Sub £100 automatic watch recommendations

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MikeCoats

Member
Apr 10, 2013
25
0
Inverness, Scotland
I've got that exact watch which just arrived last week. It's great so far, keeping pretty good time. I'll probably change the strap for a NATO one soon as the stock strap isn't great but that's all I've found off with it.
According to some of the posts on the watch forums a lot of the 5 series share the same mechanisms. So it looks like a cheap 5 is as good as a pricier one in the same series.

Mike
 
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baggins

Full Member
Apr 20, 2005
1,387
160
45
Coventry (and up trees)
Hows about a vostok (original Russian divers watches rather than the European fashion ones). I got one a year or so ago, totally bomb proof if not not a tad chunky. About £50, but i can't remember where i got it. i'm sure there is a link on here somewhere. Looses about 2 mins a week aswell and the lume is pretty naff but a damn good auto for the money.
 
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madadam

Member
May 1, 2013
23
5
Bristol Uk
I got a vostok auto and a Russian dolphin auto which is a 24 hr _ messes people's heads up when they ask the time and when it's midday the hands at the 6o'clock position. Looks cool too.
 
Perrari

Perrari

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 21, 2012
3,090
0
Eryri (Snowdonia)
www.erknives.com
I have an automatic Tag that I have owned for approx 18 years, during that time I have had it serviced twice because it started losing time. The last time was about 6 years ago and it cost £220. I don't wear it everyday only on 'special' occasions so fingers crossed it wont need servicing for a few years yet.

I was just thinking if you get an automatic watch wont you be faced with a servicing bill down the line that would be as much as the battery or the new watch ? Maybe you will be lucky and it wont need a service ! Just a thought !

mountainm said:
Tag. You void the lifetime warranty if you get it done elsewhere.
Click to expand...
 
mountainm

mountainm

Bushcrafter through and through
Jan 12, 2011
9,990
7
Selby
www.mikemountain.co.uk
Perrari said:
I have an automatic Tag that I have owned for approx 18 years, during that time I have had it serviced twice because it started losing time. The last time was about 6 years ago and it cost £220. I don't wear it everyday only on 'special' occasions so fingers crossed it wont need servicing for a few years yet.

I was just thinking if you get an automatic watch wont you be faced with a servicing bill down the line that would be as much as the battery or the new watch ? Maybe you will be lucky and it wont need a service ! Just a thought !
Click to expand...
Tag servicing prices aren't typical.
 
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BenTheSweep

Full Member
Apr 12, 2013
37
0
Bristol
There is no lifetime warranty on a Tag Watch. Having spent ten years working for a high street jeweller selling and servicing Rolex, Omega, Tag, Brietling and everything else I can tell you this with certainty. Tag have a 2 year warranty and a trained monkey could fit you a battery.
Battery fitting is one of the biggest money spinners there is. Most high street shops ( at least the well known name I used to work for ) actually send their repairs to an outworker that isn't Tag or to a service centre that also isn't Tag. They normally don't tell you this.
Send it to me recorded and I'll fit you one if you are struggling. I've fitted and pressure tested hundreds.
 
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BenTheSweep

Full Member
Apr 12, 2013
37
0
Bristol
Also, if you want accuracy - don't buy an auto. Your budget will not get you anything remotely accurate. Even a Rolex has a tolerance of 9 seconds a day + or - 4 or 5 and is tested in a variety of positions to account for positional error.
Very few tags are chronometer rated and tend to fall outside this. Some considerably.
If you don't care about 2 or 3 minutes loss a week then get something like a Seiko with a high quality japanese movement, or a Hamilton which have a swiss movement. You can normally find them in the sales cheap, but probably still outside your budget.
 
Dave

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
8
Brigantia
I had an eco drive for a while. Good watches. Very low maintenance. I've got an Omega which I take to a little old tinkerer in a shack in baildon, who fixes it for a fraction of what a dealer charges. Although I am thinking do I really need an Omega? Or is it money which could be better spent elsewhere?
[On kit of course]:p

Those Seikos look more than adequate for £60. Or maybe a G shock?
 
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Nonsuch

Nonsuch

Full Member
Sep 19, 2008
1,862
1
Scotland, looking at mountains
I've got a Vostok diver. No offence to Vostok owners who have been more fortunate but I reckon the reason the Russians lost the cold war is because they didn't know what the right time was...Great conversation piece but I have found Seikos and Orients to be more reliable, and Orients more accurate than Seikos, if anything.
 
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jiffi

jiffi

Nomad
Jun 24, 2010
312
0
Castle Douglas, Scotland
I have a Vostock Anchar that when I got it almost told you tomorrows time but with a bit if tinkering I have it to within 30secs a month took a while to get it this right so I guess I will leave it alone now!
 
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millie-mail

Forager
Apr 9, 2011
103
0
Oxfordshire
There is another option, some quartz watches use a ten year battery, as in; it should last ten years. Best of both worlds, quartz accuracy with extended time between services. It depends what you will be using it for. I don't suppose you would wear your TAG in the same environments that you would wear a Seiko 5.
If you need it to be grab and go, then quartz every time. Horses for courses.
But to answer the question I would search out a N.O.S. Citizen 21 jewel diver, can still be found in Ti or inox for around the budget, bomb proof and great quality.
Buying a used Seiko auto diver is a little more difficult as a lot of examples seem to have been fiddled with by amateur.....fiddlers?

Just my 2pennerth.
 
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alpha_centaur

alpha_centaur

Settler
Jan 2, 2006
728
0
41
Millport, Scotland
I've got a seiko 5 and a seiko monster. Both are great watches and they are almost identically accurate with both losing about a minute a week.

Great watches. The only time I'm not wearing one or the other these days is if I'm working.
 
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