# What'S The Most Accurate Mechanical Watch For 120-150 Pounds?



## Guest (Jul 19, 2010)

Can be from any country. Doesn't have to be new. Condition must be good to mint (so you can't nominate something super-accurate normally worth hundreds, and say that you're talking about a beaten up old version with the face falling off to squeeze under the price limit. ).

Please state expected accuracy in terms of average plus/minus gain/loss per day.

...Go!

edit: Bonus points for nominating something that looks simple and uncluttered rather than something bristling with buttons and tachymeter dials etc.


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## dombox40 (Oct 20, 2008)

Well I suppose you would say this is mechanical to a certain extent and accurate and if you were lucky you could pick one up for Â£150 accurate to 1sec a month.


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## kc104 (May 1, 2009)

You could have a number of Seiko 5's for that money, or seiko diver + Monster - all quite accurate. My Orient was not to bad either.

If you wanted real accuracy you would want to look at a radio controlled model (not auto though).


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## Guest (Jul 20, 2010)

To be dead clear: mechanical here means mechanical as opposed to electrical. To me this means that the watch must be powered from a spring wound either by hand or by an auto rotor.

Thanks for the replies though.

Also, everyone else don't forget "*Please state expected accuracy in terms of average plus/minus gain/loss per day.*" :thumbsup:


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

A good, MoD issued and properly serviced, CWC G10 WWEGS should be good for +3 seconds a month, or a lot less if worn daily and kept to temperature.

For sixty quid from Anchor, or from Roy when he has them, you wonâ€™t get a better watch for the price. Changing the cell is a piece of p*** too.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Om_nom_nom_Watches! said:


> To be dead clear: mechanical here means mechanical as opposed to electrical. To me this means that the watch must be powered from a spring wound either by hand or by an auto rotor.
> 
> Thanks for the replies though.
> 
> Also, everyone else don't forget "*Please state expected accuracy in terms of average plus/minus gain/loss per day.*" :thumbsup:


Sorry, I misunderstood your mechanical requirement. Ignore my post regarding the G10, it may not suit your taste. :wink1:


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## Guest (Jul 20, 2010)

NP. 

I don't know anything about the watch that you mentioned, but I thought someone just might have made a watch with a mechanical movement and electrically powered illumination system, so I didn't just assume that you'd misunderstood me just in case.


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## w provence (Apr 25, 2010)

I have a hand wind Unitas mov't, it is very accurate. I wind every morning and it is dead on with my phone..............Bill




























They can be had with Swiss movt's for what your asking...............Bill


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## clockworks (Apr 11, 2010)

Anything with a genuine ETA 2824-2 movement. New prices range from less than Â£200 to more than Â£2000, so search eBay for "2824" and see what takes your fancy.

With careful regulating (easy to do with the 2824) you should achieve +/- 5 seconds a day.


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

I have this one, no idea what powers it but surprisingly for a cheapish fashion watch timekeeping is spot on and has the added bonus of the separate 24hr function.


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## Andy the Squirrel (Aug 16, 2009)

This thread is going to be flooded with cheap chinese mechanical watches!


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## Andy the Squirrel (Aug 16, 2009)

w provence said:


> I have a hand wind Unitas mov't, it is very accurate. I wind every morning and it is dead on with my phone..............Bill
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Swiss my ****!


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## Dave ME (May 7, 2005)

I've had watches in that price range that have been very accurate, but it's more luck than design. You would be able to pick up an ETA 2824 powered watch for that kind of money which would run inside +10 per day fairly easily, and it wouldn't take much to get it regulated more closely. Oris, O&W or RLT are all going to be contenders (I saw a Hamilton go for that kind of money recently as well).


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## Stinch (Jul 9, 2008)

Well this is simple & uncluttered, has an ETA 2824-2 cost me Â£160 new at the end of last year & runs at + 4 seconds a day. It may be little small for you though at 37mm (I think). Tissot PR50 Auto.


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## dombox40 (Oct 20, 2008)

I recently had this retimed by Paul(silverhawk) as it was gaining 5mins a day now running to +/- a couple of seconds a day.










Whoops just remembered the price range sorry.


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## sam. (Mar 24, 2010)

These are my most accurate mechanical watches in your set price range,i am sorry i don't know exactly how accurate they are as i don't monitor time that closely,as long as my pin pallets are within a few mins a day,and my jeweled movements are within seconds i am a happy bunny.

