Not so torn anymore.

Went looking at some Swatch watches today. I looked at the “Windfall” in the store.
Three real deal breakers for me:
1) Looked at the watch critically today. The front is finished very nicely. The hands, meh. The back of the watch looks terrible. Very roughly machined with no polishing. I am sure they could justify this by saying it is to keep it on the wrist better, but the hard, sharp edges and rough grinding scream cost cutting to me. All of my Seikos are finely polished on the back and even between the lugs. Even my $65 Seiko 5 has all finely polished edges, even where you can’t see them.
2) Proprietary band/bracelet attachment. Some day I may want to change out the band. I would like to also be able to go to Target, Walmart, etc. to find a replacement. I did on my $30 Timex, and I can do the same for all of my watches except for one. I don’t want to have to go back to Swatch to get a new band. I could grind off the offending parts, which serve no purpose other to make the connection proprietary, but I shouldn’t have to. I am sure the cost a bit more as well.
3) A middling, at best, chronograph movement. I really hate the low end Swiss chronograph movements. The second hand ticks once per second, and the 1/10 second dial swings into position AFTER you have stopped the timer. Did I mention it SLOWLY swings to 1/10 of a second reading after you press stop? Like almost 2 seconds slow. This is really unacceptable. Seiko has either 1/5 second tick, which looks really cool, or they have a 1/10 of a second subdial that starts spinning the instant you press start, or they have a 1/10 1/100 of a second sub dial that starts the instant you press start. Thats right, that little hand is spinning at 600 RPM! The other issue is when you press reset, the Swiss movement jerkily and slowly swings back to zero. Seiko swings smoothly back to zero, and very quickly.
So, I am scratching Swatch off my list. Heck, even the “Cheap” TAG Heuers seems to have the same movement in their chronographs. Shame, really. Seiko is years ahead of them in quartz movements. They should be, they invented them.

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