Is power reserve a deal breaker when buying a watch?

Power reserve is one of those things I cared about when I had two watches. Once I got to four, no generally accessible power reserve in the world manages to span the rotation.

Ahh, I’m at three at the moment but get annoyed that my Seiko SARB033 can’t go more than 2 days!

Yep, that's peak annoyance time.  Fortunately, the solution presents itself.  Buy another watch!

Only if a comparison of all other features has resulted in a tie. And even then it might not matter if the design isn't up to the other piece

If you're worried about having a watch needing a lengthy "power reserve", then you really should buy a quartz watch - ideally one with a solar powered battery.

I almost never wear a watch again before the power reserve runs out, so it doesn’t really matter. 

Got my eyes on the Rolex 124270, but not sure if I’m being naive about getting one with no purchase history! Almost got distracted by the Oris Waldenburgerbahn Limited Edition recently but that’s 38h only.

Good point! 

So true… maybe gotta start looking at the Grand Seiko Quartz watches, their 9F movements are quite something!

Sounds like you have a big collection 🙊

I wear my watches that have longer power reserves more often than those with a basic ETA. Don’t mind a solita or ETA if it keeps good time, but at least let me wear my weekender in between and still be running. 
 

Just for instance, the 30 something hours of the Breitling Superocean gives me pause from serious consideration in a $5K watch. 

I think it's more important for people with very small collections.  If you only wear a watch once a week, if that, doesn't matter.

Just a note.  The Oris Aquis 400 Calibre has a 120 HR power reserve which is nice. 

What I never heard even one reviewer say was how one achieves that.  Two ways:

1.  Wear it for 5 to 6 days in a row (and they mention those days need to be active) OR
2.  Wind it 210 times.

So I wind mine about 25 times when putting it on and it's still running when I take it off.  Then, of course, it's stopped when I pick it again.

The only reason I care about power reserve is when it's extended by lowering the beat of the movement or its precision.

Quartz for me. 

Exactly my approach. Being a quartz lover makes it easy. I have a nice balance between quartz and mechanical. My atomic g shock is my reference for all my other watches. 

None of my existing 5 autos have extended power reserves, all entry-level stuff two of which don’t hand-wind at all (7S26). I tend to either wear one for a few days or perhaps mix in the odd G-Shock whilst still wearing it enough to keep it going. If it’s one of my 2 watches with a screw-down crown and I’ve set the day and date too I occasionally stick it on my one winder (for a few days only) to keep it ready to wear. If it’s not used within a week I take it off and let it run down. I’m aware that winders are a bit controversial and I try not to use it very much but I reckon 3 or 4 days on a winder is better than another crown unscrewing, day and date setting etc. re wear and tear? I’m sure some members view them as an abomination 😉 Others may not…

Depends. generally i don’t mind winding a watch. and if it’s automatic and I keep wearing it it’s whatever. I have one watch that’s manual wind and 30hrs that is a little annoying since I don’t want to overwind it so I end up winding like 20 hr into the movement and the watch just stops while I’m wearing it. that’s annoying 

option B2 : ideally more than 50 hours but not a deal breaker

I refuse to buy less than 24 hour power reserve unless the price is really low.

Not at all. Mostly i wear that same watch for days. No need for the other 14 watches to also run while being not worn. When I switch watch after 1-2 weeks, power is always out regardless of power reserve 

I own a couple of long power reserve pieces and its nice, but not a deal breaker when buying.

So wait... am I the only one that spends a couple of minutes each morning to wind every watch that I'm not going to wear that day?  😮  Granted, I don't have dozens of watches, but still... I thought that was standard operating procedure.

Honestly, it's kind of a self-limiting throttle on the size of my collection. 😂

To me 40 hours is fine, a longer reserve of 70 to 80 hours is more useful on manually wound watches imo

Couldn’t ageee more solar!

I tend to agree though, I have a BB58 and I keep that on the winder and wear it on weekends. My Seiko Sarb goes on the winder in the weekends!

Thanks for sharing - I personally don't have a manual wind watch, but I can only imagine how annoying it is for you when it stops while wearing. Definitely something to consider if I ever want to get a manual wind!

Hahah it does seem so! I personally either let my watches die or throw it on the winder to keep it going. But I guess if you like winding them daily that's part of your enjoyment so who cares!

Thanks for sharing - I tend to agree. When I asked this question, I only considered automatic watches (amateur), so more about throwing the watch back on before it dies. But @simonswatch mentioned above that his manual wind is 30h and because he doesn't want to overwind it he usually does 20h and it dies while he wears it. So definitely would consider a 70-80h if I ever get a manual wind!

I must confess I don't like the off black dial with solars, but I also haven't really looked extensively heh