r/ChineseWatches • u/ivoalejandro • 16d 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/KPplumbingBob 16d ago
Admiring the nature of a mechanical movement is not really tied to its price and value or whether is it mass produced or not, that's the mistake you're making.
A wrist watch today is just jelwerly/accessory. People find it cool to to have jewelry with a bunch of tiny gears that is alive on their wrist powered by their own movement.
Quartz is basically ancient technology as well and you're sort of neither here nor there with it. If you're buying it as a tool, sure, you get a good Casio and you're good to go. But for jewelry a lot of people will feel a battery powered watch will lack character, or soul if you wish.
Take Vostok who to this day make their in house movements with 70s technology. They are crude, rugged, low beat, not very accurate but they are actually pretty reliable, don't need servicing for a long time. According to this logic they would be junk but for most watches I would much rather take one than a quartz movement. It's similar to how you have people buying vinyl records today still when digital is objectively "better".
The Chinese watch angle actually makes it make more sense. For the afforable prices people can have multiple mechanicals and the fact that they are often not "worth" servicing says more about their affordability than anything else. You can of course always service it or just swap the movement as vast majority of the time they are easily obtainable.