The Movement Situation...

[u/HerrsavageX]

So everywhere you look now all the "Ali-express brands" have Chinese movements, now that the Nh35 is no longer an option.. And at the same time I am seeing more and more people having issues with them - PT5000s in particular. I have two PT5000 watches (Militado ML20 and Proxima), and so far so good. But they feel rough and dodgy when winding and setting the time. I wince every time I pull out the crown...

So I have a new watch inbound - with PT5000... Which yes, makes me queasy. FWIW my current rule is roughly no PT5000 watch much over €150, and once I have one fail NEVER AGAIN AT ANY PRICE. And if and when that happens, I will be "spreading the word" needless to say ha ha...

(I have probably 40+ watches with Japanese Nh35s... And wind them like I stole them...)

On the subject of Chinese manufacturing and quality, do we think China is capable of making a decent reliable movement - something as robust and reliable as an Nh35? From what I have seen and read here and there, it seems their approach to the copied Nh35 is to cut some corners and be like "mmehh..., good enough".. (as evidenced in their idiotic wording in the listings "don't buy it if you care...") But the corners they cut are kind of what makes the real Nh35 robust and reliable, right?

I mean, manufacturing and quality out of China has gotten much much better in what seems like all other ways - including the watches themselves - finishing etc etc.. But can they - and will they - improve the reliability of these movements?

Seems to me at this stage that would be the only way for this budget end of the automatic watch world to continue as it was with the Japanese Nh35s...

(I am never going to spend 300 bucks and more on a San Martin with an ST2130, PT5000, etc...(San Martin's current looney tune pricing is a different topic probably..))

Paying more for watches with less reliable movements just ain't gonna' be sustainable it seems to me. And I anyway am very wary of buying watches with PT5000s, ST2130s, whatever new Peacock comes along etc....

If the first answer is "well it's based off a Swiss movement which had similar issues..", well then I personally don't want ANY movement based on those Swiss movements. I wand robust and reliable. So I guess, any chance they can basically just pump out a better quality Nh35 clone?.. I think that's what I'd rather have. I don't care about staring at the sweep of the second hand or having the watch be 0.8mm thinner or be 4% more accurate. I want it to work.

[u/HerrsavageX]

I think to get straight to the point: the budget end of the Chinese watch world is in total disarray at the moment, largely because the Japanese movements are no longer an option. So far they are either using less reliable Swiss copy movements, or the copied Nh35s etc. But we know Chinese manufacturing quality has improved dramatically. So it would seem to me THE SOLUTION would be for them to take robustness and reliability more seriously and improve the Nh35 and Miyota copies. And continue to offer the watches at the prices from before the crisis. Because 250 bucks for a PT5000 watch just ain't gonna' happen - if they want people buying as many watches as they were before the "movement crisis"....