The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Just wanted some opinions on this watch

http://www.seiko-astron.com/#/lineUp

Prepetual calendar 39 time zones daylight savings and a second independent time zone. GPS automatically changes the time on the watch to time zone you are in. The is also a model with an alarm.

I know it is Japanese and 3k but IMO is a very interesting watch. Like the design too! All opinions welcome.

It's a $3,000 quartz Seiko.

Nuff said for me.

I will give you a serious opinion.

I have not been keeping up to date with Japanese watches recently, but if it’s a home market model, then that’s the sort of price they pay in Japan to have an all Nippon factory open and manufacturing. I have always admired the gutsy effort the Japanese make to buy at home instead of OS. Takes a certain courage and understanding. Buying one of these is not for the faint hearted, but if your urge is to buy one, then you probably will not be disappointed. Values might plummet if you wanted to move it on later, and there are few bragging rights – or so it would seem. I am not sure why, as Seiko remain a very creditable watch maker and are always undervalued in the market. They are very well made and usually faultless in operation.

Seiko have a good reputation for building very excellent quartz movements, as attested by some Swiss makers who use or have used Japanese movements in the past. The fad of synchronising with GPS to gain a time zone or local time check is not new. Casio and Citizen have been at it for a few years now. The only thing to check is that the GPS signal actually works in your area. Don’t ask me why, but some models will not communicate in certain regions of the world, or at least that’s been an issue in the past as I understand it. The so called ‘Radio Controlled’ versions.

They also seem to be trading on the Hattori names with this model. Thats kind of a surprise to me as I would have expected the H versions to be very different from the other lines and more premium.

You can buy worse, but at $3K its as big a ask, and as big an ask as any Breitling with a quartz movement at similar or higher prices.

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Jim

"You have Control".

I agree with a lot of what P51 has said. Seiko seem to suffer a little from making models for every level of the market ( and so damaging their higher end stuff) but if they were Swiss we'd probably all have one or two in our collections. I've had three and they're a pretty solid performer in my experience.

I think you might be mixing up GPS and radio controlled.
GPS based time adjustment is a bit more recent implementation in watches, will work anywhere and because of location accuracy can be used for time zone changes.
Radio controlled has been around a bit longer, for example in the Casio Edifice range.
It relies on on radio transmitted time calibration signals from six transmission stations around the world (2 in Japan, 2 in US, 1 in Europe and 1 in China) each with an effective radius in the range of 1500-3000 km hence the reason why it will not work everywhere in the world.
The Seiko in this thread is using GPS.

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"It is just a matter of time!"

My opinion was serious, it was just on a phone so brief.

There are previous threads on this watch where I have also commented (also seriously), and I just can't see paying $3k for a quartz Seiko. The mechanical Grand Seikos are very good quality, although the designs are very conservative (that could be good or bad), but this is just a gimmick in my book, and as pointed out on a previous thread - no one is going to be able to prove the accuracy claims because we will all be dead long before it can be proven.

I agree with Roff its a $3,000 Seiko quartz. Not something I would buy personally I do like Grand Seiko though.

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Rolex GMT 2
Breitling for Bentley GT Racing
Ball World Time Diver
Rolex precision oysterdate
Breitling chronometre bi metal
Omega seamaster professional chronometer
Ball fireman
Rolex datejust diamond bezel
Rolex Explorer 39mm
Omega James bond 50th

And this raises an interesting question that I have difficulty answering.
Why would I be happy to spend $4K on a quatz Aerospace or Chronospace but not $3K on an all singing and dancing Seiko? Is it simply down to brand prestige?

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"It is just a matter of time!"

My thought exactly the aero and crono are quartz and $5K. I am sure however, that someone can advise on the technology and quality differences between Breitling and Seiko. I know the Breitlings are thermo compensated but there must be other differences to warrant the price.

Personally I wouldn't spend that much on a quartz piece, but it's a legitimate question. Brand reputation has a lot to do with it - Seiko struggles in Europe and North America to avoid the reputation as a maker of 'cheap' watches. The Grand Seikos partially overcome that, but only with a very limited audience. Yes the ETA Thermoline movements that Breitling use are thermo-compensated, but GPS correction makes that largely irrelevant anyway.

Bottom line is that people will pay more for a Swiss quartz with Breitling on the dial than a Japanese quartz with Seiko on the dial - reputation is (almost) everything. We see the same thing in virtually every other industry.

