Originally Posted by
PeteHski
I have several mechanical and quartz watches. My oldest quartz is a 1999 Omega Speedmaster Pro X-33 and that is still working perfectly - obviously needs battery replacements every few years. I also have a solar powered G-shock that is around 15 years old and still going strong. My mechanical watches have been reliable too, but they are pretty crap at actually keeping accurate time!
My dad bought a Seiko quartz watch sometime in the early 80s. It was still going strong in 1999 when he died. The cheap quartz watches I had in the 80s all died within a few years like yours.
My newer Tissot automatic is now running within 30 seconds a month, my formerly working Tissot auto that was 47 years old when it croaked forever ran within 15 seconds a month, my dads 1963 Omega auto runs within 15 seconds a month, the crazy thing is I have my grandfather's old Illinois windup pocket watch from 1918 that runs within 5 seconds a month to this day! It runs that good after grandfather fell off a bridge he was working on went into a river with the watch! I think he must had taken the watch in to have it cleaned because it's real shiny inside, no corrosion, nothing. Now I do have a Seiko auto that I rarely wear, it runs about 4 minutes slow a month. I tried to open the back of the Seiko to correct the timing but couldn't get the back to budge.
Any automatic can be made to run as good as a quartz, and sometimes better, just depends on whether or not you take the watch to a jeweler and tell them you want the time to be adjusted so it's darn near perfect, and they can do it, might take a couple of weeks to make that happen, and they will of course charge you. Some auto watches instead of having a small lever that you can adjust the timing with are now coming out with a plastic module that has the timing already set by the factory and you can't change it supposedly, but then I heard you can, but it has something to do with moving a small weight around if I remember correctly. Don't ask me about more detail about the module because I'm not a watch repair person. One of my quartz watches ran about a minute off every month, which that particular watch kept worse time then any of my autos except for that Seiko. Since I don't wear the Seiko I'm going to take a vice grip and thick cloth and clamp the case, then try opening the back again, hopefully it won't break but if does not a big deal since I don't wear it anyway.