Watches at Cyberphreak.com

While Tiffany (the wifey) was getting her ring cleaned, I took a quick look at some Dakota watches at the Dakota Watch kiosk.

All of the watches are quartz (with 3 exceptions) but the quality seems pretty decent for the money.  I tried on this one:

It’s more a less a tactical watch.  It has black ion plating over stainless steel.  It has a pleasing matte finish and a surprisingly decent rotating bezel.  The tachymeter on the chapter ring is a little pointless, but it does not hurt the look of the watch.  Classic Mercedes hands actually work on the smaller face.  It comes on a nylon band and the whole package was $49.95 – 30%, so about $35.  The quality seems quite a bit better than a comparable Timex or Armitron in the same price range.  I was not able to test the lume, which is very important in a ‘tactical’ style watch.  It would make a great beater watch.

I also took a look at a submariner clone, but I have not found it on Dakota’s web site.  It did not have a rotating bezel, which was a big disappointment coming from the nice tactical watch above.  They also sold 3 different mechanical pocket watches, all of which were less than $50, after discount.  They also have an amazing amount of clip watches.  I don’t care for them, but some people just don’t like having a watch on their wrist for personal or allergenic reasons.  So, if you at a mall, check out Dakota.  They claim to use Miyota movements, so quality should be decent.  However, if anyone out there has a Dakota, let me know how they stand up to the rigors of daily use.

For an interesting watch blog to read, head over to a blog to read.com.

I swear, there is not a watch on there less than $2,000.  His ‘bargain’ watches are well over $1,000.  So, like I said, it is the opposite of this site.  I love watches, but I love staying married and having a nice home, so you won’t see watches I own over $500 on this site.

That all being said, the site is attractive, well written, and very entertaining.  You can drool over ‘timepieces’ you can never afford.  I really like the photos that compare a watch to something else, like an aircraft or automobile.

Edit:

Looking at Ariel’s site more, I do see quite a few watches he personally owns are less than $500, and he has pretty similar tastes to my own in terms of what he actually wears.  (Except for the digitals, never did like them ,even in the 80’s.)  All I can say is I wish I could try on some of those watches that he reviews.

Had some free time and I decided to take a look inside of my two quartz watches.  It seems like not many people take photos of quartz watch movements and I wanted to add a little to the internet.  The first one I opened was my trusty, 5M62 based Seiko Kinetic:

As you can see, the movement is well detailed with thick cast and stamped metal parts.  All the metal surfaces are machine tooled or bead blasted.  The movement has 6 jewels, 2 are used on the self generating system.  The rotor or uneven weight is identical to mechanical automatic watches.  What is different is in an automatic watch, the weight spins pretty freely, then comes to stop.  This rotor starts slowly and takes a second or so to stop moving and does so with a slow, braking looking motion.  This is somewhat to be expected since what it happening is the rotor turns, turning 3 reduction gears, then turns the rotor on the generator.  You can see the cap jewels for the reduction gears here:

From what I have read, the generator inside spins at up to 100,000 RPM!  I don’t there are many companies out there that can manufacture a generator less than a 1/4″ across and work at those speeds.  The coils you see are actually the stepper motor and generator for the watch.  I am quite surprised how large they are.  They should last damn near forever with that many winds to the coils.

The one on the left is the generating coil, the one on the top is the stepper motor coil.

In this photo you can see the power storage cell, which is a titanium lithium ion battery in a shock absorbing housing.  This is something I have never seen in a quartz watch.  I wonder if other high end quartz watches share this feature?  Speaking of quartz, around the 10 o’clock position you can see the quartz oscillator. It looks like a metal tube.  There are two companies in the world that make their own quartz crystals, ETA and Seiko.   I looked at the service manual for it and the watch actually uses 4 jewels in the gear train.  2 for the stepper rotor, 1 for the fifth wheel, 1 for the center wheel.  Most companies don’t bother with jewels on quartz watches, but it really does extend the life.  The entire movement is held is what looks like a hard, thermal set plastic, then shock mounted (using the brass springs you can see at the edges of several photos) in a soft set plastic spacer ring.  I, again, have never seen so much shock protection in a quartz watch.  The movement has a traditional metal base.  Many aspects of this movement show that this watch was designed by a company that began with mechanical watches.  With 61 individual parts and the level of workmanship displayed, I expect this watch to work for decades to come.

