# What are Steinhart all about?



## Maurice Lacroix (Mar 10, 2013)

I'm looking for a chunky divers style watch, I've noticed that there seems to be a lot of Steinhart watch owners on here. I was just wondering if someone can tell me a bit about them...are they just wannabe Rolex submariners?


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## Foxdog (Apr 13, 2011)

I actually think that rolex are Steinhart wannabes, except at an extortionately higher price .


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

Over priced borderline fakes from a company with no imagination

:yes:


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## PC-Magician (Apr 29, 2013)

Excellent quality and great bang for buck, ETA movements so what's not to like.

The rolex thing I don't give a seconds thought, as on the dial it says Steinhart so no pretence at all.

If you like it then buy it you cannot go wrong.


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## mcb2007 (Dec 12, 2013)

They look a bit bigger than the sub , nice .

http://


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## normdiaz (May 5, 2004)

Want "chunky"? How about 45MM diameter,15MM thick?


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## Foxdog (Apr 13, 2011)

Love my O44. A bit bigger than the O1's and no fugly cyclops thing spoiling the look.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I own a Rolex Submariner & three Steinharts, as I`ve said before I consider the Steinharts to be very well made & well worth the price they sell for :thumbsup:


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## mattbeef (Jul 17, 2008)

There are plenty of Steinharts that don't look like a Rolex as well.

They are good watches for the cash, this is why i have the Ocean Vintage GMT on its way to me when they are in stock. Well and because i dont have the £10k it takes to buy the rollie


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## richy176 (Aug 7, 2013)

That Steinhart does look identical to the Sub - even the bracelet links look the same but as you say, they do other styles and seem to have a good reputation.

Not sure which Rolex you are looking at for £10k - on chrono24 there are several new subs going for under £6k for steel.


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## badgersdad (May 16, 2014)

£6000 would be a new family car for us. £400 on a Steinhart is plenty affordable. If they were a little bit smaller I'd have an ocean vintage by now.



Maurice Lacroix said:


> I'm looking for a chunky divers style watch, I've noticed that there seems to be a lot of Steinhart watch owners on here. I was just wondering if someone can tell me a bit about them...are they just wannabe Rolex submariners?


There are an awful lot of very good watches around that you could level that accusation at. There a lot of not very good watches which are modeled on Rolex Subs, and a lot of lovely ones too. Some are homages to a specific version of the Sub. Steinhart have a reputation for making well made watches with good finishing and good attention to detail. If you want something without any of the DNA of a Sub, you might have to look elsewhere, but there will be some other, possibly more obscure, DNA in there anyway. There isn't much that's brand new, and where there is, it's ugly. :whistling:


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## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

Just too much of a Homage for me, though I don't doubt the quality for the price is fine. However I'm afraid for a tincy bit more ££££££ i'll have to side with Mr Badger for once and go Seiko. That should get a nice one like this (Shogun) and its not a homage to the Sub. Thats me anyhow. :yes:


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## bobbymonks (Jan 13, 2009)

mattbeef said:


> There are plenty of Steinharts that don't look like a Rolex as well.
> 
> They are good watches for the cash, this is why i have the Ocean Vintage GMT on its way to me when they are in stock. Well and because i dont have the £10k it takes to buy the rollie


That made me laugh, don't look like Rolex, this is why I have a OVG!

Except it's a blatant 'homage' to the original Explorer II


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## mattbeef (Jul 17, 2008)

richy176 said:


> That Steinhart does look identical to the Sub - even the bracelet links look the same but as you say, they do other styles and seem to have a good reputation.
> 
> Not sure which Rolex you are looking at for £10k - on chrono24 there are several new subs going for under £6k for steel.


Sorry i wasnt refering to a sub but 1655 Explorer. My bad



mattbeef said:


> There are plenty of Steinharts that don't look like a Rolex as well.
> 
> They are good watches for the cash, this is why i have the Ocean Vintage GMT on its way to me when they are in stock. Well and because i dont have the £10k it takes to buy the rollie


If you read my post again it says that there are plenty that dont look like a Rolex. Never said that that the OVGMT doesnt look like the 1655


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

I own 3 Oceans and yes, I guess you can call them wannabe Rolexs. They are clear copies or homages to Rolex, however you want to put it. But they are extremely well built for the money and if you like the design and don't care what's stamped on the dial, you'll be very happy with one of them. That's why I don't get what's the "just a wannabe" means. If we go down that road, a Rolex or a JLC or a Casio are just watches. And BTW, a Casio will probably tell you the time far better than any of the others as it's quartz vs mechanical.



bobbymonks said:


>


I own the OV GMT also and I find it quite different from the Explorer II. It has all the same cues but maybe it's the much bigger dial to bezel ratio that makes it substantially different. And maybe the lack of a cyclops plays some part in that also.



BondandBigM said:


> Over priced borderline fakes from a company with no imagination
> 
> :yes:


Ok Mr Bond, time to fess up... how much does Rolex pays you per post? :tongue:


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## Markybirch (Apr 24, 2009)

Here's my offering...........................


