# V8 On Quartz Watches



## Thomasr (Oct 11, 2011)

I have had a number if quartz watches with V8 on the movement, what is this referring to?


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Dear Thomas

I have conducted a lengthy search for an answer to your question and the conclusion I have come to so far is this.

You will notice that on the Longines watch you show in the picture, there is no indication of who made the movement itself EXCEPT the coded letter and number "V8" which was, in fact, an ETA calibre movement. What is even more interesting is that Tissot actually produce two quartz classic watches called "V8" and these are designed to "honour the hugely popular Swiss V8 Quartz movement." Again, no mention of ETA, who were the manufacturers of the V8 quartz movement. Presumably, this movement is no longer actually in production, although I have now seen it mentioned in connection with Cyma models of about 1993. I therefore have a feeling it is essentially a name rather than a particularly different movement, and it was a Swiss ETA design and manufacture.

I know that I probably haven't quite got to the bottom of this question but I have really done my best to help answer it. I just hope that helps.


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

It's probably worth going to the source with a question like this and dropping ETA a line.. http://www.eta.ch/index.php?id=10&L=2 I've always found them helpful on most things ...


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## Thomasr (Oct 11, 2011)

> Dear Thomas
> 
> I have conducted a lengthy search for an answer to your question and the conclusion I have come to so far is this.
> 
> ...


it does have the maker and the calibre on the plate near the battery, it aslo has the 'longines' calibre which is a plate glued onto a chip


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## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

> Dear Thomas
> 
> I have conducted a lengthy search for an answer to your question and the conclusion I have come to so far is this.
> 
> You will notice that on the Longines watch you show in the picture, there is no indication of who made the movement itself EXCEPT the coded letter and number "V8" which was, in fact, an ETA calibre movement. What is even more interesting is that Tissot actually produce two quartz classic watches called "V8" and these are designed to "honour the hugely popular Swiss V8 Quartz movement."


Really? Not according to Tissot.

The Tissot V8 (as in the watch) is a quartz chronograph, which the ETA V8 (movement) is clearly not. Therefore it would not make sense for Tissot to create their V8 watch to "honour" this movement, nor would it be possible for this movement to drive a chronograph even if they did.

A search for Tissot V8 shows the V8 name being a reference to sports/racing cars, therefore more likely a reference to V8 engines and the fact that the watch is a chronograph makes a functionally relevant reference too.

Similarly a search for ETA V8 shows the base movement to be a relatively high-grade quartz with 7 jewels and used in a number of different watches by some fairly well known watch producers, TAG and Longines included. Although each manufacturer would likely take the basic V8 movement and either get ETA to create a bespoke version for them, or the manufacturer may even have modded the base V8 in house to create a special version.


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Dear ETA, I would appreciate an apology for your unjustified rudeness towards me in your post of yesterday.

So, please note for your information:

1) The V8 movement that thomasr was inquiring about is a QUARTZ battery powered movement and NOT a mechanical movement as you initially get wrong in your post. Then you suddenly correct yourself, without acknowledgement that I was right, and go on to state roughly what I had already hinted at, that the term V8 is here used as a basic name given to a particular quartz movement.

2) To quote from "CalibreWatch.co.uk", who are Official Dealers in Tissot mens and women's watches, "Tissot's classic V8 models are designed to honour the hugely popular Swiss V8 Quartz movement." Nothing about V8 car engines here.

Please note that thomasr was looking for an explanation of the term V8 on his Longines QUARTZ watch and I was trying to help him, not writing a highly researched article on Tissot.


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

> 1) The V8 movement that thomasr was inquiring about is a QUARTZ battery powered movement and NOT a mechanical movement as you initially get wrong in your post.


Actually ESL (not ETA) got it right, the V8 movement that Thomasr showed is not a quartz chronograph movement. It's you that's wrong, I just think you read his post incorrectly as nowhere does he say it's mechanical ..  ....


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## Haggis (Apr 20, 2009)

> Dear Thomas
> 
> I have conducted a lengthy search for an answer to your question and the conclusion I have come to so far is this.
> 
> ...


 :thumbup: :notworthy:


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

> 2) To quote from "CalibreWatch.co.uk", who are Official Dealers in Tissot mens and women's watches, "Tissot's classic V8 models are designed to honour the hugely popular Swiss V8 Quartz movement." Nothing about V8 car engines here.


