The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Am considering buying a colt quartz but am still wavering on the quartz auto debate. I plan to wear the watch most days but have others too so the get up and go convenience appeals, as does the 8 year battery life and cheaper servicing. Autos have annoyed me in the past for their innaccuracy and the seemingly continual resetting of time and date if I don't wear it for a couple of days (Breitlings, Omegas and Seikos I'ved owned).
The cheaper price of the quartz is a bonus - I plan to get it on a pro3 deployment as I'm not really a bracelet man and I wore this strap on my old avenger GMT and it was comfortable and easy to adjust throughout the day.
I guess my biggest hang up and worry is spending so much on a quartz, it seems to be ingrained in watch folklore that high value swiss watches should be autos, but to me they have drawbacks too as I have begun to explain above.
Has anyone bought colt quartz and then regretted it or perhaps you are so glad you did after the initial worries went?
Reassure me I'm not buying a dud!!

Tough call. My wife has a Cartier auto and Colt Quartz. All of mine are autos. She loves and wears the quartz Breitling more than the Cartier in part because she says it is 'easier'. I can see her point since I don't have a winder and am always setting/winding my various watches. Typically I ask her the time when I am setting mine because after years and years we only have to change it for daylight savings and dates at the end of the month.

99% of the people that comment on how nice her watch looks probably don't know or don't care about the difference. Still anytime I've thought of getting a quartz I've not followed through because I like the idea of an "old world" watch that is alive inside. I truly like the engineering/mechanics behind them. I only wish I had a skeleton or display back so I could see more. I'm not needing mega-accuracy because let's face it your cell phone is way more accurate and probably has an alarm, calendar, etc. I've gotten so lazy with my autos I rarely set the date or correct them to AM/PM. I just pick one, wind it a bit, set the time (from wife's quartz) and go.

I think as long as you like the watch that is what matters most. She loves her Colt, I doubt she would ever give it up.

I also buy my wife only quartz watches so I don't keep getting asked to wind or set them. I prefer quartz for an everyday watch because, since I don't wear a watch constantly, I can just grab it off the dresser and it and me are ready to go. I have manual wind and automatic watches for other, occasional, outings so don't mind having to get them prepped.

Since going 'all automatic' several years ago, I made the 'mistake' of going quartz and regretted it instantly. Coupled with the fact that the chrono faulted after only a week of ownership, I very quickly sent it back, and applied the proceeds to another watch (an auto, which I funnily enough didn't like either, which lead to the next auto )

As I reflect, I find it rather ridiculous that I 'don't like' quartz watches, or in reality don't prefer. Afterall, until going 'all automatic', the only watches I ever wore for several years were quartz, and they were all perfectly good watches, as are all quartz watches.

My only conclusion is that I just simply prefer mechanical (manual wind/auto) watches, and that's all I'd rather own. Yes it's a pain sometimes to have to have winders, or have to re-set for whatever reason. Yes, things would be much simpler with a quartz watch in many ways, and who know, I may one day own another quartz (although that's unlikely). Owning a nice watch is as much an emotional decision as rational (or more so). I love that mechanical watches have a heartbeat, and do require a more hands-on approach, in addition to maintenance. There's no doubt you're not buying a dud, as with all things watches, it's an entirely personal preference.

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

My first expensive watch was a Colt Quartz. Of the entry level Breitlings I simply liked the look of it most, the aesthetic therefore being more important than the internals, and although the thought that I wasn't getting what in the eyes of purists was a 'proper' watch nagged at me, I persuaded myself that the lower maintenance, higher accuracy etc was an advantage.

In the event I went off the look - I grew to dislike the slightly pink, fleshy colour of the 'silver' dial - and part ex/d it (thank you AMJ) for a white-faced Aerospace, where the multi-functionality appealed to me. And if it was a quartz, it felt like more an apex quartz, which rather than being a cheaper version of another watch (eg a Colt Auto) did things only a quartz could do (being ana-digi etc). But an appreciation of the history of watchmaking did make me want a mechanical too, hence the acquisition of a Seamaster and then a SuperOcean. So the answer, as with any dilemma whenever possible, is to have both...

