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KaiseRRuby
路Yup, its all about repairness of the watch. I've seen lots of quartz watches from Omega which i really like, but my watchmaker really demotivates me to buy them, if they stop running its only usable as a paperweight.
Why are vintage Omega Quartz watches looked down upon?
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sheepdoll
路Interesting to revisit an old thread.
Quartz watches are repairable. Any watch will take time and expense to work on.
Often enjoy my ratquartz which this thread inspired.
Quartz watches are repairable. Any watch will take time and expense to work on.
Often enjoy my ratquartz which this thread inspired.
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KaiseRRuby
路Interesting to revisit an old thread.
Quartz watches are repairable. Any watch will take time and expense to work on.
Often enjoy my ratquartz which this thread inspired.
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ErichKeane
路One of the bigger issues seems to be the coil and stepper motor. For obvious reasons, manufacturers often put the battery near the coil, to the point that even a mildly leaking battery will hit the coil, and corrode away the wire pretty quickly. AND most watchmakers don't have the ability to re-wind it and want to be part-swappers (though, IMO, if quartz watches WERE actually shown to be valuable enough, I suspect we'd see people re-winding coils).
Second: the ICs used are often pretty esoteric by the time they break. Manufacturers don't seem to make them swappable and change packages for them pretty consistently. So finding a replacement for a acid-ed away IC becomes difficult. And re-making these things without spec sheets is near impossible.
However, I think the biggest problem is that quartz watches, even back in the 80s were seen as a reduction in quality as the race-to-the-bottom made even better manufacturers try to cut costs. Though older Seiko has made a resurgence (despite hitting 'disposable movement' prices), I don't see us getting there with quartz, at least until after people start consistently fixing Timex automatics 馃榾
And frankly, watches in general are in a troublesome spot: the market is even smaller now than 20 years ago. The "oh wow is that a Rolex!" bit isn't nearly as much of a thing (even to me, a '90s kid it was a vague thing), and "Oh wow, is that the latest Apple Watch?!" is their jam.
Second: the ICs used are often pretty esoteric by the time they break. Manufacturers don't seem to make them swappable and change packages for them pretty consistently. So finding a replacement for a acid-ed away IC becomes difficult. And re-making these things without spec sheets is near impossible.
However, I think the biggest problem is that quartz watches, even back in the 80s were seen as a reduction in quality as the race-to-the-bottom made even better manufacturers try to cut costs. Though older Seiko has made a resurgence (despite hitting 'disposable movement' prices), I don't see us getting there with quartz, at least until after people start consistently fixing Timex automatics 馃榾
And frankly, watches in general are in a troublesome spot: the market is even smaller now than 20 years ago. The "oh wow is that a Rolex!" bit isn't nearly as much of a thing (even to me, a '90s kid it was a vague thing), and "Oh wow, is that the latest Apple Watch?!" is their jam.
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KaiseRRuby
路One of the bigger issues seems to be the coil and stepper motor. For obvious reasons, manufacturers often put the battery near the coil, to the point that even a mildly leaking battery will hit the coil, and corrode away the wire pretty quickly. AND most watchmakers don't have the ability to re-wind it and want to be part-swappers (though, IMO, if quartz watches WERE actually shown to be valuable enough, I suspect we'd see people re-winding coils).
Second: the ICs used are often pretty esoteric by the time they break. Manufacturers don't seem to make them swappable and change packages for them pretty consistently. So finding a replacement for a acid-ed away IC becomes difficult. And re-making these things without spec sheets is near impossible.
However, I think the biggest problem is that quartz watches, even back in the 80s were seen as a reduction in quality as the race-to-the-bottom made even better manufacturers try to cut costs. Though older Seiko has made a resurgence (despite hitting 'disposable movement' prices), I don't see us getting there with quartz, at least until after people start consistently fixing Timex automatics 馃榾
And frankly, watches in general are in a troublesome spot: the market is even smaller now than 20 years ago. The "oh wow is that a Rolex!" bit isn't nearly as much of a thing (even to me, a '90s kid it was a vague thing), and "Oh wow, is that the latest Apple Watch?!" is their jam.
Beautiful. But if it needs a service from IWC it will cost 960 euro. Thats half the value. Another watch i was keen to get my hand on but didn't but it is the JLC Master Quartz cal 352. Lovely watch, but with a plastic wheel inside the movement, almost impossible to get a good one because the wheels dry out.
Lots of the old Omega quartz watches need to return to Omega HQ for a service, so almost every time the quartz watches will cost a lot, no ordinary watch maker will service them.
This is from what i have heard from my watchmaker, but @Archer (if you don't like being tagged, let me know, i will not do it again) can tell more about these cases, if he feels like.
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ErichKeane
路I agree. Then there is the more niche market, the meccaquartz for example. I have this watch:
Beautiful. But if it needs a service from IWC it will cost 960 euro. Thats half the value. Another watch i was keen to get my hand on but didn't but it is the JLC Master Quartz cal 352. Lovely watch, but with a plastic wheel inside the movement, almost impossible to get a good one because the wheels dry out.
Lots of the old Omega quartz watches need to return to Omega HQ for a service, so almost every time the quartz watches will cost a lot, no ordinary watch maker will service them.
This is from what i have heard from my watchmaker, but @Archer (if you don't like being tagged, let me know, i will not do it again) can tell more about these cases, if he feels like.
Frankly, we're hitting the point where if you can't service it yourself, or it isn't a particularly valuable vintage watch, its a lost-cause which is really sad. Quartz watches just have it that much worse with fewer having 'particularly valuable' status, and being harder to repair.
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Dan S
路That is 2^16 - 1, so I'm guessing the counter maxed out at some point and you actually have more.
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Archer
路路Omega Qualified WatchmakerLots of the old Omega quartz watches need to return to Omega HQ for a service, so almost every time the quartz watches will cost a lot, no ordinary watch maker will service them.
This is from what i have heard from my watchmaker, but @Archer (if you don't like being tagged, let me know, i will not do it again) can tell more about these cases, if he feels like.
Some watches might just need a clean and oil, but the difficulty is that you don鈥檛 necessarily know what the movement might need until you get into it, and if you find it needs a part Omega won鈥檛 sell, you either have to eat the cost of whatever time you have put in, or charge the customer for nothing.
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ErichKeane
路That is 2^16 - 1, so I'm guessing the counter maxed out at some point and you actually have more.
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Archer
路路Omega Qualified WatchmakerThat is 2^16 - 1, so I'm guessing the counter maxed out at some point and you actually have more.
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sheepdoll
路It's not totally true. In some movements, Omega used plastic parts and they are out of stock. The plastic wears out, and its impossible to find replacements.
Edit: feel free to send me gratis any unrepairable worthless Omega, Heuer or Tissot watches or movements 馃槈 I can always use the practice.
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KaiseRRuby
路That is 2^16 - 1, so I'm guessing the counter maxed out at some point and you actually have more.
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KaiseRRuby
路I have access to a fiber laser and microelectronics rework. As usual I am being abstract here. I did not say that they were cost effective to repair. Only that they could be repaired. It is basically a mater of motivation.
Edit: feel free to send me gratis any unrepairable worthless Omega, Heuer or Tissot watches or movements 馃槈 I can always use the practice.
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ErichKeane
路How, how, how... How do you know this??
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