Again, it's probably better to look at what Tissot say, rather than a dealer. It says clearly on Tisssot's site, as ESL says that ....

" The Tissot V8 is a powerful engine for the wrist. The bold chronographs confidently take their positions on the Tissot product 'grid' with their dashboard-inspired counters, which are punctuated by clearly marked digits at 12, 4 and 8 o'clock in a modern typeface, and tachymeter bezels. The Tissot V8 models will appeal to wearers with a good dose of adrenalin in their lives and zero tolerance for missing out on the action. "

Clearly a reference to their long connection with car racing, in fact they have even marketed chronographs using a replica racing helmet as the box/container ...


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## Thomasr (Oct 11, 2011)

this watch is a little longines though, also had a tag with v8 written on it, don't think these are automotively linked


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## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

Some posts are agreeing to disagree...

*Thomasr*: We agree - your watch has a V8 ETA movement inside (or one of the variations - there are many) In this case the V8 simply refers to the ETA movement itself.

With regards to the Tissot V8, this refers to Tissot's eponymous V8 Chronograph and equally well known links with motor racing, not the movement inside it nor with the ETA V8 movement. You need only refer to Tissot for the authoritative statements on this.


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Please arrange Nominated Seconds and choice of Weapons - I shall adjudicate and referee - methinks a dawn appointment would be suitable, behind the bike sheds next to the Childrens Swings!


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Dear All

I feel battered and bruised but unbowed. In fact, having been involved in a ridiculous dispute with artistmike not long ago on the Forum, I am beginning to wonder if he has got it in for me, even though I thought that we had finally made up our differences in PMs and on the Forum itself . And as for ESL (who I wrongly - apologies for that - called ETA in my latest post on this thread), I feel that he is has acted as a sort of bait to then bring in artistmike on the case, both of whom have together completely negated my original and basically accurate original reply to thomasr's original enquiry. They have made me look stupid and ignorant of how to do research and that is not only incredibly insulting but is also totally untrue.

Let me now just tell a few home truths here to make my position with regard to this thread clear:

1) Dear ESL, I made it absolutely clear in my original answer to thomasr that the Swiss V8 watch movement was an ETA QUARTZ movement. Only an idiot could have thought I said otherwise.

2) Dear artistmike and ESL, I did NOT say that the V8 movement was a chronograph movement either in my original reply to thomasr or in my latest post on this thread.

3) The fact that Tissot as a brand has been associated with motorsport has no relevance as to whether or not the Tissot V8 watches are honouring V8 motor engines, unless Tissot specifically say that they are. In fact, if you actually knew how to research properly then you would understand that firm deductions of this type can only be made where there is genuine documentary evidence. In fact the Tissot website makes no such link between V8 engines and the chronographs called "V8" whereas we do know that their official dealers actually do specifically make the link between the Tissot V8 chronos and the ETA V8 watch movement. So what was I supposed to do - tell a lie or be honest and provide the evidence while admitting that I wasn't sure I had solved the problem, the second course of action being the one I took.

4) What I find so really insulting is that my basic conclusion about the "SWISS V8" mark on thomasr's battery-powered quartz movement was actually correct - the V8 is a name given to a particular ETA quartz watch movement, and I even mentioned the fact that some Cyma watches of the mid-1990s used this movement. Having come to that conclusion, instead of honing in on the solution even more accurately, certain members decided to basically abuse me and my research.

I don't know why, but some people find it impossible to say sorry or realise when they are becoming unjustifiably unpleasant or just plain wrong. And by the way, I would like to thank Haggis for his simple but generous post on the thread. Without his kindness here, I really would have been most distressed by all this nonsense following my original, short, and sensible post in answer to thomasr's interesting question.


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

Always"watching" This is not personal as we are just trying to discuss watches here but just to put things right let's just get the salient points correct :-

ESL said in response to your post:-



ESL said:


> The Tissot V8 (as in the watch) is a quartz chronograph, which the ETA V8 (movement) is clearly not.


To which you replied :-



> The V8 movement that thomasr was inquiring about is a QUARTZ battery powered movement and NOT a mechanical movement as you initially get wrong in your post.


