Power Reserve Overrated?

I prefer a long power reserve and I think it adds some value to the watch.  Many watches have 40 hour reserves which is often plenty long to get me through one of my power naps.  I do own on manual wind watch which has a very short power reserve and it is that watch’s shortcoming.  Since there does not appear to be a down side to having a large power reserve, I prefer one but I only feel comfortable paying a little more to have it.

It doesn’t really matter to me. As a watch enthusiast, I rarely wear the same watch everyday. I like winding the watch or setting the time for my automatic watches in the morning.

sure it is cool feature but not a priority for me. i think it is better to improve other feature as well such as better bracelet or upgraded crystal

I have a seiko perpetual kinetic coutura that would benefit greatly from a reserve meter.  Otherwise no meter is necessary for automatic/ manual wind watches.

A shorter power reserve doesn't stop me from buying a watch, but the longer reserves are pretty nice for someone that keeps multiple watches in rotation. It is nice to not have to reset the date +every single time+ I rotate something in.

Yeah I don't get the power reserve thing. I guess if you have one weekday watch and one weekend watch, an expended power reserve is welcome so that your weekday watch is still going strong on Monday morning. For the rest of us - wether we just have one watch, or we have a collection which we switch out every few days/weeks - an extended power reserve really doesn't matter.

I have one watch with 50 hours, and it's never had any practical benefits to me over a standard 38 hour ETA/Sellita.

From personal experience, the more automatic watches you add to your collection, the more you'll appreciate a long power reserve. Why? You may ask. As my collection went past four mechanical automatic watches, the amount of time I wear each individual one has become more uneven. Perhaps I'll revisit wearing a particular watch every 4-5 days. I "only" have one 2-watch winder. This means I can only have two watches in my collection that are theoretically ready and wound at a time.  The others I must either be wearing to keep them wound or I must manually wind them when they aren't on my wrist. That's a lot of work and unless I'm diligent (which I'm not) then at least one will stop running because it's run out of spring power, and the next time around I want to wear it I need to manually wind it, reset the time and date (all my watches have a date complication).
 

For example, it happens more often with my Rolex GMT MII with the calibre 3186 which only has a 48h power reserve and much less often with my Rolex GMT MII with the calibre 3285 with a 70h power reserve. So I can have the latter sitting there not in the winder or not worn for longer. So, power reserve matters to me unless I buy more watch winders to keep each watch ready to wear without manual winding. If you have between 1-3 watches then power reserve doesn't matter as much because you'll likely pick up and wear each every 1-3 days, staying within the limit of a 40h-48h power reserve.

I listened to that Hodinkee podcast too (we're so sad) and agreed with one person who said that power reserve is just one of many factors and a matter of personal preference for us to buy what is ultimately a piece in our collection. 

We all value different things like the relatively ridiculous water resistance (which I love) or extreme levels of anti-magnetism that are also not needed except in very rare cases. 

This ignores the elephant (questionable value feature) in the room: accuracy numbers and chronometer certification because if that is the feature that is truly valuable, we'd be buying quartz watches (or just checking our phones/smartwatches).  

As @dubby_broccoli noted, some people value putting the watch down for the weekend and really appreciate getting up Monday morning and having the watch still running (with the correct time if you add COSC or METAS cert to the feature set) before stumbling out the door to work. Some don't care. To each his (or her) own. My daughter's in town. She keeps me safe (at work).   

If I could agree with this post in an infinite measure and never again comment or interact on this forum again, I would do it for the benefit of emphasizing this post. 🎯 🎯 🎯 

I own 2 watches with long power reserves, one 5 day and one 10 day.  The 10 day has a power reserve indicator, and the five day does not.  If I had a choice I would have wanted a power reserve indicator on that 5 day piece.  The PR indicator doesn't have to be on the dial, on the back would be fine.

As usual, I want both features.

I rotate watches enough that one is rarely still running when I wear it again, even with an 80+ hour power reserve. Even so, I almost always set my watch to the second again, every morning. So it really doesn't matter much to me at all. I'd definitely trade extra power reserve for a tool-less micro adjust clasp on any watch.

maximum would be like 10 days for me then, I dnt really give a hoot

All else being equal, I like the idea of an extended power reserve, but I'm not willing to sacrifice anything else for it.  I tend to change watches on a daily basis, so when I select a new watch from the box, the first thing I do is set the time and fully wind the watch. On the odd occasions where I wear the same watch for several days, my normal daily activity is more than sufficient to keep an automatic fully wound. If I happen to wear a manually wound watch for several days, I still go through the ritual of winding it in the morning. Regardless of how I wear my watches, anything beyond the minimum power reserve is effectively overkill.

If I was one of those people who wore one watch during the week, and swapped out for the weekends, I can potentially see an extended power reserve being useful. Even in those situations, a lower power reserve wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, since I'd likely reset the time to a reference and wind the watch at the start of the week anyway.

I listened to that as well and I have read all the comments and so no need to regurgitate the same things most have said. But I will say that it is very frustrating having a 38 hour power reserve which might as well be no power reserve. I don't have that many watches but if you don't wear a Selitta every day it's just going to be dead the next time you put it on. Also and i wouldn't mind hearing some of you guys experiences, but I notice that those movements definitely die at 38 hours whereas my 8800 movement which is rated at 55 hours lasts about 63 hours. Also the 3132 lasts longer than 48 hours... so ...yes I guess i'm saying that I want more than 38

I have a couple of swiss-made with 28800 bph and 21600bph. The latter with 80-hour power reserve. I like watching the seconds-sweep of the former. Both are excellent watches, but as rightly said, I really don't prioritize power reserve over movement accuracy, design aesthetics and build quality. I've a really well-built flieger with a horrendous Miyota 8315 movement - gains 12 secs everyday and doesn't really give 60-hours. 

So, I think 'selling' power-reserve is like asking someone to buy a BMW because it has an excellent 10-CD changer player with Bose speakers.