Watch The Watch

Macro photograph of watch movement components

ETA Valjoux 7750 Explained: Specs, Why Chronographs Are Big and Cam vs Column Wheel

Designed in 1973 and still the default mechanical chronograph. If you own a mechanical chronograph that did not cost as much as a car, you almost certainly own a 7750 or something derived from it. It was designed in 1973, survived the quartz crisis that killed most of its contemporaries, and became the default answer […]

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Miyota 8215 Movement Explained: Specs, the No-Hacking Catch and How It Compares

Movements

In production since 1977 and still going. The Miyota 8215 is probably the reason you can buy an automatic watch for under a hundred dollars. It is made by Miyota, which belongs to Citizen, and it has been in continuous production since 1977. Almost half a century of the same design has driven the cost

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Seiko 4R36 Movement Explained: Specs, Accuracy and Watches That Use It

Movements

The movement inside most Seiko 5 Sports and many Prospex divers. For years the cheapest way into a real mechanical watch had an irritating catch. Seiko’s entry automatics could not be wound by hand and could not be stopped to set the time precisely. The 4R36 fixed both. It arrived around 2011 to replace the

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Sellita SW200-1 Movement Explained: Specs, Accuracy and How It Compares to the ETA 2824

Movements

The most common Swiss automatic you have never heard of. Open the caseback of almost any Swiss automatic between five hundred and three thousand dollars and there is a good chance you are looking at a Sellita. The brand rarely appears on the dial. It sells movements to other watch companies, which is why it

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Fossil vs Michael Kors: The Owner and the Licensee

Comparisons

Fossil Grant chronograph and Michael Kors Lexington. This is the comparison the whole fashion-watch category has been circling, and it has the simplest answer of any of them. Fossil Group makes both watches. It owns Fossil and it licenses Michael Kors. One of those arrangements costs money and the other does not, and the retail

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Rado vs Tudor: Material Against Mechanics

Comparisons

Rado True Thinline in ceramic and Tudor Ranger in steel. This pair separates two things buyers usually assume go together: how good a watch is and how good it looks after five years. Tudor wins the first comfortably, with a COSC-certified manufacture calibre. Rado wins the second by a margin nothing else at this price

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Oris vs Longines: Independent Against the Group

Comparisons

Oris Divers Sixty-Five and Longines HydroConquest. This is the closest comparison in mid-luxury Swiss watchmaking, because the two brands land at nearly the same price from completely different structures. Longines belongs to Swatch Group, the largest movement maker in Switzerland. Oris belongs to nobody and has been independent since 1904. Oris answers with a ten-year

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Movado vs Skagen: What Provenance Costs

Comparisons

Movado Museum Classic and Skagen Signatur. Both of these watches remove everything they can from the dial. Both run quartz. Both are honest about being design objects rather than machines. One costs about $650 and the other about $78. The gap is not build quality, it is provenance, and whether provenance is worth eight times

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Diesel vs Michael Kors: Scale Against Polish

Comparisons

Diesel Mega Chief and Michael Kors Lexington. Two fashion watches from the same manufacturer, aimed at opposite instincts. Fossil Group builds both under licence, so the movements and crystals are shared. Diesel sells scale. Michael Kors sells polish. Neither is pretending to be watchmaking, which makes this a cleaner comparison than most. There is also

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Longines vs Rado: Movement or Material?

Comparisons

Longines HydroConquest and Rado Captain Cook. These two brands share a parent, a movement supplier and a price bracket, and almost nothing else. Longines sells watchmaking: exclusive calibres, an archive going back to 1832, classical proportions. Rado sells a material, and spends its engineering budget on ceramic instead of movements. Both arguments are legitimate, and

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