What time do you wear?

Brian – Maybe I’d take your admonition more seriously if you didn’t appear so officious yourself in your addressing and correcting “us” in your posts – along with your freedom to use presumption and assumption when convenient in addressing me. I also tire of the pissing match, however so succinctly I reply as follow -

I said my opinion was that performance should be the ultimate goal of a premium piece of hardware, and notwithstanding your attribution, YOU stated quite factually on Jan 14th-“no automatic watch will keep time as well as a $50 Timex”, so my opinion and your fact apparently agree, and I’d assume particularly so when comparing a very high quality quartz movement to a Timex.

And notwithstanding comments about reliablity, a local dealer told me today -“A Submariner should come in every 3-5 years for maintenance– it’ll cost $410 and take 10 days if we’re not backed up. An Aerospace should come in when the battery fails – cost $35, time 30 minutes”, and reliability was stated as “not an issue”.

So the probability is greater that a Rolex can be fixed if broken, however it’s also apparently more likely to break due to complexity, and it’s required to have frequent and costly maintenance. So for a substantial sum of money, you get something not as accurate as a Timex, that requires substantial additional cost and time for maintenance, and is more likely to require repairs.

OK, the attraction continues to elude me, but that’s just my opinion as I said. You do get a web site that dedicates 20% of its masthead to celebrities or “ambassadors” who wear them, and another 20% to sponsored events if that’s of interest to you though – not my cup tea. Thanks anyway.

Correct, I did say that an automatic movement is not as accurate as a quartz movement, in general; the part we seem to be missing it is that you freely bash Rolex brand as not being as accurate as a Timex, here I disagree. Just like your Brietling, Rolex makes quartz movements. If I kept saying Breitling isn't as accurate as a $50 Timex would you disagree? Breitling makes watches with automatic movements that will not be as accurate as a quartz Timex.

I don't argue the fact that an automatic can cost more to maintain over the years, but it can be maintained. That said, as for 3-5 years, the current state is more in the 5-10 realm. If something were to go wrong with the quartz movement, what are you going to do?

As I already mentioned, there is a healthy market for preowned mechanical watches, while there may be a market for certain quartz watches, it is small in comparison. Mechanical watches do a better job of holding their value as well.

It is clear that an automatic isn't your thing, that is fine, but for many people there is a lot of appeal to owning one; much like some people love a V-Twin motorcyle and others just don't get it.

You state that in your opinion performance should be the ultimate goal of a premium piece of hardware. Does Breitling miss this mark with their mechanical watches?

If accuracy is your biggest issue in owning a watch, you don't have to spend a lot of money.

If performance is what you are after, why spend 2 grand, there is no need.

Your reply to me makes no sense. "if you remember to move your wrist, while wearing an automatic?" Do you have problems with this? Seems to me someone that travels shouldn't have that issue. Leave the Ecodrive on the window sill? Yes, it's true a wrist watch is most effective on a window sill, instead of on my wrist wear I can see it.

Impress my friends? 90% of my friends don't know I own a Rolex. I didn't buy it for them, I bought it for me. As far as a Rolex being accurate most of the time... at the end of the day when I'm 1 or 2 seconds fast, I'm comfortable with that. I would love to know what your profession is that 1 or 2 seconds can make or break you. And, if it does, you sure don't have time to look at your watch.

BTW, contrary to your belief, accuracy is not the ONLY thing that makes up value.

Gees..... Sorry about starting the whole Rolex rant. I just wanted to point out that my Rolex, while I love it, is not all that spot on. You guys are much smarter than I am.

Thorton – The misquotation thing is starting to render this thread a bit juvenile, but OK, I’ll bite one final time.

I didn’t say ACCURACY was the ONLY thing that makes up value – check again - one last time –“I said my opinion was that PERFORMANCE should be the ultimate goal of a premium piece of hardware”. THAT’S MY OPINION – stated three times now. If your’s is different that’s OK, but I have a reasonable right to express my opinion OK? Gheeesh.

I define performance (again) as the fact that the thing has multiple other functions that are useful on a weekly, if not daily basis, being extremely light because of its titanium case/band, having a compact size, with back lighting making it fine for night use, immediately adjustable function displays, 100 meter depth, and being extraordinarily accurate making for a very HIGH PERFORMANCE, all around highly desireable piece FOR ME. OK? FOR ME.

You want something else – go get ‘em tiger – it’s your money and your opinion -we all have them as the saying goes, and no ones is necessarily correct.