One watch collection competition. All under 400. Episode 9. Sweet 16. 4/8.

You’ve all heard of the quartz crisis dated 1970s and early 1980s. You’ve also heard that Seiko was the big reason this crisis happened and Swiss watch industry suffered badly. Today a Swiss watch producer demands a rematch. Auto versus solar quartz, heritage versus heritage. Seiko versus Tissot. In the red corner there is Tissot PR100 Powermatic. Many people would expect Gentleman series watch to end up here. There are several things that couldn’t let that happen. The automatic version of Tissot Gentleman is way above the price point of 400. The cheapest I could find new on the grey market is 530. There is a quartz version you would say and it is just above 250 (grey market as well) or about 350 officially from Tissot. The devil is in the details. I have watched a bunch of reviews of Tissot Gentleman quartz watch and the finishing is significantly worse than the one of a Powermatic version, the case is very thin and flat and wears bigger than it is and as a final argument the lug width is 21 mm that doesn’t allow Tissot Gentleman contend for the “strap monster” title. Thus I looked into Tissot PR100 Powermatic and managed to find one (non two-tone) with all the discounts and sales below the 400 level. I must say that the quartz titanium version is also quite interesting. But today it is PR100 Powermatic version. 1. Tissot PR100 Powermatic Sizes: 39mm case diameter, 44mm lug-to-lug (49 with male end-link), 10,4mm thick, 20mm lug width. Movement: Powermatic 80 (automatic, hacks, handwinds, 21600 bph, bidirectional ball bearing rotor, 80 hour power reserve) Materials: 316L steel brushed and polished Crystal: Flat sapphire crystal with inner AR coating Lume: No info Band: Metal bracelet, solid links, solid end-links, pressed clasp, 4 micro adjustment holes WR: 100m Price: 400$ (grey market with discounts) What to love: Powermatic movement, great size, straps compatibility, reputable Swiss brand Grain of salt: Boring design, mediocre bracelet, weak lume In the blue corner the assassin, quartz, solar, titanium Seiko SBTM213. I must admit a mistake I made in the Wildcard episode. I wrote that the clasp is pressed, but it is milled as it turned out. I also exchanged white dial to black one so SBTM213 is in the picture instead of SBTM217 that was in the wildcard. I made that to match the overall majority of contestants that go with a black dial. 2. Seiko SBTM213/217 Sizes: 38mm case diameter, 46mm lug-to-lug, 9mm thick, 20mm lug width. Movement: Seiko caliber 7x52A (quartz solar ,automatic GPS time setting, date, dual-time, in-flight mode power storage ≈ 6 months). Materials: Hard-coated Titanium polished and brushed Crystal: Sapphire crystal with underside AR coating Lume: LumiBrite (arrows only) Band: Titanium bracelet with solid links and hollow end-links, milled clasp with 2 holes of micro-adjustment WR: 100m Price: 330$ What to love: Light titanium watch, universal looks, SEIKO, solar movement, great size Grain of salt: Titanium with no special hardening coating is a scratch magnet, Radio fix seems to work only in Japan. Switzerland vs Japan. Forget the doubts and vote!