picked up this big quartz Sea Dragon Chronograph this morning at a pawn shop for the price of a meatball sangwich (correct Italo-American spelling). it's a neat looking re-issue of the 60's-70's style swiss sports watches with a decent ETA quartz movement. I am very surprised at the quality of construction and especially the thick deeply engraved screw down case back. however the splash of colors on the dial and chrono hands are what caught my eye. very cheerful looking thing! I would highly recommend grabbing one for daily wear and/or a low priced travel watch as these things are priced cheap on the second hand market. a lot of wrist presence for peanuts which is very appealing to a cheapskate like me
The quartz is what kept me from getting one of those- just can’t do Quartz. They are great “looking” watch.
Nice pick up sir. Was that reissued under Fossil’s ownership already? I think Fossil doing a good job in harnessing Zodiac’s rich heritage. I like my Sea Wolf GMT. Like JwRosenthal, i would get a Sea Dragon Chronograph if automatic. Have been traumatized by quartz watches getting destroyed by battery leaks.
Do people have that many issues with exploding batteries? I also stick to mechanical or automatic these days but like Fred if I ran across one of those funky new zodiacs on the cheap I would have picked it up. Many of the quartz I do have are over twenty years old and still running fine. I did find one of my grandfathers ruined by a leaked battery but it was sitting for years after he passed in a draw. I know it’ll happen someday but I’ve never had one of my own quartz movements die or leak.
I know it's fun to be a purist and since watches are just a hobby it's ok to have preferences toward mechanical but there is something to be said for the myriad of kool quartz stuff out there and the usability is fantastic. heck when i'm on the go, or just plain lazy I grab a quartz tag or anything else I have that's currently showing the correct time and off I go for the day! the best thing about quartz as fun wearers is the reliability and ease of maintenance. oh...and if by some terrible outlier of a chance a leaky battery screws up the movement the entire movement can be replaced on the cheap. most are ETA powered and a brand new movement would cost much less than just one regular service on a mechanical watch. and...for what it costs nowadays to get a mechanical watch serviced a few fun quartz jobbies in rotation is quite appealing.