As a contrast, here are the guts of my Fossil watch:

Inside my Fossil Speedway is a Miyota OS10 no jewel quartz chronograph movement.  Who is Miyota?  Miyota is basically Citizen’s movement making division.  They sell to anybody who wants a quartz or mechanical Japanese made movement.  They are very respected in the watch making world and a godsend to low end watch makers.  They make robust movements at low cost.  If you don’t care about having a Swiss movement and it’s not a Seiko, it probably has a Miyota movement.

The movement is based on a gray, plastic base and covered with a thin metal plate.  There is not much to see here, the stepper motor and quartz oscillator are hidden.  The battery is held in place with a small, metal clips.  Dispensing with the tradition machined metal base is certainly a cost reduction.  The plastic movement is held inside of a soft, plastic spacer ring.  Of course, this is not a very fair comparison.  The Miyota is a low cost quartz movement, the Seiko 5M62 movement alone is over $150.  A better comparison is to the Seiko 7T62 quartz chronograph:

The workmanship is pretty similar.  The Seiko movement does cost a little more, and has quite a few more features like 1/5 second tick, alarm, and second time zone.  I am actually quite happy to know that my Fossil has a Miyota movement, made in Japan.  I hope they continue this trend.

It was neat to look inside some quartz watches.  They are remarkable machines, but I still like my automatics more.  They are great for people who just want to slap on a watch and not worry about it.

J. Springs Model BEB006

Here it is, my first J. Springs.  It is made by SII, Seiko Instruments, Inc.  J. Springs is short for Japan Springs.  SII happens to make all of Seiko’s springs and advanced alloys.  Every other watch manufacturer relies on Elnivar (an alloy and the name of a company) for the special metal used to the balance wheel spring of a watch.  Seiko being Seiko, makes their own version, called SPRON 300, in their own factories.  So if Elinvar goes bye bye, Seiko can still make mechanical watches.  So I digress, back to this particular watch.

This is the BEB006.  It is a diver’s style watch with an all stainless steel body and a 120 click, unidirectional bezel.  The watch is pretty substantial at 41.5mm in diameter and a whopping 14mm thick.  That being said, it wears well on the wrist, due to the well turned  down lugs:

As you can see here, it has a signed crown, which is unusual for watch at this price point (comfortably under $100.)  The body of the watch is a all brushed, with the crown and the bezel have a high polish.  The crown is at the conventional 3 O’Clock position, unlike Seiko 5’s and has large crown guards.  The watch does not hand wind, since it is a based on the Seiko 7S26B aka the Y676B.

The band and clasp are really exemplary for a a sub $100 watch.  The links are solid and the clasp is a signed push button with a safety clasp.  It does not pinch at all and does not grab hairs.  The bracelet is brushed except for the two bands.  It compliments the brushed and polished case well.

The face of the watch is very detailed.  It is a radiall sunburst with a grid of matte dots.  The hands are a classic style are filled with some Lumibrite.  The markers and hands have a high polish and are placed flawlessly.  The chapter ring has marking at 1/5 of a second intervals up to 20 seconds, then every ten minuted thereafter.   It makes a for a very modern look.  The crystal is domed and perfectly polished.

Features:
Case: 41.5mm diameter, 14mm thick, stainless steel, 100m water resistance.
Back: Hardlex exhibition back, screw down.
Crystal: Hardlex, domed.
Movement: Automatic, Y676N, Seiko in-house design, 21 Jewels. No handwind or hacking.  Based on 7S26B.
Complications: Day of week, Date
Other:  Lumibrite, 120 click unidirectional bezel..

Overall, I really like this watch.  It is surprisingly easy to read, even with silver hands and a silver face.  I think my only complaint would be the lume is pretty weak.  It glows brightly to begin with, but dims rapidly.  The watch is very accurate (+8 seconds a day) and although heavy, is not hard to wear all day long.  It’s a real keeper and a great find by Tiffany, my lovely wife.

