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Comment by pyr0hu | Hacker News Reader

This post is what got me into mechanical watches as I've always wondered how the analogue clocks/watches work but couldn't bother myself to actually read upon it. But after the article, I even got myself a clean Seiko 5 automatic, not because I wanted a fancy watch, but I wanted to own a piece of mechanical wonder.

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Grand Seikos are some of the best mechanical watches. Their quartz line is also exceptional. Very underrated and much prefer them over overpriced Rolex.

The Spring Drive movement is amazing, very accurate, very high quality and that smooth sweeping seconds hand is mesmerizing. Availability is good, and the price is a lot better than the high-end Swiss brands.

Rolex these days is a joke, even the authorized dealers will rip you off shamelessly. They will either refuse to sell you a watch they have in store, or they will force you to buy 30 grand in extra jewelry just to get the Rolex you want.

Since it has electrical components, I think Spring Drive isn't a mechanical movement.

That's true but it's still driven by a spring and mainly mechanical. I understand people who don't like it, but I also see it as a reasonable tradeoff and find them just as fascinating as purely mechanical models. In the end people wear them for the same reasons.

It's a mechanical movement regulated by quartz. In a traditional mechanical movement, the escapement prevents the main spring from unwinding all at once. It is done with a fork which ticks at a certain rate governed by the balance wheel. In a Spring Drive movement, the escapement is replaced with an electromagnetic "brake" governed by a quartz crystal. So it still has many of the characteristics of a mechanical watch: it's still powered entirely by a main spring which can be wound or automatically wound by your body movements, it needs regular maintenance like other mechanical watches, and it isn't as durable as most quartz-only watches.

Many Rolex models seem expensive, but they are easy to sell and you will get much of your money back or even turn a profit.

I agree with you. I used to stock up gold Rolexes as investment but sold them when their value peaked during the pandemic. For collection purposes? Rolexes are duds.

Never was interested in Rolexes, too flashy for my taste. Seikos are sporty, can match with everything and does not want to show off to everyone

I feel like most watch folks have at least 1 Seiko in their watch case at least once in their collecting journey. Fantastic watches, enjoy!

Seiko fan here. Seconded.

Seiko SNK807 and Seiko SKX009, reporting for duty.

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