I'm not one of those people who have the sense of something with a beating heart, or a soul etc, when wearing a mechanical - it's rather that I find the fact that something with wheels and springs can be accurate to about a second a day absolutely mind-bending. (I have, though, acquired that dislike of the ticking secondhand on a quartz, as opposed to sweeping hand on a mechanical, which is common in mechanical lovers.)

I can understand how any watch lover who lived through the quartz crisis might feel a certain hostility to quartz, as if it were a predator which nearly wiped out an endangered species, but to me there's no contradiction. I love watches, and the art as well as science of watchmaking, so to me it seems perfectly natural to like all forms of watches, and on a horses-for-courses basis to like both mechanical and quartz.

I have several Quartz watches. Some cheap and a couple expensive. Jury is still out on this matter for me. I prefer mechanical but there are times when Quartz does fit the bill. There are some very good ones out there, it's just the replacement parts question that I can't reconcile. Will they be available and how do you determine which parts are replaced if anything goes wrong. Yes, I know some pretty crazy guy who will strip a Quartz movement and replace coils, etc. but he can't fix micro motors, which is a problem.

I have some real cheap Quartz for gardening, workshop, walking, cooking, etc. so I do quite a bit of daytime in Quartz. Strange really die someone who prefers mechanical watches.

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Jim

"You have Control".

Ahmm, what do you mean by that?

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"It is just a matter of time!"

Thanks for all the replies and advice so far. Ultimately I still think a quartz suits my lifestyle more, I wear a gshock for the gym each day (sometimes forgetting to take it off), I have a desk job where I would struggle to get much movement into an auto watch, and overall i think I'll wear the watch more if it's always ready. I had a Omega that I wore just for special occassions and I didnt mind adjusting that as part of the getting ready to go out ritual but when I had my avenger gmt it frustrated me knowing that a weekend of not wearing it would mean it wasnt ready on monday morning to wear, so I'd keep the Gshock on meaning I hardly wore the GMT sometimes.
Breitling make some great quartz watches that are respected in the watch world, yes the B1, aerospace and emergency have to be quartz because of their functions where as the colt doesnt have to be quartz so it could be seen as a cheaper entry level watch, but its still high quality, accurate with the unmistakeable Breitling look that I have loved and coveted for years.
Ultimately I think quartz suits my lifestyle today the most so I think that is what I'll get. Maybe it won't last to be passed down in (hopefully) decades to come but at least I'll wear it alot now and enjoy it each day which is what its all about really, buy and wear for today.

TomP- thanks for your reply, the 'silver' colt has been on my want list too, if the new 44mm colt doesnt wear well its that I'll be after, but most of all I'm jealous of your coral superocean, the one watch that would tempt me to get an auto. AMJ had two new old stock watches last year but I dithered and missed them, always regret that.

My bad Toby - I bought one of them! Good luck with the purchase.

Which one did you get? The earlier one with lumed numerals or the later version with the stencil numerals?

They were up for a great price, it was over xmas and new year a year ago and I dithered as we had a new baby coming any day and I couldn't seem to justify the cost in my head during a period when I was doing spend spend spend on baby things, plus I had no time to go up to AMJ in person to choose which one to get.

I still have the pics AMJ sent me in a folder on my desk top. Jeez I really regret that....

Hi Toby - it's the 'transitional' model as pictured @

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48791

I saw your thread at time, I even downloaded your pics. You bought richards watch at an absolutely great price. If you ever want to move it on get in touch.
but that wasnt one of the watches i was referring too, a year ago they had two brand new unworn corals on braclets, still covered in plastic and they would have come with a new breitling two year warranty, they were up for 1650 each. Long gone now, so basically I missed out on three corals from amj last year. Silly boy.

Predictive text. Sorry everyone. Blasted phone. Strange really for someone who prefers mechanical watches.

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Jim

"You have Control".

Sorry Toby I was unclear - it was one of those latter, new SOs which I bought. I only posted Ricardo's thread because I remember he posted good photos (and I don't have any).

I bought mine on Pro III rubber, partly to de-bling it, partly to have variety in my little collection, and partly cos it was even cheaper that way.

Am even more jealous now. Have been searching the web for one this evening!
I was going to buy an extra pro3 from amj too. If you ever move it on, remember this thread and get in touch.