Now I can't see ESL making any mention of a mechanical movement whatsoever. He was pointing out that the Tissot V8 is a quartz chronograph movement, unlike the ETA V8 in ThomasR's watch.... so it seems you totally misquoted him.

Next you say :-



> 3) The fact that Tissot as a brand has been associated with motorsport has no relevance as to whether or not the Tissot V8 watches are honouring V8 motor engines, unless Tissot specifically say that they are.


Well, as I have already clearly quoted from Tissot they say:- "The Tissot V8 is a powerful engine for the wrist. The bold chronographs confidently take their positions on the Tissot product 'grid' with their dashboard-inspired counters, which are punctuated by clearly marked digits at 12, 4 and 8 o'clock in a modern typeface, and tachymeter bezels. The Tissot V8 models will appeal to wearers with a good dose of adrenalin in their lives and zero tolerance for missing out on the action." Now I think that is a clear reference to their motorsport history and why they named it the V8 , you can see it on this page on Tissot's website.... http://www.tissot.ch...V8/T36.1.316.72

There is absolutely no reason they would reference the simpler quartz movement with V8 written on it, which is made by ETA as it has nothing to do with a chronographs, so the dealer clearly got it wrong. I'd rather believe the Tissot clear reference to motorsport than the dealer's version which makes no sense and rather proves they know little about movements.

In conclusion you say...



> I don't know why, but some people find it impossible to say sorry or realise when they are becoming unjustifiably unpleasant or just plain wrong.


You might like to think about that and how you responded incorrectly to ESL's original post.

Before you try to make out again that this post is somehow personal, it's not, I'm just trying to clarify facts...


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## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

I would normally let this sort of reply go but there are so many factual inaccuracies I wont.

"1) Dear ESL, I made it absolutely clear in my original answer to thomasr that the Swiss V8 watch movement was an ETA QUARTZ movement. Only an idiot could have thought I said otherwise."

I'm not sure who the "idiot" is meant to be here: When did anyone say the V8 was anything other than a quartz movement? I'm not sure what you want an apology for.

As for the motorsport reference, "research" would identify the facts are this: Tissot themselves do not make the link between the ETA V8 movement and their watches of the same name. Why should they? Their TISSOT V8 watch does not and never has used that movement so the link is completely spurious. TISSOT and ETA are owned by the same Group so I feel sure that they are the authority on the matter, rather than their dealers, authorised or not. If there was any advantage in marketing their V8 watch on the basis of their own V8 movement whether the watch contained it or not, I'm sure they would have done so. However, in the spirit of things, if you can provide your authoritative "research" that proves that the ETA V8 was indeed the inspiration for the Tissot V8 watch, then I will be the first to admit I was incorrect and apologise.

On the matter of research I really think this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Why would you accept the information on a third party's web page about a manufacturer's product as the definitive answer, when the Manufacturer themselves make no such claim and in fact provides another, perfectly reasonable explanation? I accept that there are two differing explanations, but I also know which one is likely to be the more authoritative.

As to the supposed abuse and my acting as some form of "bait" for another forum user, then I really think you have gone too far, seeing conspiracies where none exist and are making unsubstantiated accusations about something that is simply a blatant invention on your part. That needs an apology if anything does.

Apart from the aforementioned proviso above, I see nothing to apologise for, but in the true spirit of the forum I will apologise as you have obviously taken offence for your own reasons, and I certainly did not intend that to happen.


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## Thomasr (Oct 11, 2011)

maybe i'll just contact ETA.......

Apologies for causing a forum unrest, was just a question regarding the V8


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## Guest (Jun 4, 2014)

probably not much help but the eta g10 chrono movement is also marked V8


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## Guest (Jun 4, 2014)

apparently V8 is a verification mark IE genuine Swiss ETA, i suppose as opposed to partly made in asia? this is what i have gleaned from the web anyway


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## Thomasr (Oct 11, 2011)

this is what eta said:

V8 means Swiss Made under the responsibility of ETA


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

We



Thomasr said:


> this is what eta said:
> 
> V8 means Swiss Made under the responsibility of ETA


Well, as I said in my first post on this thread, you can't beat going to the primary source rather than trust the vagaries of t'interweb


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