Define high quality movement

Hello OF,

Hope you are all doing well. I have seen this term used around a lot but have always wondered what really makes a movement of "high quality" in terms of build. How much of it really translates to accuracy and its impact to the cost of a watch. Now for the sake of discussion lets consider time-only watches. Let us also not include movement finishing as that is difficult to quantify. In terms of example i think Seiko would be good candidate - if we compare a 17J movement in a 'low end' Seiko champion vs say a 44GS? Would love to hear your insights! Thanks OF!

I think is more about a commercial phrase..I would expect to see that phrase in any advertise for any watch.

You can't discount finish, though. It's an important factor for many people. The meaning of quality shifts, depending on what you're after. I would categorize at least three indicators:

1. Finish (beveling, perlage, polishing, etc.)
2. Components and precision.
3. Robustness and serviceability


Here are three examples of high quality movements, in their own way:

The first, a Vacheron caliber 166 from the 40's, qualifies all three branches, but the finishing is the most obvious. Every edge of every piece of steel has been beveled and polished. Every surface has been worked.



The second has almost no finishing whatsoever (and in some ways is crude), and yet is an extremely well tuned Omega competition chronometre with, I assume, a Guillaume balance and all the trimmings, and therefore is an extremely high quality movement.


The third is a Longines caliber 30L. A movement well regarded in many ways, but its ease in serviceability and reliability has been testified by many watchmakers. This is also an indicator of a quality movement.

To me it's durability, accuracy and very much to a lesser degree, finish in that order.
I like to think that durability is aided by a higher jewel count ( not defined by the number of jewels) plating to the watch components and sensible design and build.

True that. But as for my question, the reason i gave the example of the seiko movements is to narrow it down. Both are time only non-hand finished watches but positioned as low end and high end on Seiko's then product line.

All wonderful answers. I especially liked the VC, Omega, and Longines movement. And to that I add one that I feel fits all the qualities mentioned above. Not very pretty, but dependable, rugged, and accurate. And that was always what a Rolex was supposed to be.