Good price for a Movado Museum?

[fdcg27]

We were on Tortola last Sunday and nothing much was open.
We'd done a nice snorkle in the morning and were wandering around.
We happened to stop by one of the few open stores and looked at watches.
I had long wanted to buy my wife a Movado Museum.
This shop had the ladies Museum in gold with a leather strap for $199.00, which seemed a good price.
She had said that she could use another watch.
So, the wife now has a Movado.

 

[CharBaby]

Certified? Are you sure it's not a knockoff!
I have never heard of a Movado for a 199.00, WOW! Maybe I am not too familier with the Museum model.

I am not particularly a fan of the Movado look but, no question they're a nice watch.

Tell us more about the watch. Is it 18K Gold or PVD/Ion Plated?
Most likely a Quartz Movt?


Congradulations, you did well sir!

CB

 

[fdcg27]

It is certified and came with the store stamp required to use the warranty if needed along with a Movado box and a Movado instruction book, although I don't think you need much in the way of instruction for a watch that only tells you the time.
It is quartz, of course.
Knockoffs?
On St. Kitts, we saw some gorgeous knockoffs of Omega, Rolex and Breitling watches with what were said to be Swiss mechanical movements.
They were very authentic looking, kind of like the knockoff Rolex I bought in Mexico one year.
At least I assume it's a knockoff.
Maybe it fell out of a cargo container at the airport

 

[CharBaby]

Once again, congradulations!
I would have expected at least $500-$600.
Well done sir!

I see them pre-owned on ebay for $250. Gold Case/Black leather band, qtz mvt.

 

[fdcg27]

You just never know what you might run across.
I almost didn't even bother to talk to anyone in the store, since "duty free" deals often aren't all that special.
I had looked online and knew that a couple of hundred bucks was a good price.

 

[Trav]

Good price, they are around for $232- $299.

 

[dparm]

For that price it's either last year's model, used/refurb, or fake.

 

[y_p_w]

I bought a pair of stainless museum watches with metal clasp bands for $199 each. Two tone with black face (I won't say dial since there's no markings other than one diamond). Got 'em at a Movado Company Store as a Black Friday special. They had plenty of the women's model but the men's was the last one.

 

[fdcg27]

You must be mistaken, as was I.
See the post above your's.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: dparm
For that price it's either last year's model, used/refurb, or fake.

No its not a fake although it may be last years model. Movado has a lot of low end stuff, ebel is the groups premium brand now.

Its a gold plated case with a leather strap and an ETA 900-902 $23 movement in it, not exactly a high end timepiece.
Movado no longer uses a Zenith quartz movt in this watch and haven't for a long time. Movado has for a long time been a "fashion" brand.

Not a bash on Movado they are a good looking watch with an iconic dial face but they are not the watches they were back 30-50+ years ago when they made this bad boy.

http://heuerville.wordpress.com/tag/movado/

http://www.ashford.com/us/watches/movado/collection/2100005.pid?nid=cpg_cat6045&so=1

http://www.ofrei.com/page283.html

 

[edhackett]

A $23 movement in a $200 watch is pretty high end.

There are $2000 watches out there with $16 movements, (cough) Tag (cough).

I've developed a healthy respect for ETA movements. I wore a Wenger Swiss Army that kept near perfect time for over 15 years that had a bottom end(~$10) all plastic ETA movement.

Ed

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: edhackett
There are $2000 watches out there with $16 movements, (cough) Tag (cough).

Your right.

Edit Deal of the day price at Ashford is up from the $225 it was yesterday.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: edhackett
A $23 movement in a $200 watch is pretty high end.

There are $2000 watches out there with $16 movements, (cough) Tag (cough).

I've developed a healthy respect for ETA movements. I wore a Wenger Swiss Army that kept near perfect time for over 15 years that had a bottom end(~$10) all plastic ETA movement.

Ed



I too like ETA movements, but you need to be careful on which one you have. The 2824 is the lowest I would really go, with the 2892 being preferable to that.

And yes, many companies like Breitling, Omega, Rolex, Panerai, etc use ETAs as the basis for their movements and add embellishments. If you can find a watch with a Valjoux 7750, you're basically going to find a COSC-certified chronometre for 1/4 the price of a Rolex.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: edhackett
A $23 movement in a $200 watch is pretty high end.

There are $2000 watches out there with $16 movements, (cough) Tag (cough).

I've developed a healthy respect for ETA movements. I wore a Wenger Swiss Army that kept near perfect time for over 15 years that had a bottom end(~$10) all plastic ETA movement.

