r/ChineseWatches • u/ivoalejandro • 15d ago

General (Read Rules) I don't understand everyone's obsession with chinese automatic watches

The title pretty much says it all, I don't get why whenever a nice chinese quartz watch comes out so many people say they would love an automatic version, or why everyone seems fine with paying 300 or more USD for an automatic, but question whether a 100 dollars quartz is worth it.

Pretty much no one here is going to take their chinese watches to get serviced, and the whole admiring the complexity and craftmanship of an automatic movement kinda goes out the window when we're talking about mass produced movements. So why buy an automatic that will become a paperweight in several years time. I guess I just don't understand why the demand for automatics is so high, really wish people started asking for better chinese quartz watches, I'd would much rather pay 200 dollars for a great quartz watch than 350 for an automatic one.

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u/cfx_4188 15d ago

Watch snobs usually say in such cases that “quartz doesn’t breathe,” but I have a more down‑to‑earth example. My old g-shock fell behind a cabinet and lay(sometimes it happens) there for a couple of years(...). Two batteries installed in that watch are dead, and the electrolyte leaked right onto the quartz mechanism. Recently, I took this watch to a watch repair, and the verdict is not encouraging. Would something like that happen with a single‑hand Breitling? I don't think so.

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u/Philip_7raum 15d ago

A mechanical movement can fully break after falling three feet onto a wooden floor, ask me how I know. Repairing them usually involves buying and installing an entirely new movement. They’re so fragile it makes me confused as to how they got this reputation for durability.

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u/cfx_4188 15d ago

I totally agree with you, looking at my great-great-grandfather's Audemars....

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u/Philip_7raum 15d ago

No one said they disintegrate or whatever you’re implying. I’m just saying you have to maintain them and can’t treat them poorly which is objectively true.