A confession

One year ago, if you were to ask me what country I would like my watches to hail from, I would have said Japan in a heartbeat. I would have mentioned the good value, the rich history and the good value again, in case you didn’t hear me the first time. I am now a convert.

When I started taking an interest in watches, I was of the belief that Swiss Made = Expensive. I have since learnt that that is not the case. I learnt that lesson with my Lucerne, which was only Swiss by technicality and wasn’t of the level of quality I imagined a Swiss watch to be. Shortly after buying my Lucerne, I took up watchmaking as a hobby under my local watchmaker who served (and continues to serve) as my mentor and a real life superhero. The first movement I ever disassembled, like my watchmaker when he was around my age, was a BFG 866. Not a good movement by any means, but it threw me in the deep end and taught me that, with watchmaking, you either learn patience and control your temper, or you die.

This planted the seed for a new idea: Swiss Made ≠ Expensive. The more vintage watches I looked at, the more accessible Swiss Made felt. I soon realised that having a Swiss watch wasn’t special at all; it’s quite the opposite, actually.

Once I had some more serviceable movements at my disposal, I became a better watchmaker. I have tinkered with many movements from a few nations. I played around with a Chinese Standard Movement/Tongji, which was fun and felt familiar, because the Tongji is a clone of the Enicar AR1010, so finding Swiss architecture in that movement wasn’t a surprise. I remember servicing a Citizen 63-1817 for a professor that I know, which had inside the lovely 1802 movement. The movement was Japanese, but felt as if it was Swiss. There was just something about how it came apart and went together. I believe that Citizen hired some Swiss engineers back in the day, so I’m not too surprised at the result.

For that same professor I serviced an automatic Citizen with the 8200A calibre. I didn’t enjoy it. Cost saving was a high priority and I’m sure they were good movements for the price, but I just hate how the automatic works was designed. The ETA approach of engineering reversing wheels and such adds cost, something the Citizen sought to correct by using as few parts as possible. The train wheel bridge and automatic module bridge is one part, leading to some confusion if disassembling without a service manual or guide. Putting it together was also a struggle for some reason. There are no doubt Swiss movements with worse design, but, (unit of currency) for (unit of currency), I believe that vintage Swiss does circles around vintage Japanese.

One could also argue that at this time, Japanese watches weren’t of the same quality as Swiss watches, but today is a different story. I won’t disagree; the Japanese have surpassed the Western world in the quality of cars and DVD players, maybe watches too. Those who are sucking on the teet of Grand Seiko like a leech with superglue on its lips will quickly babble on about Zaratsu polishing and better value for money. I won’t disagree with them on that point. I believe that in today’s age, Japanese watches probably are of the better new watches made. Now compare a 300 USD Seiko 5 to what 300 USD gets you when shopping for vintage Swiss watches. You’ll see what I’m saying. Watches have become expensive, which is why I’ll die on my hill saying that vintage Swiss jobbers are the best value. 300 USD gets you a virtually disposable 4R36 or the like if you shop with Seiko, whereas that money can get you a solid ETA, AS, or similar with change to spare. If you want to spend a little more, you can get a decent Omega, Tissot, or even Universal Genève. One could argue that with watchmakers charging what they charge today, an old ETA is no less disposable than a 4R. I’ve heard fairytales and horror stories alike about 4Rs. An old ETA is not an angel either and can also be a bit temperamental, but, in my experience, I have never had troubles with one. The same goes for my FHF and FE movements. The one AS movement I own was unloved and, as a consequence, a bit of a lemon, but it’s been going strong for a while now, despite a less-than-ideal life. My old Cyma movement runs far better than its age would lead one to believe.

In light of vintage Citizens and Seikos sometimes being the same price as vintage Swiss jobbers, I can’t see myself going East. The Seiko Bell-Matic might be the exception, because they are a generally a little bit cheaper than Swiss alarm watches. If I was buying a new watch, I’d probably also go Japanese, but, like I said in a previous post, I’ll probably never do that ever again.

Maybe I’m just so used to servicing ETAs and other Swiss movements that it’s second nature to me. Regardless, if someone asked me to design a watch to take on the apocalypse, you’d find an old ETA automatic inside a waterproof case. They’re indestructible, bar strong magnets and heavy shock.

I have no doubt that old Japanese watches are of good quality despite lack of sophistication and not always being too pleasant to service. To each their own and we all have our own loves. Value alone will mean that it’ll be a long time before I go Japanese. I’ll stick with old Swiss stuff for the foreseeable future, especially because they’re my bread and butter as a watchmaker.