Author Topic: Automatic vs Quartz: Pros & Cons  (Read 5155 times)

Offline pandabad

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Automatic vs Quartz: Pros & Cons
« on: October 20, 2018, 07:15:43 AM »
Hi All,

Wanted to seek your views on automatic and quartz movement - their pros and cons.

Also, why despite each having their own merits, automatic watches are more sought after and able to retain their value better. Asking more from context of Swiss watches

I can think of few:

Quartz :
Pros -
1. Lower cost  to maintain
2. Higher accuracy
3. Lower entry for those aspiring to acquire a Swiss made watch

Cons -
1. Inconvenience on need to change battery  (especially when you didn't realize it will run out and you have no other watches )
2. Depreciates quite significantly

Automatic:
Pros-
1. Able to run virtually all the time  (less concerns on it not running when you need to use them)
2. Better demand  (especially in pre-owned market)

Cons
1. Costlier to maintain and service
2. Not as accurate  (save perhaps those within chronometer standards)

Happy to hear your views!

Offline Steen

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 18
Re: Automatic vs Quartz: Pros & Cons
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2019, 11:21:19 PM »
Agree on your points - the advantages of automatics are technology and reliability and I suppose the main difference in them is price and reliability and resale as quartz is a dying breed.

Offline dexson

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 256
Re: Automatic vs Quartz: Pros & Cons
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2019, 07:11:16 AM »
For my 2 cents worth,

Mechanical watches offers emotional values & quartz watches offers practical values.

Im being general here as a whole. No doubt any watch can also fall into that emotional part.

Offline tannitech

  • Freshie
  • *
  • Posts: 30
Re: Automatic vs Quartz: Pros & Cons
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2019, 07:26:02 PM »
Added some of my thoughts in blue:

Quartz :
Pros -
1. Lower cost to maintain (depends, for calculative measures, I would take the battery cost/watch price to see how many % it costs to decide whether the maintenance cost is cheap/not cheap. This could matter for those who prefer to let the service center to replace their battery instead of walking into a normal shops.)
2. Higher accuracy
3. Lower entry for those aspiring to acquire a Swiss made watch (yeap, e.g. one could reach Tag F1 within a retail price of 6k vs the 5-digit automatic, quite a gap)

Cons -
1. Inconvenience on need to change battery  (especially when you didn't realize it will run out and you have no other watches ) (This is a good point, and battery replacement is going to happen almost every 2 years. If you are bringing back to the service center: the whole process of queuing and waiting for the process to complete could take 1-2 days if the service center is crowded like the one at Wisma Goldhill. For working adults who might not be able to simply take a day out of their weekday schedule for this and can't stand not having a watch on their wrist, this may be annoying.)

2. Depreciates quite significantly

Automatic:
Pros-
1. Able to run virtually all the time  (less concerns on it not running when you need to use them)
2. Better demand  (especially in pre-owned market)

Cons
1. Costlier to maintain and service
2. Not as accurate  (save perhaps those within chronometer standards)

Offline nelson_ling

  • Freshie
  • *
  • Posts: 37
Re: Automatic vs Quartz: Pros & Cons
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2019, 08:32:33 AM »
In my opinion, i like automatic watch due to the history, building process incurred that would bring lead them to run for years. Especially when see thru back case is always a plus point for me

Offline AKM

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 24
Re: Automatic vs Quartz: Pros & Cons
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2019, 08:52:23 PM »
If you plan to keep wearing the watch all the time, go for automatic. If you don't wear the watch frequently, and perhaps use it once a week, quartz is a good option as it keeps the time even when kept in your drawer.