A year or so back I ran across a sale on quartz Chronographs. Citizen, Bulova, Caravelle and Seiko quartz chronographs are very reasonably priced even when not on sale.
There's a sale on factory refurbed Caravelles right now at $29.99 with free shipping.

I'm wondering about utility and durability. Not expecting anything other than a tool watch with no expectation of it ever being collectible or having much if any resale value.

Any account of hands on experience with the available brands would be of interest.
Any account of older models and recent improvements would also be of interest.

 

It really depends on the quartz movement. Some only have 30 minute counters, so if you want to time more than that, you are out of luck. Many Seiko quartz chronos have a smooth ticking seconds counter, while most Swiss Quartz chronos move at 1 sec increments. If you can find a watch with the ETA 251.262, it mimics the Lemania 5100 movement and uses a central minute counter instead of a subdial — I find that is a lot easier to read than a sub dial. It also has a jumping hour hand. The watch I use to time runs uses this movement and I’ve had it for more than 10 years.

 

Had a Tag SLE chronograph since the 90s that works well. Split lap timer and never had a issue in over 20 years. Most precise watch I have ever owned.

Only comment is it’s like all watch movements there are basic ones and excellent ones.
Find what movement they have and look into them

 

I have had a Tag quartz chrono diver with the DD module since 1985.
It's been pretty useful these past 34 years.

 

This probably isn’t the type you’re speaking of, but my Seiko quartz chrono has served me well for 30 years. A year or two after I got it, a pusher fell out, but they repaired it and it’s been fine since. The gold plating is pitted with age but that’s to be expected.

 

Haven't found the exact model of movement used in these caravelles though its apparently a Japanese movement.
I'd read that modern Bulova watches are connected with Citizen, so it might be a Citizen movement.
In any event I couldn't pass it up at that price.
Its listed as a 44mm case but I'm hoping that includes the crown. I don't much care for large watches, but I doubt I'd wear it much anyway, not on a daily basis for sure.
If I don't like it I'll give it to a nephew that has larger wrists than mine for Christmas. Here's an image.

 

I spent years collecting Seiko’s with a 7T32 movement. Alarm and chronograph which has been reliable over the last 28 years since I bought it in 1991! Various shapes, sizes and colours that mostly seem too small for me these days.

 

@JimInOz has a great series ...”On My Bench” . Recently he rebuilt a vintage Seiko quartz chronograph movement. I think it will answer your essential question as to wether or not these are serious watches. They certainly are.
In my case, I owned a few Seiko chronographs in my youth. They served well but I was hard on them.

 

This 7T32 has been a workhorse for 22 years

 

Old and much newer Heuer, both haven't missed a beat. I would say the older quartz models have a good following now and are well worth collecting (in the right condition). Apologies for the awful pic.

 

And You can't beat an old Seiko for value, with loads to choose from on the bay.

 

Still gathering info on this Caravelle.
Apparently all Bulova products and sub brands are ordered as a complete watch from the same country that supplies the movement, so this will be a 100% Japanese made watch.
I'm still guessing its basically a Citizen made product or from one of their sub contractors.
The seller is a licensed Bulova dealer with 100% positive feedback and the factory refurbished watches come with all the boxes and papers along with a factory warranty.
I've bought factory refurbished air guns in the past and found they are more likely to be mechanically perfect than one ordered new.
The price on these refurbs is insanely low for such a watch.
Its not unlikely that they are discontinuing this particular model since they list a number of very similar newer models. That would explain them wanting to get rid of those still in stock.

From the images I would expect the basic case is not much if any bigger that 38mm but with crown and pushers along with the unusual shelf like protuberance on the other side it would measure the full 44mm. It should wear smaller, or so I hope.

I'll consider this my entry level chronograph. Perhaps I'll get the bug and move up to a more sophisticated watch later on.

 

Difficult to lump all quartz chronographs together to decide if they are useful or not...they vary a lot in what they are capable of, and how they operate, so it really comes down to specific choices.

Are you after something digital? That would likely prove the most "useful" of the options and giver the most variety of functions.

Then there are full quartz analog chronographs (like the one in Jim's servicing thread linked above), which are common. These are designed so that every sub-dial hand has a separate motor to drive it, and these offer a range of features typically. These are watches where the sub-dial hands can be "zeroed" by using specific crown positions and pressing buttons in specific orders to step the motor forward one tick as a time for each individual function.

But there are also quartz chronographs with fully mechanical chronograph sections. So like a mechanical chronograph, the chronograph function is driven off the main source of power for the watch (the main motor that drive the hour/minute hands), and the reset is all done via cams and hammers like say a Speedmaster Pro. These tend to offer the most basic of functions, similar to what you find on a basic mechanical chronograph, and I would suggest are probably going to be the most expensive to service of the 3 general types I've outlined.

Cheers, Al

 

Update
I ordered the Caravelle refurb and it arrived about two hours ago.
I was pleasantly surprised to find this big honking watch (44mm across smallest diameter by 48.5mm across the overhang to crown) actually rides on the wrist like a much smaller watch. No exaggeration.
The shelf or ledge opposite the crown acts as a counterweight and stabilizer. With bracelet loose enough to compensate for the usual swelling and shrinking of my bum left wrist the stability is much better than almost any smaller watch. The lugs are turned down quite a bit so the bracelet snugs the flat caseback down on the wrist nicely.
The Bracelet is very nice with two different length links to allow more accurate adjustments. Not clunky at all and light weight for its size. The only objection is the ends of the links which are normally not seen look a bit rough.
Looks like I'll be wearing this one much more often than I'd figured on doing.
The Chronograph function works fine though I'd rather the sweep second hand had been the actual stop watch hand rather than the tiny sub dial hand which is obscured by minute or hour hands at certain times of day. This is only partly made less a problem by the skeletonized portion of these hands above the lume.
Haven't put the lume to the duration test yet, but its there and the hand and marker lume shows up very well against the black dial in low light.

The Bezel seems to be decorative only. A mild disappointment. If one were to pay the full SRP for this watch ( in the neighborhood of 150-200 USD) they'd probably feel ripped off but for the 30 Bucks I paid for this refurb I'm much more than just satisfied with my purchase.

 

Old Seiko quartz chronographs is the way to go. Not too expensive but will serve you well. My father gave me a Seiko V657 back in 2001 and it has never failed me, even when I would sometimes operate the chronograph underwater (I was a foolish boy who knew nothing much less cared about about watches). All I have to do is change the battery from time to time and it still ticks away like a charm.

I wouldn’t get with the new “mecha-quartz” movements from Seiko. Depending on the quality control, the seconds hand sometimes fails to center exactly at 12 and you can’t manually set it (as explained above by Archer). If that doesn’t bother you, I think the Dan Henry Gran Turismo 1964 is a nice watch that comes in a great size, but I’m partial to vintage sizing and beads-of-rice bracelets.

 

I recommend the Seiko 7A28 and 7A38 series of chronos. They're collectible and have split-second functionality.