# are these brands to be avoided



## craig12 (May 9, 2016)

just wondered what people think of these brands avia accurist sekonda rotary limit

is there any shame in owning these watch brands I'm very confused with rotary I cant tell if its now been categorised as a h Samuel brand or its quite nice , sekonda I think this is a weird one as they do make some nice watches , accurist I think make some lovely tank dress watches , I had a tigers eye accurist and loved it , limit avia cant quite grasp these 2 as they seem to come over all 70s 80s and no one buys em anymore well I wonder what members think I'm especially curious to see how people view rotary regards


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## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

Rotary also do a Swiss range, les Originales, also Dreyfuss up a step again. Nothing wrong with either Accurist or Sekonda for what you pay they are VFM. Avia and limit cater at the lower end.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

I've got a few vintage Rotary watches, some of them from the 1930s, and they all keep good time and one in particular has had dogs abuse, I know because I've had it for about 50 years. The modern les Originales rotomatic super 25 is grossly underrated in my opinion. All the old school avia, limit and accurist mechanical watches are collectable and a good starting point for a collection.


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## ZenArcade (Aug 17, 2016)

To me Rotary, Avia, Accurist etc are brands from the 70s that were half decent back then very often making gold cased watches with off the shelf Swiss movements. They were generally quite conservative watches usually dress type stuff. You often find a few quartz ones that are very "of the time" too. If you are lucky you can also come across some nice vintage Rotary watches that are good and they had a few decent sports watches that are quite collectable.

Sekonda were another 70s/80s brand using Russian (Soviet) movements (Remember that ad where they had a Sekonda watch going through all manner of abuse and comparing them to a certain high end Swiss brand)

As for the modern stuff, Rotary I think were sold recently to some Chinese company and are frankly all over the place. They have the high street stuff, the online "Dreyfuss" J&T Windmills and probably a few other brands and numerous confusing lettering on their dials to convince the buyer they are some unbroken Swiss made brand.

Accurist as far as I know are a cheap high street brand as are Sekonda. Avia are they still going?


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## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

ZenArcade said:


> To me Rotary, Avia, Accurist etc are brands from the 70s that were half decent back then very often making gold cased watches with off the shelf Swiss movements. They were generally quite conservative watches usually dress type stuff. You often find a few quartz ones that are very "of the time" too. If you are lucky you can also come across some nice vintage Rotary watches that are good and they had a few decent sports watches that are quite collectable.
> 
> Sekonda were another 70s/80s brand using Russian (Soviet) movements (Remember that ad where they had a Sekonda watch going through all manner of abuse and comparing them to a certain high end Swiss brand)
> 
> ...


 I'll restrain myself. The Dreyfuss and Les Originales are Swiss, good, and far from cheap. Look at the Rotary Les Originales Heritage range.

Accurist and Sekonda make some solid VFM watches, a.d Avia watches can still be found.

I see no " shame" in any of them.


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## ZenArcade (Aug 17, 2016)

RWP said:


> I'll restrain myself. The Dreyfuss and Les Originals are Swiss, good, and far from cheap.


 Depends on if you pay retail or wait for the monthly sale of Dreyfuss watches.


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## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

So a discount turns them into crap?


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## ZenArcade (Aug 17, 2016)

RWP said:


> So a discount turns them into crap?


 Where did I say they were crap?

I said Rotary were sold to some Chinese company, the brand is all over the place, they have misleading text on their dials confusing their customers, they have numerous sub brands Dreyfuss being one of them, J&T Windmills makes all sorts of suggestions it has some link to the name, their prices are all over the place (a £7-800 watch suddenly discounted to a few hundred quid)

Are you saying any of that is untrue?


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## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

http://www.rotarywatches.com/en/about/about-us

Lol......discounted to a " few" hundred. Still owned by the Dreyfuss family and I am talking about the watches not the pricing policy. Leaving the blurb aside they DO have Swiss made watches, and even those that aren't are not just to be dismissed


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Apologies to Scottswatches as I've nicked a picture from a post of yours from 2012 to prove that Accurist did in fact make some desirable mechanical watches.










Like a lot of brands they have become "diluted" by brand name "hijackers".


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## ZenArcade (Aug 17, 2016)

RWP said:


> http://www.rotarywatches.com/en/about/about-us
> 
> Lol......discounted to a " few" hundred. Still owned by the Dreyfuss family and I am talking about the watches not the pricing policy. Leaving the blurb aside they DO have Swiss made watches, and even those that aren't are not just to be dismissed


 Jesus wept!

The parent company of Rotary, Dreyfuss and Co and J&T Windmills was bought by China Haidian that also owns Corum and Eterna in 2014. Rotary may well be still "owned" by the Dreyfuss family but the overall company is Chinese owned, they own 100% of the company.

Dreyfuss said (regarding this sale)

"This is excellent news for the future of the Dreyfuss group. The management team is excited at the opportunities to continue to aggressively pursue our plans for future national and international expansion supported by the resources and sizable distribution network of China Haidian Holdings, Limited, which in tandem with the Chelsea FC sponsorship, will elevate Rotary into a global brand leader" (quote from watchpro.com) "Our new OWNERS (Capitals mine) recognize, respect and share the same family values that have underpinned our success to date"

As for discounted to a few hundred quid (lol) First page on watch shop shows a Dreyfuss ladies watch RRP £1295 now £645, mens automatic RRP £985 now £492 and this is no boxing day sale its every month!

Then we have the J&T Windmills line which of course has nothing to do with the original J&T Windmills

Then we have "Swiss assembled" "Hand made Swiss" "Swiss made" and various other derivatives on dials to confuse the customer into thinking they are getting some top notch Swiss made watch.

You may "LOL" all you wish but please point out where anything I have written is incorrect.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

ZenArcade said:


> As for discounted to a few hundred quid (lol) First page on watch shop shows a Dreyfuss ladies watch RRP £1295 now £645, mens automatic RRP £985 now £492 and this is no boxing day sale its every month!


 If you spend a bit of time scouring the web you'll find this practice is not exclusive to Dreyfuss/Rotary. Other brands that some would hold in higher regard are at it as well. With respect to the OP, if you do your homework you'll find worthwhile buys in amongst some dross within the brands mentioned. Without meaning to be patronising, we all have to start somewhere, and mistakes can be made along the way. I've certainly bought some garbage in my time. I agree some of Rotary's marketing practice is questionable, but there are a few others "at it". As far as collectable watches go, you'll probably find mint examples of vintage Rotary, Accurist, Avia etc less common than higher end stuff, because they were, to a certain extent a "working man's watch" so they didn't get pampered. It doesn't necessarily make them particularly valuable, but from my point of view just as collectable, and certainly not worth arguing about.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

I find that many cheap watches are better than the sum of their parts, none of the brands the OP posted insult me any more, or less, than more expensive brands.

If a watch tells the time reliably and consistently, its a worthy timepiece. IMHO.


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## andyclient (Aug 1, 2009)

Back in the day I think Rotary were as good as some of the more popular named Swiss makers and they used the same movement. This aquaplunge from the 60s uses an AS automatic They did cheapen themselves in more recent years but it's a shame that it's all about the name on the dial when the movement is the same Kings new clothes comes to mind


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