (but that's just user impression).

 

Round 2!

Would like to hear more opinions. Have both but prefer the quick hour change, and aesthetics of the 8900.

In my case lol, 8900 is more accurate.

 

I've heard and suffered too many problems with the jumping hour system.
I am avoiding that mechanism in the future, and would go only with 8800.

 

8900
Jump Hour - Setting the time is faster. Yes, it takes longer to set the dates but I never set the date, yes i m one of those people lol.
Dual barrel. When i throw on a watch i set the time then shake it to get it going. No need to wind it cause the watch is as accurate at the end of the PR as the beginning, yes I've measured.

Also my 8900 has 68 hours of PR, i expect the 8800 to have more as well, anyone test it out?

 

That's a very interesting advantage of the double barrel. You never have to wind it! So the winding mechanism is extraneous?

 

I have heard of issues with a part of the movement wearing excessively linked to the jumping hour hand in the 8900. Tbh my 3330 is far more consistent than my 8800 I believe due to faster beat rate. I would choose 8800 over 8900 as there are no known issues with that movement.

 

Hey the 7s26 gets the complete date change done in only 3 hours! That’s instant on a geological scale.

 

Haha, kind of yes. Of course this depends on how much you move your wrist, I throw my watch on before i leave the house so there's going to be a good amount of wrist movement, driving/walking.

 

So basically when it stops, you just set the time and give it a few swings like the Seiko Monster, and you're good to go, you're confirming. And it will still perform within specs.

 

I would have to go with the 8800 for sake of simplicity. I wish Omega would focus on thinner watches. The ETA based from many moons ago were much thinner than those produced today. My SMP 2254 is a couple mm’s thinner than my SMP 300 (2018) and wears much better.

 

Yes, rotor is virtually silent on 8500/8900 movements. I believe it’s because the rotors have a sleeve bearing setup much like Rolex. The 8800 has a ball bearing type and thus noisier.

 

In all of my date watches, half are instant change and half are slow. It has never bothered me as I'm usually asleep when this happens and not looking at my watch.

 

I vote for 8900 because that's what I've got.