I too won't pay in the thousands for a quartz watch of any make. I can appreciate them, but I have no desire to own one. Take the E2 for example - I'm a huge fan of the look (except for the size issues that have become more apparent in real life pictures), but I won't pay £12k for it. Hell I wouldn't pay £2K for one. I've had one "expensive" quartz - a Breitling M1 - and it went back within a couple of days. Expensive quartz isn't my thing. That said, I do own some super accurate quartz models, but they all have "G-Shock" and "Multiband 6" written on them!

So, back to the specifics of the thread, I like a lot of what Seiko do, and there is no doubt in my mind that the Japanese do INFINITELY more with their quartz movements than the Swiss ever seem to manage..... BUT would I pay $3000 for a quartz Seiko? No, I wouldn't.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I don't think I'd pay 3k for it, but it's a good looking watch, though a tad big. I like all the features and depth of the dial. The ticking seconds hand would annoy me now that I'm used to mechanicals. Overall a nice watch.

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Regards,

Peter

BREITLING for Bentley Motors T & Mark VI, Aerospace
ROLEX Submariner Ceramic116610LN
OMEGA Plantet Ocean 8500 42mm Orange arabics
OCEAN7 LM-3

I would not spend 3k on a quartz anything, no matter what the brand is.

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Rob
Breitling SO Steelfish, silver
Breitling SO Abyss, silver
Rolex Submariner, no date

I liked the video, and I like the look of the watch. But 3k is waay too much.

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-RJ

Thank you wessa for the correction. I learned something radio controlled. ‘Confusion is my daily companion’.

I have very few quartz watches in my collection. I keep ones that are either important to me historically, or they have features that I find neat. I must admit to having about 8 Seikos in all and evenly split between mechanical and quartz. 3 of them are 6138 7000 (2 in reasonable condition & one ready for a refurbish). Seiko made that gem of a watch not too long after the calibre 11 first broke cover. It’s sometimes referred to as the first Seiko flightmaster, but I don’t get too hung up on names. To me, it took it up to the Heuer Calculator and was about a 1/10th of the price in 1969. It stunned a lot of people, as it was a simple and honest watch of very high quality that could do a lot for the money and must have left a lot of watchies scratching their heads. The great things about it were, the rotor was not buried within the watch, but at a convenient location on the back (where every auto watch rotor is found today – almost without exception) and was consistent with other auto centre second watches of the day. The crown was also on the right side for left arm wearers. It is also not as fragile as some of its contemporaries. Within the 6138 movement, take a look at the double sided bridge. Watchmakers, I am told, love them as they are easy to work on and are robust. You should check the 7000 out, if you have never seen one. They are definitely on my cool 100 list.

I certainly would never buy another Quartz, as they have no cache. If I can get a mechanical version of the same watch, then I will buy that instead. I would never buy a Seiko or a Breitling quartz (well, maybe a Breitling 2300 or something like that) but never deliberately, or one that is new. They just don’t cut the mustard for me. Mechanical watches are an elegant solution to timekeeping and a real compromise on how its achieved. That suits me, but it may not be the bees knees for other forum members. Each to their own.

Wessa is also spot on, IMO, regarding the cost of a quartz waht when considering where it comes from. Well, assuming the Seiko in question is a homeland model, and not from one of their factories elsewhere, then there is no real reason, on a quality level, why you should not buy here over a Swiss brand. Providing you like the watch of course and is pushing all your desire buttons. The reason we seem to be happy with paying nearly twice for a Swiss quartz and not Japanese is because we have been conditioned to believing that this is a reasonable proposition. We get so much choice and so many brands these days we cannot make the best choices anymore. So instead we go for what others suggest, or perceptions of what seems likely a reasonable proposition to satisfy our psychology based on what others believe is best. Making a choice by oneself is hard. I will refrain from saying this is all about brand snobbery, as I don’t think that argument is a valid one here. There are some real deep seated anxieties about quality and being on the winning team out there and I think that this is more likely the answer. To get the best, spend a gazillion and buy from here only. You can't go wrong................

Don’t believe me? Find yourself a copy of psychologist Barry Schwartz novel, The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less. Its not a be all and end all, but its interesting on choce, and the decisions we make about everything.

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Jim

"You have Control".