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10 January 2009, 08:59 PM | #1 |
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What are the 10 best watch movements?
Hi fellow TRF members!
Anyone know what the 10 best watch movements are? Just curious to know if Rolex's 4130 movement has a place on (or near) the list. Thanks. |
10 January 2009, 09:13 PM | #2 | |
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The ETA 2892-A2, ETA 2824/2T chronometer grade, ETA Valjoux 7750,Unitas 6497/8,Omega 2500, JLC 889/2 , JLC 960, Longines 990 (Lemania 8815), PP 215, PP 240,Now the Grand Seiko 430 is one of best movements ever made IMHO.Others like the Zenith 400,Zenith 670, GP 3100 all excellent movements, plus there are many more.Would not call any modern movement made today best,whats best in one persons eyes is better in another's.But most movements today from Alpha to every day Seiko, Miyota and all the high end brands all have there place in todays horological world.
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ICom Pro3 All posts are my own opinion and my opinion only. "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop. Now is the only time you actually own the time, Place no faith in time, for the clock may soon be still for ever." Good Judgement comes from experience,experience comes from Bad Judgement,.Buy quality, cry once; buy cheap, cry again and again. www.mc0yad.club Second in command CEO and left handed watch winder |
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10 January 2009, 10:10 PM | #3 |
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I think the top ten should be some Vacheron Constantin, Patek Phillipe etc pieces of art! The rest are just simple (compared to high end grand complication watches) yet robust and reliable movements! Of course, with prices from 50k up to over a million, watches with grand complication movements are not for everyone!! Just my opinion and understanding!
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10 January 2009, 10:30 PM | #4 |
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Thanks for the nice info, Padi!!!
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10 January 2009, 11:08 PM | #5 |
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Interesting to understand OP definition of best.
Is it based on reliability, robustness, accuracy or level of adornment. As has been stated there are many great movements, but to high lite on as the best would need a set criteria to measure against.
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Why have what's new when you have what's best. f Last edited by f16570; 10 January 2009 at 11:08 PM.. Reason: spaces |
11 January 2009, 09:41 AM | #6 |
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Cal. 3135
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11 January 2009, 09:55 AM | #7 | |
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Would you believe, "eight"--?
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__________ *Sorry about that (quote) chief. Number One Son and I just watched "Get Smart" on DVD the other night, so it's top of mind.
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11 January 2009, 10:07 AM | #8 |
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rolex cal. 3130. and then a bunch of others...
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11 January 2009, 10:16 AM | #9 |
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Yeah
Since the 3135 is based on the 3130 (sans complication), I'd have thought it would have ranked higher by the criteria Stone stated in putting Rolex at number one:
The reason I came back to add this (thanks for the prompting, Cody) was because of the criteria. When folks argue "this is best" or "that is best," they often do so in isolation, not in combination w/ the other aspects of the total package that must perform.
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21 February 2010, 04:08 PM | #10 |
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If you are talking about chronographs only- Rolex 4130 is the simplest and most serviceable chronograph movement with least number of components in the category. That what I read.
Also I had my AD do the pressure test on my D serial 116520 today and before doing so I asked him to pop up the case back to see the movement. I was delighted to see the blue parachrome hairspring which is supposed to be antimagnetic and shock resistant than any other make ever. Now that makes 4130 best in the category :)
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21 February 2010, 04:29 PM | #11 |
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The criteria do have plenty to do with this thread. Some are accurate, and some, are art work. Some are more complicated, and others are solid work horses. I was surprised to see very nice movements in mid range watches such as Tutima, and Fortis. I'd be interested to know which is recomended in the basic price ranges of $2k & under, $6k & under, and $15K.
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21 February 2010, 04:30 PM | #12 |
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Can't offer an educated answer , however did find this nice link....
http://people.timezone.com/mdisher/a...135/3135_1.htm |
21 February 2010, 09:15 PM | #13 |
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The best movements are going to be found in : Patek, AP, VC and JLC--lot of good articles about it in different watch magazines--google it.