Ed



I too like ETA movements, but you need to be careful on which one you have. The 2824 is the lowest I would really go, with the 2892 being preferable to that.

And yes, many companies like Breitling, Omega, Rolex, Panerai, etc use ETAs as the basis for their movements and add embellishments. If you can find a watch with a Valjoux 7750, you're basically going to find a COSC-certified chronometre for 1/4 the price of a Rolex.

Does it really matter if it's quartz? Supposedly the finishing for the mechanicals is supposed to improve accuracy, but a quartz is electronically regulated.

I mean - I've got one of the ETA Auto-Quartz movements in a Tissot. It's got a display back with the Tissot name on the rotor. I understand it's the identical movement as in an Omega-Matic Seamaster. Quartz is not something where a lot of money buys better performance. $15 movements go into $200 value watches and $2000 fancy cases. You're not really paying for timekeeping performance but for the case and dial.

The other thing is that even if a movement in a fancy watch just got ruined by a leaking battery (Renata is notorious) it's only a cheap movement that can be repaired easily. A watchmaker dropping in a new movement is cheaper than overhauling an automatic.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Does it really matter if it's quartz? Supposedly the finishing for the mechanicals is supposed to improve accuracy, but a quartz is electronically regulated.

I mean - I've got one of the ETA Auto-Quartz movements in a Tissot. It's got a display back with the Tissot name on the rotor. I understand it's the identical movement as in an Omega-Matic Seamaster. Quartz is not something where a lot of money buys better performance. $15 movements go into $200 value watches and $2000 fancy cases. You're not really paying for timekeeping performance but for the case and dial.

The other thing is that even if a movement in a fancy watch just got ruined by a leaking battery (Renata is notorious) it's only a cheap movement that can be repaired easily. A watchmaker dropping in a new movement is cheaper than overhauling an automatic.



It's a personal thing, IMO. Mechnical and auto watches are a bit more old-school and there's a certain personality to them. Even a cheap quartz will be WAY more accurate than a COSC-ceritified chronometre, no argument there.

My daily is a Seiko flight watch with a quartz movement (about $280). I can just grab it and go. My other daily is an ESQ flight watch with a Swiss quartz movement (about $500). Also a grab-and-go, and keeps outstanding time (-4/+2 s per month). But I do have a few autos that are only good to about 8s/day, but I wear less frequently. They're my dressier or fun watches. I love the feel of the mechanical movement that I hand-wind.

Here's a good comparison: Toyota Camry:quartz watch::Ferrari 458:auto/mechanical. The Camry will run with minimal hassle for a long time, but is rather mundane. The Ferrari will be more fussy and tricky to maintain, but has a lot of personality.

 

[JHZR2]

Who did you buy it from on Tortola? Was it one of the bigger names, or one of the Arab/Indian shops? We shop down there a lot, and there can be shady business.

Hope you got the real deal. I'm personally not interested in quartz watches beyond a Seiko kinetic. I prefer mechanical, and preferably Rolex. I have my eye on a green dial submariner and a miligauss.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: edhackett
A $23 movement in a $200 watch is pretty high end.

There are $2000 watches out there with $16 movements, (cough) Tag (cough).


Want a Halls?

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: dparm
If you can find a watch with a Valjoux 7750, you're basically going to find a COSC-certified chronometre for 1/4 the price of a Rolex.

Bulova and many others did and still do use base 7750's they are mostly base grade movements that are no where near top or COSC grade although Bulova did order them with incabloc for some pieces.

Breitling, Tudor (owned by Rolex), Omega, etc, modify the COSC grade even further to improve quality and performance.

I like ebel for their Cal 137 which is an a COSC grade in house movement that is so good Breguet uses it in their type XX and more recently is being used by Ulysse Nardin.

The 7750 was born in 1975 IIRC to be a work horse not a high end movement, it takes a lot of work to get it past that.

You might find this interesting.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f2/smoke-mirrors-part-1-eta-grades-explained-458060.html

http://www.fratellowatches.com/ebel-1911-btr-chronograph-interesting-but-rarely-seen/

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Who did you buy it from on Tortola? Was it one of the bigger names, or one of the Arab/Indian shops? We shop down there a lot, and there can be shady business.

Hope you got the real deal. I'm personally not interested in quartz watches beyond a Seiko kinetic. I prefer mechanical, and preferably Rolex. I have my eye on a green dial submariner and a miligauss.


We bought the watch at Little Switzerland

 

[fdcg27]

I still have the Omega that I was given as a HS graduation gift.
It still works.
I too love mechanical movements.