My journey with a Seiko bias, new struggle with a Swiss movement
Hi Everyone,
I am an older man and coming out of high school in the early 80s the name Seiko at the time was synonymous to cheap. Of course, we now have come to the realization that early Seikos were far from that being much better built to that of todays standards. A lot of my friends at the time were wearing Bulovas, Citezens, Hamiltons and some Rolex. All these years I have lived with this unfortunate bias, until now.
Now that I’ve been collecting watches mainly Hamiltons, Tissot, Mido, Certina & Longines I have a new bias, that of the Powermatic 80 movement. I’ve come to the realize what it means to have a proprietary movement & service for a watch. This I believe is unfortunate.
With the new ETA Powermatic 80 technology that has extended the power spring to 80 hours, it comes with it’s own realities. Unfortunately it takes away the ability for self regulating that movement and convenience for local repairers to service. I know I have spoken to this before, seems to be a cycle I continue to bring up. This has become bitter sweet, more bitter that I battle with. I have called around repairers asking for service on the H-10 movements here, $400 for standard service to regulate time. Not sure what that means? Are they having to send the watch out since they don’t have the proper regulating tools that of a certified Hamilton service provider has? Anyways, my point is, this new Powermatic 80 has now taken away choices & liberties that once existed with the owner. “For those out there, please share your service experience on this movement, and the service center, their cost if more affordable?”
Currently I don’t buy anything from swatch or their groups that are Powermatic 80s unless it’s a 2824-2 or 2836-2. I’ve decided that I like that freedom of regulating my own watches, not being beholden to “In-house Servicing.”
With that said I’ve turned a lot of my attention to the microbrand industry of watches.
The one thing that has become a constant is Seikos movements and it’s strong presence in the Microbrand arena. Not only are they some of the most reliable but manageable, and widely available. This has given me a new found respect for Seiko, so cheers to you Seiko! I am now looking to purchase my first Seiko cocktail watch, the SRPE45 or SRPE45J1. I am fully aware of Seiko with it’s far better movements and spring drive, it’s the dial folks, love it!
This doesn’t mean that Seiko is perfect! Especially how the company will take a new top seller from off the market, re-design and re-brand that watch with cheaper materials to be re-release to the public. That is an unfortunate reality but understood.
This brings me to my question to you; “I can’t seem to figure out what are the differences with these two model numbers SRPE45 or SRPE45J1??”
Also, have you had a similar experience with the new Powermatic 80 and why? That is for or against?
Thank you everyone, please forgive me for having been such a snob all these years. Thank you Watchcrunch for this platform!
Influenced by my Father and his banged up Timex Marlin with the aged yellow acrylic and Twisto-Flex band. I guess this makes me a minimalist. In memory of my dear Father my favorite watch is the Hamil...
I've owned quite a few Powermatics and their variations over the years and only had a problem with one, a Tissot, and this was when they were fairly new to the market. My watch guy sent it to Tissot and they put in a new movement, under warranty.
They have always kept good time. I still own a few and they have all been problem free.
I previously owned a Tissot Gentleman which I had to send back after one year because of accuracy issues, it was done free since the watch was under warranty. The movement ran fine apart from the change in sudden accuracy which made the watch run considerably slower. I took it back to Tissot, they sent it back to Swatch's service centre and they just swapped in a new movement which took them about 7 weeks. No complaints about the service, it was all done perfectly and they extend your warranty by 24 months once it has been returned from service. If your watch is out of warranty, it will cost you $75 for an inspection and regulation. For a complete service, it will cost you $210 for the powermatic 80 family movement. They will replace it with a new movement, change the seals and clean your watch. Any extra requirements or change in parts such as the crown, crystal etc are additional. The lead time is usually 4-8 weeks or it may take longer.
If watch shops are asking $400, then it is really not worth it. Just take it to a Hamilton AD or if you don't have a Swatch brand AD nearby then just contact Hamilton's customer service (all Swatch group brands have a dedicated service page) and you can find the options to send your watch for service.
The green dial Presage is the SRPE45J1 or simply SRPE45 (or called the Seiko Presage Mojito). The J1 at the end of the reference number usually denotes where the watch was made whereas in this case J1 is for Made in Japan. These Presage cocktail series watches are always made in Japan. I gifted my dad the green Presage last year and it is a stunning watch for the price, the strap that comes with the watch is not good so just swap it for a good leather strap once you buy one.
The SPRE54 model doesn't exist and I believe you made a typo.
I previously owned a Tissot Gentleman which I had to send back after one year because of accuracy issues, it was done free since the watch was under warranty. The movement ran fine apart from the change in sudden accuracy which made the watch run considerably slower. I took it back to Tissot, they sent it back to Swatch's service centre and they just swapped in a new movement which took them about 7 weeks. No complaints about the service, it was all done perfectly and they extend your warranty by 24 months once it has been returned from service. If your watch is out of warranty, it will cost you $75 for an inspection and regulation. For a complete service, it will cost you $210 for the powermatic 80 family movement. They will replace it with a new movement, change the seals and clean your watch. Any extra requirements or change in parts such as the crown, crystal etc are additional. The lead time is usually 4-8 weeks or it may take longer.
If watch shops are asking $400, then it is really not worth it. Just take it to a Hamilton AD or if you don't have a Swatch brand AD nearby then just contact Hamilton's customer service (all Swatch group brands have a dedicated service page) and you can find the options to send your watch for service.
The green dial Presage is the SRPE45J1 or simply SRPE45 (or called the Seiko Presage Mojito). The J1 at the end of the reference number usually denotes where the watch was made whereas in this case J1 is for Made in Japan. These Presage cocktail series watches are always made in Japan. I gifted my dad the green Presage last year and it is a stunning watch for the price, the strap that comes with the watch is not good so just swap it for a good leather strap once you buy one.
The SPRE54 model doesn't exist and I believe you made a typo.
Goodness, yep my mistake
I have only recently become aware of servicing problems associated with the pm80, I have a Tissot Le Locle and it runs at about 5 to 10 seconds per day fast. So to me it seems like a decent idea that if it goes wrong, send it back to Swatch and have a new movement installed.
My Mrs was wearing her Hamilton Khaki King when we had a motorcycle accident. She ended up requiring surgery and it's forecast to be a year healing - the Hamilton hit tarmac and has deep scratches on the bezel and top of the lugs, so had a hard impact....it's not missed a beat & still runs within COSC on my timegrapher!!! Mrs wears it proudly. We're both big Seiko fans too.