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21 February 2010, 09:30 PM | #14 | |
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ICom Pro3 All posts are my own opinion and my opinion only. "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop. Now is the only time you actually own the time, Place no faith in time, for the clock may soon be still for ever." Good Judgement comes from experience,experience comes from Bad Judgement,.Buy quality, cry once; buy cheap, cry again and again. www.mc0yad.club Second in command CEO and left handed watch winder |
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21 February 2010, 11:04 PM | #15 | |
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21 February 2010, 11:16 PM | #16 |
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Good choices so far....
If we're gonna say 3135 then we may as go for the 3186 instead which is pretty much the same with the extra GMT complication i think? In fact it's probably easier to just say the 31xx range. Other current newly released movements will have to include the Omega 8500 (not the 2500 as it's been too unreliable), and the Seiko spring Drive although I don't know enough about them to say which exact model is definitive in the range. On Chrono side we also have to consider the Piguet 1185/1285 which power a whole host of other manufacturers watches in various guises and must not forget the Lemania 1873 and the El Primero. |
22 February 2010, 12:38 AM | #17 |
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"Best" is an impossible criteria...
Best what? Accuracy? Durability? Beauty? Complication? Longevity? The "best" chrono movement I ever had was in an Omega SMP 2225.80 (cal 1164 - which is a modified V7750)- it was dead flat accurate for 6 months + - 0 (and kept that same variance when I ran the chrono for 2 weeks straight just to screw with it). "best" Rolex movement I've ever had was a 30 year old 1570 in a TT 1601 - same accuracy. My 3135 16613 is a solid +1 every 10 days or so - and has the benefit of being so well designed for service, durability, and longevity as to be the stuff of legend. Do any of these compare to the Patek cal 89 with 33 complications and 1728 parts? Nope. Is the Patek better? Not to me. (I would have to spend more for one service than we spent for our house) But for a $6,000,000 watch it has a pretty cool movement. I can understand how important it is to have your watch know what day Easter falls on. And those pesky Leap Years...I missed the last one, because my watch didn't self correct - and wrote the wrong date on all my checks for 3 years. Don't even get me started on missing the turn of the last 2 decades. If only my watch had alerted me.... Best? Impossible to define.
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22 February 2010, 04:40 AM | #18 |
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IMHO in their hay-day Longines made some very fine movement and the Longines twin-barrel movements were something I wish had survived in current production,a brilliant movement,but expensive to make. Calibre 890, 892 & 893 had stacked twin barrels where calibres 990 to 994 had side-by-side barrels in a movement only 2.95mm thick.Now back in those days the power reserve of 44 hours was respectable but not particularly impressive for a twin-barrel movement. Although I'm sure that if R & D had continued on this movement this would have been substantially improved.And would have put many a modern movements to shame,from any manufacturer or brand today.And yes back in the late 1950s 1960s Longines made some fine movements.I had one of the first flagship Longines with the Cal 30L a very nice movement.It went on to be developed into the Cal 340 and its variants up to the cal 345 12-line 19800BPH.But at this time many Swiss manufactures were in trouble and sadly the movement side of the business is now long gone but not forgotten by some.
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ICom Pro3 All posts are my own opinion and my opinion only. "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop. Now is the only time you actually own the time, Place no faith in time, for the clock may soon be still for ever." Good Judgement comes from experience,experience comes from Bad Judgement,.Buy quality, cry once; buy cheap, cry again and again. www.mc0yad.club Second in command CEO and left handed watch winder |
22 February 2010, 05:11 AM | #19 | |
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22 February 2010, 05:59 AM | #20 |
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Patek Star Caliber 2000.