Anyway the Montine i picked up for Â£2.50 a a carboot sale,i have to adjust the time back about a minute every couple of weeks.

And my Seiko 5(new forÂ£75) is of the same kind of accuracy.

Once again sorry to be so vague.

Sam.


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## dowsing (Sep 21, 2006)

How about a Seiko SRP043, these can be picked up second hand for a touch over Â£150. Unfortunately it doesn't hack, but uses the new solid reliable 4R15 movement which keeps fantastic time and has a power reserve of over 50.

Even though it doesn't hack when you set the time you can pause or reverse the second hand to get the time spot on to the second with a bit of fiddling.

Easily keeps very accurate time to about plus or minus 5 seconds a day, some other people have reported about 3 seconds.

Here's a pic borrowed from the web with the same combo that I have mine on today.


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## Guest (Jul 20, 2010)

Very interesting. Cheers! :thumbsup:


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## Openended (Nov 4, 2009)

This is a very hard question because unless the watch is chronometer certified there is no guarantee of accuracy out of the box. You can only go by the manufacturerâ€™s ratings which generally are +/- 20 or seconds per day, which can be a large margin or error. Granted, most likely it'll be less than this (for new watches) but because the accuracy can be so wide, over so many different movements it makes it hard to pinpoint which movements are accurate and which are not.

You can only attempt to answer this question by having mass user opinions on each type of movement, so individual opinions on one person's watch won't help you. This is because often with mass-market movements, which are unregulated from the factory, you can't guarantee accuracy and each different example could vary widely. For example, you could be lucky and have one Seiko movement timing +3 seconds per day or be unlucky and have the same model and movement timing +25 seconds per day (from the factory, brand new).

I assume you are not interested in second hand or vintage models because at some point soon (you won't know when) they'll have to be serviced (unless a service has been done already, and in that case it'd be worth spending a bit more and having it regulated as well). Plus if you want to buy a watch you want it now and not when someone, somewhere in the world decides they want to sell that exact model in the condition you want.

Pretty much any movement can be regulated to get much better accuracy, but then again, you are going to have to pay the extra on time and labour to have that done by a professional. So you can buy a watch for 100 pounds and have it regulated for 30 (or whatever) and have it running +2,3,4 second per day or so. In theory then all can be very accurate. Ok some may differ in their accuracy each day due to environmental changes (e.g. heat) and simply the construction of the watch (e.g. tolerances) but in your price range I don't think this makes a massive difference to the general equitation.

So basically, combining all of my points - the unregulated nature (and inaccuracy) of most movements, the luck aspect, the ruling out of vintage or older models, the service costs and results of regulating any watch, the falsity of opinions based on one watch, and some other construction and environmental factors, my suggestion are Orient watches.

I say this because new you can buy them for that price and I have read many opinions on forums (not this one) of their high accuracy without regulating them and them coming straight from the factory. They also make their own movements as well. Many people have said their Orient watch is accurate to about 4 seconds per day. I take this as a ball-park figure, as of course you can't generalise - some people had better accuracy and others slightly worse, but in general I think the accuracy of these watches seems high compared to other new watches in this price range (including Seiko surprisingly enough). A high percentage (most) of the owners I would think would report, with confidence, less than 10 seconds variance of accuracy per day which is quite impressive if a very high percentage of people are reporting this!

Again this is other people's opinions. The only way one person could give you their opinion and for it to mean anything is if they have owned many watches with the same movement, from new, and the all were consistently accurate.


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## Openended (Nov 4, 2009)

Openended said:


> Again this is other people's opinions. The only way one person could give you their opinion and for it to mean anything is if they have owned many watches with the same movement, from new, and the all were consistently accurate.


Or read loads of forums (opinions) like I've done. Or maybe worked on watches or been in contact with many watches, i.e. experience.

In general though Orient seem to have a good reputation for accuracy for watches in that price range. If it were up to me I wouldn't discount Seiko either as they are similar and I would consider looks, design etc as well. But each to their own . To be honest in that price range you're quite limited as it's pretty much the lowest price range.

Ok, Chinese autos/mechanicals are even cheaper but I couldn't trust a watch that isn't great on the outside to have something great on the inside... Basically I couldn't trust a Chinese movement in terms of quality, even though the prices makes me want to trust them . Japanese at least.


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## Andy the Squirrel (Aug 16, 2009)

A new Seiko 5 is probably your best mechanical watch for under Â£150, and with thd change you can get it serviced after a few years.


