I am interested in getting a watch that does not use electricity. Either the type you wind or one that natural motion (shaking) winds it.
What I would like is some brand suggestions and price range I should be looking at, I would like to get one that has the date also.
Additional factors is how accurate are these watches and how often do you have to wind it of shake it to keep it running?
Thanks
Well, I’m no watch expert but I do own a watch like you described. FWIW here’s my experience.
My watch is a Rado (a very old Swiss brand) which my dad bought somewhere in the seventies. I’ve had it for some twenty years now. It has a hand for the seconds, and counters for day of the month and day of the week. I wear it during the day and take it off when I go to bed, I never have to actually wind it. I don’t intentionally shake it either. Just normal arm movements apparently give it enough kinetic energy to keep running.
I’ve been told I should have it cleaned every couple of years (3-5 years?). That’s mainly for cleaning (=removing dust that piles up inside) I’ve had that done several times but have been too lazy for doing that lately. The result is that the accuracy decreases. Nowadays it’s a couple of minutes late per week. I just set it to the correct time when I see a reliable clock (i.e. when I’m at the railway station).
Even with its current relative inaccuracy I’m very happy with it; I prefer a mechanical watch to an electronic quartz one.
For prices I’d suggest to try peeking in the display of a jeweler/watchmaker or use the 'Net.
Citizen has been advertising its “Eco-drive” line of self-winders. Bulova also makes them. Those are both solid brands that have been around a long time.
My understanding is that they will run for several days before stopping, when not worn. I’d expect them to be as accurate as a comparably priced mechanical watch that does require winding, but less accurate than a quartz driven movement.
As I recall, DrLizardo is in the jewelry business. Perhaps he’ll have more info.
Investigate a 1960-1970’s Omega self-winding which has been cleaned and redone. A stainless version might be findable for $150-250 from a used vintage watch dealer. The advantage of getting such a watch is that it will have some resale value, where most current watches, such as a Citizen will have little or none. Just a point to consider.
For manual or automatic (i.e., self-winding; has a weight in back that spins around as you move your wrist, thereby winding the watch “automatically”) There are as many brands and price points as you would care to imagine, especially including used watches. You can pay under $100 for some brands and of course, mechanical watches are the ultimate expression of watch craftsmenship, so you can pay tens of thousands of dollars, too. So you will have to fill us in with a little more info before we can offer brands. If you are willing to spend $400 - $500, the Victorinox Swiss Army brand has some automatics that are fairly well made for the price, and accurate - you could probably get them even cheaper on eBay or via an online discounter.
Manual winds must usually be wound every day. Automatics can go for a few days before being rewound, usually - I have one with a “fuel gauge” on it so I can tell how low on winding it is.
I love mechanical watches - precise and cool.
Idealy WordMan I would like to spend $9.95 for a watch that has to be wound 1x /month, lets me know if I forgot to wind it, is accurate to 1 second per century and makes me a cup of coffee every morning - but that ain’t going to happen.
I am hoping I can get a decent one for under $200, but willing to go a little higher if that’s what it takes. I am not too conserned with resale value and not too conserned with name brand. My main factors is ease of use, durability, accuracy and price.
I have a number of mechanical watches, most are now long out of production, but some are still available as current manufacture. Some of the ones produced in Russia are decent quality for the money as far as I can tell, not an expert. I have had a Vostock and 2 Polyot chronographs that have been the only ones I use for 4 years. All three are mechanical wind, I wind and set the one that will be used for the day when I put it on in the morning and it will be within several seconds for the rest of the day. Unless you are relying on it for celestial navigation or some such application this should be close enough. Look on eBay lots available to choose from, and not too expensive. Just be warned they are habit forming.
I normally wear a Rolex GMT Master II. It’s unhip and unstylish, so it doesn’t appeal to the in-crowd. It’s stainless steel, so it doesn’t appeal to the polo shirt and chino crowd. It’s price is based on its name, rather than its function. But it’s big and heavy, so I like it. It keeps very good time, gaining a couple of seconds per day. I like the 24-hour hand that I have set to GMT. It’s more than $200, but it will last longer than I do. I also have a couple vintage Submariners that I intend to post on eBay one of these days.
The other watch I wear regularly is a 1974 Seiko Bell-Matic. You can get these for about $75-$150 depending on condition, and they have an alarm.
A very nice watch that I’d like to get is the Omega Speedmaster “Moon Watch”. There are two versions: the manual-wind like the ones used by NASA, and the automatic movement. I think you can get these for about $1,800.
I like WordMan’s advice to buy a good-quality vintage watch. Vintage watches are more interesting than modern ones IMO and they can be had without much expense even if you have to have them cleaned and serviced. My favourite inexpensive vintage watches are the Seikos from the early 1970s.
I have my dad’s early-1950s Zodiac. Remember the “Zodiac Killer”? He’d sign his letters with the circled cross of this brand. They have some interesting automatic watches, both new and vintage. Dad’s Vulcain Cricket is a plain stainless steel watch that looks very nice. It has a loud alarm feature. I don’t wear it though, since I have enough trouble keeping two watches wound.
I don’t know about $9.95, but I’ve had a couple of self-winding Seikos that weren’t too outrageously priced that kept good time. I beat them to death though. I’e got a Cartier self-winding now that doesn’t keep time quite as well as the Seiko quartz electric it replaced, but it does well enough, and I like it.
Definitely go for self-winding over wind-it-yourself.
I’ve had an Oris BC3 Day Date with the 35mm black face and steel bracelet for about three years and I’m very happy with it. I wear it seventeen hours a day which definitely keeps it wound and it’s accurate enough for me. They reckon it’s -5 to +30 seconds a day but I think it’s a fair bit more accurate than that.
Citizen’s Eco-Drive watches use light for energy and are not generally thought of as self-winders. Depending on the model, one of these watches will run accurately for several months to over a year on a full charge (not hard to achieve).
I have an Eco-Drive that keeps time perfectly with my (admittedly nerdy) radio controlled clock. Mine was around a $100 but you’d probably spend a little more.
Bulova does not make any non-battery watches, aaaand, IMHO, Bulova’s watches are as crappy today as they were good years ago.
How does a mechanical watch get the power to drive an alarm?
Also the Citizen eco-drive is a solar/battery watch, I want a fully mechanical - no battery, no electricity at all. I want one that will work after it is exposed to an electromagnetic pulse weapon - this isn’t the reason I want one but just describes the type I want.
ringo
I don’t understand, how can a self winding be a quarts (which I assume is electric)?
When i get some money again, I’d really like to get a pocket watch that i can wind.
The Seiko quartz electric was not one of the Seiko self-winders.
It’s a spring. When the alarm goes off, the spring powers a striker that rapidly hit the watch case. Think of the old wind-up alarm clocks with the bells on top. Same thing, except no bells. The sound is like a rattle or a buzz. The Vulcain Cricket has a resonator on the watch back that makes it even louder, although the Seiko Bell-Matic is loud enough to get your attention if you’re awake and will wake you up if you’re attuned to it. After you’ve used the alarm, you need to wind it up again.