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Rolex. The Rolex of watches. 16570 Expy2 Noir, 116710 GMT Master II, 2552.80 SMP |
13 December 2012, 07:21 PM | #21 | |
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My Rolex's are "best" but have NEVER been better than 10/15 seconds lost per day (even after being re-adjusted by Rolex). My Nomos Club is losing 5 seconds a day and has retained that accuracy for several weeks now. My wife has a Nomos "Tetra" which uses the same Nomos alpha movement and, that too keeps almost perfect time according to TIMEGMT!!! |
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14 December 2012, 01:30 PM | #22 | |
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I think most TRF posters claim +/- 2 sec/day with various Rolex calibres. Many are <1 sec/day off, including mine. |
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14 December 2012, 02:43 PM | #23 |
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rolex 1570 lasts forever,slower beat rate, but still chronometer and millions still going strong 40+ years later. It has stood the test of time imho.
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14 December 2012, 03:49 PM | #24 |
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IMHO, the best non-complication movements are:
Rolex 3135 Omega 2500 ETA Valjoux 7750 |
14 December 2012, 04:30 PM | #25 | |
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What's the thought on Panerai in-house such as the 8 day 2002?
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14 December 2012, 06:37 PM | #26 |
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Thank you but afraid Panerai is not my best subject although the 8 day movement is not something new.Back in the 1940s they used a Angelus 240 8 Day movement on the dive watches for Italian navy.But today like most brands who now have been forced to make there own movements instead of mostly using ebauche movements from ETA/Valjoux. Now they are all making them at a high original cost,its very expensive to develop and tool up to make a completely new movement.But once the original cost set up and with today's automation then you can make them at a high turn out rate.But still to a high standard of finish and accuracy as in theory all parts machine made should be the same other wise simply they would not survive in today's market.
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ICom Pro3 All posts are my own opinion and my opinion only. "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop. Now is the only time you actually own the time, Place no faith in time, for the clock may soon be still for ever." Good Judgement comes from experience,experience comes from Bad Judgement,.Buy quality, cry once; buy cheap, cry again and again. www.mc0yad.club Second in command CEO and left handed watch winder Last edited by padi56; 14 December 2012 at 09:14 PM.. |
14 December 2012, 07:15 PM | #27 |
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Great thread and posts here. Personally, I'm also still amazed by both the 40+ year-old 1570 (1575)s beating away so accurately and reliably in my vintage Rolex (1675 and 1680), so my vote would have to be for that one. I also have a 16600 which is currently being serviced by Rolex, and so I'm also very impressed with the 3135!
As most of us have, I've owned many watches over the years, including a couple of new Rolex, but mostly vintage (Omega and Heuer also), but the other one which stands out, for me, has been my humble TAG Heuer F1 - the original model, which I bought new in 1990. No-one has mentioned quartz movements here, yet, and although I much prefer auto/manual mechanical movements, I read somewhere that the movements used in the early F1 was one of the best quartz movements made, and certainly one of the best T.Heuer ever produced. Having seen images of recent ones, they don't compare. Not sure what it is - perhaps someone here knows? I don't have any photos, sorry. It's obviously very accurate, and has a substantial 'feel' about it when adjusting the hands/date. Not the 'cheap' feeling you often get with more modern quartz movements, if you know what I mean. Cheers all, K. |
14 December 2012, 09:58 PM | #28 | |
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Even with everything so dependent upon the definition of "best," I've always found this TZ article on the C.O.S.C. to be particularly praising of Rolex and their movements:
http://people.timezone.com/library/w...33384647656250 Quote:
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14 December 2012, 10:18 PM | #29 | |
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I know that they didn't start making their own movements until a few decades ago (thank you for the precision about the 1930's! ) and they still had Lemania based complicated movements in their timepieces recently (take, for instance, the 5970, the 5070 and all those recently discontinued models) but it memory serves their current collection, although it is very recent indeed, has completely homemade models. I'm just wondering if I missed a current model somewhere that still have a Lemania based movement. Thank you for the great answers Peter, I always learn new things whilst reading your posts! I think this part of your answer sums it up my friend! While reading the posts in this thread I know I personally couldn't decide if I considered a tough and reliable movement or a very complicated and finished one better!
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15 December 2012, 12:32 AM | #30 |
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Many interesting posts here, there is a lot more to learn
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