SW 200 vs ETA 2824 - Is Sellita inferior?

Pretty sure the Sellita is a clone, but has more jewels…WC folks correct me on this if I’m way off. I’ve had SW200-1’s and they’ve all been smooth, reliable and accurate (or easily adjusted to be so).

I own watches with both movements and they each perform well for me.

Prefer Sellita myself, never had one break but broken a 2824 (manual wind and date). Had many sw200s and few ETA. Both were very similar running wise tho.

It has not been my experience that one is inferior to the other. As mentioned the Selita and the PT5000 are clones of the ETA due to the elapsed patents. This is good news for us because we can get basically the same performance in watches from brands outside the Swatch group. (Yet another lesson why it will never be great for the consumer to be dependent of a single producer with a monopoly). I own watches with movements from all three without issue. Accuracy varies because not every brand regulates the movement before sending them out to you which means they will run within those large factory specs. They are however all mass produced movements and there's always a possibility of a dud.

It is important to note, there are several grades of both the 200 and 2824. They are not all the same. The higher the grade, the better the materials, tolerances, testing, finishing etc. IE, a higher grade of either is going to be better than the lower grade of the other brand. If I have the chance, I try to stick with brands using top grade, but it can be tough to know if you do not see the movement and they do not disclose it. The price delta is significant, especially when dealing with a (relatively) budget range.

If you are looking for an alternative besides Miyota and Seiko, check out Le Joux Perret, specifically the LGP G-101. It is a drop-in for the 2824, meaning it can use 2824 parts and cases. As I am looking to eventually build, I am focusing on top grade LGPs myself.

I was lead to believe that LJP is owned by Citizen group and the G100 is based on the 9 Series Miyota.. with swiss manufacturing and higher quality parts and finishing. Which is fine with me!

They are owned by Citizens and while it has some similarities, it is it's own thing and I am here for it. For me it is worth the premium over ETA or Sellita.

Oh agreed! Love the LJP in my Furlan Marri.. running ~+3 sec/day and 0.0 to 0.1 beat error! Plus it looks great! It does have the Miyota wobble but I'm ok with that.. 🤣

I only have a few, but they are all top grade and I have not really noticed it. Will have to throw one on tomorrow and look out for it.

Nothing wrong with the movement. It’s been around for decades and does the job. Interesting price point though. I’d say you’re narrowing the field unnecessarily but that is a personal choice.

Great insight. I want to dive deeper into movement specs so I can be more selective with my watch purchases.

To be fair, the Sellita isn’t a true clone. Almost no parts are compatible with the 2824. Sellita was a company who used to make movements under contract for ETA, I believe. I have heard of them having a higher failure rate a while back, but that was a while back. I know some watchmakers prefer working on ETA due to how the bridges fix to the mainplate, but I don’t really care either way.

The winding sound and feel actually boil down to the click and the click spring.

I have one watch with an SW-200 and one with an SW-300. They feel completely different to wind. I’ve had problems with my SW-200, and had to send it in for service 3x in three years, but after a recent service, all is well now. I think they swapped out the movement altogether as it feels much different than even when I first bought the watch.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an ETA 2824 to compare it with.

I have an ETA 2824, and several Sellita SW200s. I can't tell them apart by winding feel or function...

A 2824, SW200, G100, or 9000 are all fine in my opinion.

That's intersting because my experience has been the total opposite of yours. This means that there's no real quality control in both the movements 🙂 Just kidding... Maybe, all this boils down to how robust the crown action is.

So, you're saying SW-300 feels better? Do we have different grades in SW-300 as well?

The SW300 is based on the ETA 2892, so it's a higher grade movement than the 2824 or SW200. I believe it comes in various grades as well, but all of them feel nicer than the more basic movements.

I suspect part of it is the crown/watch the movement is in, and part is down to QC.

A movement that feels rough winding isn't necessarily a bad movement, it just doesn't feel as nice. My Miyota 9015 and 9075 feel much better to wind than any of my Swiss movements, but most people consider them "lesser" than the Swiss equivalents.

When I wind my SW-300, I feel almost no tension in the crown. It also takes way many more winds to get the watch to start moving relative to my SW-200. Not saying one feels “better” than the other, just totally different.