You only get one chance at a first impression, so when I saw this watch, I thought it was very nice looking:

I really liked the way it looked, even though it violates my watch buying rules:

Always buy Seiko (or Orient, Lorus, J. Springs, or something owned by Seiko.)

Don’t buy Gold or Gold Plated

Don’t buy open heart watches.

Well, I violated the rules and bought it, a Lucien Piccard.   The fit and finish were very nice.  Chinese made, by the look of it.  22 jewel automatic, with hand winding , no hacking  It had a 24 hour and moon phase complication and a visible balance wheel.  It also had a small seconds hand.  Well, turns out the seconds hand was the cause of my problems.  I was looking at the watch the day after and saw the seconds hand stop, then jerk forwards.  Oh no.  Bad pinning of the seconds hand. Well, if you can’t get that right, what else will fail on the watch.  What happens when the seconds hand falls off and gets jammed in the balance wheel?  Well, I didn’t want to find out and I returned the watch the next day.  Crestfallen, I went looking for another watch in about the same price range.  Turns out Tiffany (my wife) spotted this one:

It’s a J. Springs BEB006 sports watch.  It’s made by SII, Seiko Instruments, Inc.  SII makes all the spring materials for Seiko, like SPRON 100, 300, etc.  J. Springs is common in the European and Japanese markets, but no so much here.  From what I have read, the quality is just as good or better than Seiko 5’s and Orients.  We shall see how it compares. It is 41.5mm in diameter and has a really eye catching look.  I know it also has a nice, solid link bracelet.  I think my review will be the first English language review, when I get it Monday, thank you very much United States Postal Service.

Here is a new feature for this blog, a book review!

Title: Practical Watch Repairing

Author: Donald de Carle, Illustrated by: E.A.Ayres

ISBN:978-1-60239-357-8 © 2008

Don’t be fooled by the copyright date, this book was originally written in the mid 60’s.  That being said, it is probably the best written book on mechanical watch repair.  It was written with starting your own watch repair business in mind, but that’s ok.  He goes through every tool you will ever need and even how to make parts from scratch!  This may be shocking to owners of throw away watches, but a mechanical watch can ALWAYS be repaired. (The only limiting factor is cost.)  This book is written well, but if you are not fascinated by watches, it will bore you to tears.  If you are a watch lover, it is a great way to learn a lot about how watches work.  Hey, someday when passing through a flea market, you may even pick up a beaten watch to repair, this book will show you how.  It is extensively illustrated with line drawings.  An illiterate person can learn how to repair a watch, that is how many illustrations there are!  There are tons of tips and tricks.  I wonder how many watchmakers started out reading this book?

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Store Review: Macy’s, Oakbrook, IL

Overview: Chain department store

Brands sold/spotted: Fossil, Nautica, TAG Heuer, Seiko, Citizen, many more.
Prices: Retail ($40 to $9000+)

Watch bands/bracelets sold there? No

Detailed Review:

This store has two watch sections, a fine watch and a fashion watch section.  The fashion watch section has a very wide selection and often has sales on most brands.  The sales staff is helpful and have a good knowledge of the product in their area.  Usually you never have to wait for help.  They have Fossil, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger (Macy’s Exclusive), and many more.  There are quite a few automatics in the $100 range as well.  This section gets 4 out of 5 stars.

The fine watch section has just awful customer service.  You can rarely get anyone to help you.  When you do, they seem rushed and would rather be selling fine jewelry.  Virtually no knowledge of the product, which is not good you are shopping for a ‘timepiece’.  Pricing is underwhelming, unless they are having a closeout sale.  The problem with closeouts is you can’t return the item.  One out of Five stars.

Got a flyer in the mail for Fossil and on the back cover they have some decent looking Speedmaster look-a-likes:
Basic Black:

And a neat green:

There is also a white one, but with white on white hands and dial, it is a little silly.  All three are $95, list.  It looks like a different movement on these watches, 60 minute chronograph with 1/20 second subdial.  I have not seen these in the store yet, but the styling looks very nice.  I like the hands, very simple stick hands for the hour and minute with a nice dot tipped second hand.  The bracelet looks very close to a Speedmaster/Omega style as well.  Ill be sure to check them out the next time I visit a Fossil store and report on the quality.