Are Expensive Watches, Rolex And The Like, Still 'clockwork'?

[sandyRoe]

And do you need to wind them up?

[237SJ]

Yes. They can be windable or wind up when the wrist is moved.

[anneasquith]

are you going to treat yourself sandy ?

[retrocop]

I believe they are either manually wound up periodically(like me) or are automatic movements.Don't think they stoop so low as to put chinese battery powered movements in them yet though the accuracy of these prestige watches is questionable compared to a cheap quartz battery operated watch.

[snags]

I thought every new Rolex came with a 'man' who's sole job is to wind your new watch.

[237SJ]

I think the reason that watches such as Rolex are expensive is because of the intricate clockworkings inside. They should last for a lifetime.

[aelmpvw]

the watch of my dreams is a jaeger lecoultre reverso but it requires me to wind it up and a three year service costs £750 ... the wife thinks i'm mad

[sandyRoe]

I wish. ;-)
No, I was just thinking that in the same way technological advances are pushing film cameras onto the curio shelves, quartz movements will see the end of clockwork watches.

[2sp_]

I have a Tag (not anywhere near the league of Rolex, but dear enough), and it costs me £57 to get a new battery every few years!

I would be better just buying a cheap £10 watch and chucking it when the battery died.

[237SJ]

I`ve got a Rolex but I don`t wear it to work which means that when I come home from work a few days later, it`s stopped because it hasn`t been on my wrist. I`m always having to re-set the time and date and it`s not designed for having to do that, really. I expect when I wear it, people think I got it down the market in Hong Kong for a tenner.

[Buenchico]

If I get a really big lottery win I plan on buying myself a really good watch but I wouldn't even consider a Rolex. I'd go for a Patek Phillippe. (A quarter of a million pounds buys you a decent one).

[sandyRoe]

At that price they'd surely supply someone to wind it for you.

[retrocop]

I have a genuine Omega seamaster.loses about 4 minutes a week Cost in Singapore £1600.
I also have a hooky Omega Speedmaster automatic.Loses about 1minute every 3 weeks.Bought Bodrum market £10.I know which watch I prefer to purchase.
My wife is really low maintenance.She says the best watches she owns are a freebie I got with a 5litre tin of oil and a Clio(Renault)watch given to her when she bought her car about 15yrs ago.Wish I could get her to like beer instead of wine though.

[ChillDoubt]

Like 2sp, I have a Tag Heuer Sport Elegance Model (Automatic), bought second hand/ex display on eBay a couple of years back. It was £500, bought as a treat with some backpay I was owed and something to pass onto young ChillDoubt.
I reasoned the cost and the fact it is automatic against the cost of a new battery every so often.

[stewey]

Here is a little bit of information, Sandy http://www.patek.com/contents/default/en/movements.html

[jake-the-peg]

Expensive is a relative term

I believe Rolex makes more watches a year than Patek Phillipe has made in its entire history!

Most 'clockwork' watches are automatic in that a weight or 'rotor' winds them in response to movement.

Actually two companies made the vast majority of movements, Valjoux and ETA but ETA bought Valjoux in 1985

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valjoux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA_SA

Some of these companies customise or fine tune the movements but most of them are mass produced

The Valjoux 7750 goes into dozens of mechanical watches and makes them 'affordable' - movement's probably about 100-200 quid wholesale, the watch itself like a Breitling may cost 10 times that retail

In some cases the 'service' will cost more and they'll simply replace the movement and tell you it was serviced

[jake-the-peg]

You might be interested in this man George Daniels from the Isle of Man who sadly died a couple of years back.

Possibly the greatest living watchmaker until then

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24211691

[jno]

my £10 Casio always seems to tell perfect time. I used to have to chuck them away every couple of years because the plastic straps broke, but I've now found one with a metal strap and have had it for 5 years. Why exactly would I want a Rolex?

[sandyRoe]

Ostentation?
I bought my present watch about 20 years ago. Apart from the silvering wearing away and showing the base metal underneath it's as good as new.

[Khandro]

The quote for repairs to my last old Swiss mechanical watch were so expensive, I bought myself my first quartz watch, a 'Rotary Mens Aquaspeed Chronograph' for just over a hundred quid via Amazon and I'm delighted with it. I bought it last June and it hasn't lost a second since then.
In answer to the OP, most expensive watches Rolex etc, are self-winding by movent of the wrist. I have a watch-fanatic friend who as several of them and he has a special electric device on which they hang and are in constant movement so that when he selects one it is always fully wound and accurate.

[Zeuhl]

Any jeweller can tell you that a Rolex is primarily a status symbol.

There are better options as a time-piece.

For an increasing number of people these days, it's their phone.