SteveG
1529
I'm certainly with you there as well, Nick,
Although Rolex is now suitably in-house, I believe historically they concentrated on their pioneering automatic
movements, sourcing outside (as was so common) chronograph ebauches for example. Seiko as you point out
has always been pretty much exclusively their own designer, even for their $50 throwaways, not mentioning Grand
Seiko and Spring Drive...
I might note that as I understand the Peseux 7001 and Valjoux 13-ligne pretty much quality also as "ebauche-only",
their suppliers not being historically in the watch business (not counting ETA/Swatch, their late purchaser).
The Peseux 260 is now famous in fabulous Voutilainen format, although the original "factory" finish is perfectly fine
with me too!
Some of my favorite watches/movements are not in-house:
It is hard to miss the recurring comments about the relative desirability and value of watches with in-house versus purchased movements, there are so many aspects regarding exclusivity, prestige, beauty and "fitness", as well as the public relations/adver...
Other examples...
Hi Steve, The whole debate amuses me, and your examples are great. I've always particularly enjoyed the fact that Seiko and Rolex are probably the most vertically integrated of manufacturers (I love a good-old Seiko 5 being far more "in-house" than the va...
Beautiful pics, as always, and I agree 100%,
in that what is made of the ebauches, that's make a movement special or not. I would suggest it's about as the same as with cars. The best model of a car is the last one in the serie, before the new model arrives. The "old" model has been around for sever...
Excellent examples, Steve...
and I agree completely that it is what the manufacturer does with the ebauche that counts. As I have a soft spot for high-grade vintage automatics, here's a superb example of that genre: a Vacheron & Constantin K1072/1, based on a "reserved" JLC ebauche w...
I'll parre and riposte
I look for interesting movements as much, and probably more than, the next guy. My desire is NOT for an inhouse movement name, but for a pretty, well finished movement that I can enjoy watching during the massive number of boring meeting that I attend. Th...