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## PC-Magician (Apr 29, 2013)

Kutusov said:


> I own 3 Oceans and yes, I guess you can call them wannabe Rolexs. They are clear copies or homages to Rolex, however you want to put it. But they are extremely well built for the money and if you like the design and don't care what's stamped on the dial, you'll be very happy with one of them. That's why I don't get what's the "just a wannabe" means. If we go down that road, a Rolex or a JLC or a Casio are just watches. And BTW, a Casio will probably tell you the time far better than any of the others as it's quartz vs mechanical.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have that same Steinhart, fantastic and one I will not part with.

Tried to like a Cyclops but frankly they are awful, just my opinion.



Markybirch said:


> Here's my offering...........................


That's a cracker Mark. :smile:


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## oversleep (May 6, 2012)

I would vouch for steinhart as well. In terms of quality, build, and price their watches are hard to beat. I own 5 of them and likely to own more when more future models are out. I think if the price is affordable why not try one for yourself.


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## Faze (Mar 1, 2013)

My one and only Steinhart bought off this very forum and going nowhere for a long time. 
Would easily buy more versions, but I have a hatred for Cyclops and this one took a while for me to find!

Well worth the money and hold their prices in the 2nd hand market.


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

I just had a look at the web site. Quite a few "look similar" type of watches, and a few that didn't remind me of anything in particular but I found to be unattractive. Perhaps if they were cheaper I could see the appeal.

Later,
William


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Prices used to be better Will but they are still well within the "bargain" range for a Swiss made watch. The Swatch group has not been making things easy and ETA and Valjoux movements are pretty expensive to get now. Steinhart wants to keep the Swiss thing going so they'll become less and less attractive as far as prices go. Other small manufacturers will get the edge by using stuff like the Miyota 9010 and not having the thing made in Switzerland but they'll still have a market with people that think there's something magical about Switzerland's air that makes all watches superior to everything else.

Steinhart is also well worth within the category of pilot and marine watches. Their A flieger is much, much nicer than the Archimede for example and it's cheaper (or it used to be, I haven't been paying attention).


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

I am sort of "over" the Swiss and ETA thing. I suppose it would be different if everything ETA stamped out was fabulous, but it certainly isn't, think about those new plastic non serviceable movements. The Omega versions are fine. Some, perhaps most, of the Hamiltons are good and so on with the other brands within Swatch, but there seems to be no shortage of mediocre performers. The same is true of the outside manufacturers. Those Ronda quartz chronographs seem to be becoming ubiquitous, and it appears to be for good reason considering they work well and cost little. It may just be that nobody really wants to take a chance on building and selling a first rate Swiss mechanical alternative to ETA's products. After all, if Swatch Group start to feel economic pressure, they could jump right back into the supply market. If the Asians can produce consistently reliable alternatives to Swiss movements, it may come to pass the only people buying Swiss will be venture capitalists, movie stars and footballers.

Another ray of sunshine. :biggrin:

Later,
William


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

William_Wilson said:


> It may just be that nobody really wants to take a chance on building and selling a first rate Swiss mechanical alternative to ETA's products. After all, if Swatch Group start to feel economic pressure, they could jump right back into the supply market. If the Asians can produce consistently reliable alternatives to Swiss movements, it may come to pass the only people buying Swiss will be venture capitalists, movie stars and footballers.
> 
> Another ray of sunshine. :biggrin:
> 
> ...


It's very hard to do with he Swatch group owning everything. You would need new main spring manufacturers, etc. It's a monopoly and that's that. But you do have alternatives, just not Swiss. I've mentioned this before but Eddie on Timefactors once posted the number of ETA powered watches that wouldn't survive the shipping out from his store against the Miyota 9010 when he started to sell stuff like the Everest. It was something like 10 screwed ETAs against 1 Miyota.

I'm also way over the Swiss thing, if I ever was there - actually, I wasn't. I've also been into watches more than I am now so I quite frequently though about selling my 3 Oceans and getting something Japanese instead. I don't have the heart to do it but I wish I could.


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

It isn't a monopoly, just a lack of motivated business people and investors prepared for the risk.

I think that the Chinese could steal the market away from Miyota and the Swiss with a more vigorous commitment to quality.

Later,
William


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Uhm, I know I'm going to get hammered for this but I think the Chinese have still a long way to go. A bit like South Korea needed a couple of decades to top Japan in technology stuff. I also don't think that quality, name recognizable stuff is China's game. Could be an emotional thing as I don't have very fuzzy feelings for either China or Switzerland.

BTW, I know Citizen bought some moribund movement brand in Switzerland a year or so back so that could be your wish coming true. I think they meant to have their own made in Swiss stuff with that acquisition. It's a strange move though, they do have mechanical movements but invest vastly more in quartz technology like ecodrive or GPS sync watches.


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

I agree, China isn't ready but it could be if it really tried. It's not like anybody over there is going to say no if told to start making decent movements.

Citizen purchased Bulova and developed those Precisionist movements to compete at the upper end of the lower end market. If they started knocking out Swiss versions of their movements it could bring some new opportunities for them.

Later,
William


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

I'll press on then... they have the 9010. It's much better than the ETA as in it does the same and it's better built. People will object to what I've said and it's not Swiss. There!! Blame it on Eve!


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