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## Livius de Balzac (Oct 6, 2006)

My RLT '69 use an ETA 2801-2. The accuracy is between -2 and -3 sec a day.


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## Openended (Nov 4, 2009)

Andy the Squirrel said:


> A new Seiko 5 is probably your best mechanical watch for under Â£150, and with thd change you can get it serviced after a few years.


Agree, or get one and take pot luck if it's accurate of not. If it's not, get it regulated. I'm not sure how much it costs, maybe someone can confirm this?

I was quite lucky when I had my SKX007 as it was gaining 3 or 4 seconds per day, every day (that's Rolex standard). If it would have been +20/+30 seconds per day or something I'd have got it regulated because that's too inaccurate for me. Anyway I sold it, but that's another story hahaha!

Cheers.


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## Stinch (Jul 9, 2008)

dowsing said:


> How about a Seiko SRP043, these can be picked up second hand for a touch over Â£150. Unfortunately it doesn't hack, but uses the new solid reliable 4R15 movement which keeps fantastic time and has a power reserve of over 50.
> 
> Even though it doesn't hack when you set the time you can pause or reverse the second hand to get the time spot on to the second with a bit of fiddling.
> 
> ...


That is really nice. Perhaps the best Seiko I've seen.


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## Rotundus (May 7, 2012)

Livius de Balzac said:


> My RLT '69 use an ETA 2801-2. The accuracy is between -2 and -3 sec a day.


:thumbsup: yup, i had one of those and it was about 2 sec per day.

me rlt 30, with the handwound unitas, is about -2 ish as well (not a plug btw as no longer for sale {for now} since the cosmic went.)

:rltb:


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## KevG (Dec 15, 2008)

MQJ Â£15 2/3 secs a day after 10 months with no trouble. simple dial,auto, hacks










:hypocrite:


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## kc104 (May 1, 2009)

I would say for that budget your best bet would be

(1) Christopher ward with auto (they do various different ones) at this moment in time there is a C5 all stainless steel in the nearly new section for around 180 pounds. That has an ETA 28**-2 (can't remember the numbers).

(2) RLT with auto ETA.

To get an auto ETA for 150 - 200, you know you have to be a member of a forum like this to know what to look for, because joe bloggs on the street would end up paying at least 1000 pounds for that. Not that he is getting ripped off, just that he is unaware that you can have the same kind of movement in a much cheaper (cost) watch.


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## Openended (Nov 4, 2009)

KevG said:


> MQJ Â£15 2/3 secs a day after 10 months with no trouble. simple dial,auto, hacks
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I bought 2 of those to disect and study. Both had problems with bracelet (fell apart), crown setting (missed the setting points and setting was rubbish), spring bars (just rubbish). Timekeeping was ok though and was around +3 seconds a day. Shame the rest of the watch is cheap cak (but looks ok actually (minus the aluminium looking bracelet) . I wouldn't bother and would buy Japanese at least... at least you can be reasonably confident it'll last (externally and internally).


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## Openended (Nov 4, 2009)

Oh and the bezel and bezel pip fell off. Useless, don't bother unless you like fixing new items. Q.c. is appalling.


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## w provence (Apr 25, 2010)

Andy the Squirrel said:


> w provence said:
> 
> 
> > I have a hand wind Unitas mov't, it is very accurate. I wind every morning and it is dead on with my phone..............Bill
> ...


Andy The Squirrel, I'm a little offended that you think that. I bought the parts from a friend and had it put together, the mov't is swiss, not sure where the rest was made but it is well made. This is not one of the cheapes you buy off the bay.............Bill


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## KevG (Dec 15, 2008)

Openended said:


> KevG said:
> 
> 
> > I bought 2 of those to disect and study. Both had problems with bracelet (fell apart), crown setting (missed the setting points and setting was rubbish), spring bars (just rubbish). Timekeeping was ok though and was around +3 seconds a day. Shame the rest of the watch is cheap cak (but looks ok actually (minus the aluminium looking bracelet) . I wouldn't bother and would buy Japanese at least... at least you can be reasonably confident it'll last (externally and internally).
> ...


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## davkt (Aug 19, 2010)

Not exactly a scientific test as I've had my RLT 26 for all of about 30 hours so far but in that time it has gained all of 3 seconds so looking like stunning accuracy from new!

I've also in the past has Swatch automatics bought from ebay for about Â£100 under the lower original budget set in this thread that have achieved +/- 4 or 5 seconds a day that has averaged out to no systematic error over the longer term.


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