I’m willing to bet that most of the people proclaiming these junk have never actually owned one. I bought my first Sturhling watch almost six years ago, and it is still going strong and still keeps good time. I now own another four and all still work well. The only problem I’ve had is that the fabric/leather straps begin to go after a while, but with these that obviously won’t be a problem.
I’ve never had a problem with the self winding mechanism. When I haven’t worn a watch in a while I give it a quick shake before I put it on and that gets it started.
FWIW I usually have a problem with watches getting magnetised and stopping working after a few months of wear, but I’ve not had that happen with any of my Stuhrling watches. It’s one of the main reasons I keep buying them.
My main reason to wear a watch is to be able to quickly glance at it and tell what time it is. Skeleton watches FAIL. Timex Indiglo for me so I can check quickly in my car at night.
I bought a Stuhrling automatic last year and while it looked great, the performance was anything but. I followed the directions exactly and the longest it would run was about an hour and a half. After two weeks of fiddling I ended up returning it because there was no way I could get it to work properly.
Im afraid it is entirely true. I have seen many, many watches come into my shop with ruined pivots, worn out barrels, and even broken mainsprings (all of them being Swiss ETA movements, most popularly being the 2892 and 2824, the 7750 chronographs tend to have the reduction wheel break free of its arbor). Automatic watches CANNOT be overwound, it is impossible. The mainspring is designed to slip inside the barrel when a full wind is reached, thus allowing excess energy from the movement of the automatic (or when manually winding it) to be dissipated. Over time this slipping action creates wear inside the barrel, which you will be able to see with the open design, when this wear reaches a point where the friction overcomes the slipping ability the mainspring will break, or part of the automatic will fail. Usually other issues of wear arise before this happens under normal usage, rendering the watch non-functional until repaired.
It is really a nearly effortless action to wind and set the watch when you first put it on.
Please, don’t use automatic winders with watches, it only serves to reduce the overall life of the mechanism.
Automatic watches can’t be justified in practical terms, as there are always alternatives to simply telling time, maybe more easily, or more accurately. They can be sometimes considered more as jewelry or fashion accessories, or simply nifty things to look at in operation. If you’re mechanically inclined you’d consider how amazing the mechanism is, even down to the cheapest mechanical watches. Imaging fabricating anything of the kind from scratch, it’d be impossible. I’d have to go with a sundial watch.
“Krysterna Crystal front and back, utlizing cutting-edge technology from the optical industry to create a more shatter-resistant crystal than sapphire”
Does it also have anything like the scratch resistance of sapphire? Or is the statement like saying, “Our car has superior gas mileage compared to even the top Formula 1 cars!”
Even with daily wear the user is likely to remove the watch for periods of time, such as shower/pool/sleep/or dirty work. During this time the automatic is not in motion. Even with a timed winder you are still putting more stress on the mechanism than though normal wear.
When being worn throughout the day the weight of the automatic only goes through a portion of a full 360 degree revolution. If you’re walking the oscillating weight which drives the automatic may only rotate 45-60 degrees, if you rest your arm on a desk it may go 90, raise your hand above your head? 180 degrees. On an automatic winder it is spinning 360 degrees continuously, for hours or days at a time, even if it is on a timer.
We often liken it to running your cars engine constantly, you wouldn’t let your engine run overnight while your asleep, would you, just so you wouldn’t have to start it in the morning? Not to say what that would do to your fuel economy, of course.
Don’t feel bad, but I know a lot of people who equate how much an item costs with it’s level of quality. My own mother would always buy the most expensive of two items, believing that the most expensive of the two items HAD to be better. There was nothing I or anyone could say to her to make her change her mind. She had to change her thinking on her own but this never happened.
It’s very easy for us also to equate “made in China” with junk. I remember when Americans did exactly the same during the 50’s and 60’s with “made in Japan.” Look who’s laughing now. We are currently sending more gold to Japan these days than we ever spent to defeat them during World War 11.
And so it is with China. While they had a slow start a few decades ago, they are beating us at our own game today. Many of the products we buy from them today are no longer junk…an alarmingly large percentage of them are as good or better than American products…and they are cheaper. The only ones who are laughing today are the Chinese…they are laughing all the way to the bank.
Not really. I own three Sturhlings. They are inexpensive but not junk. The two automatics work quite well and have been very durable. The quartz “diver” watch I have is darn nice.
They aren’t Tags or Brighties but neither are they junk. They’re decent,better, and prettier than most you can get in this price range…at least as far as I am aware.
We have the same taste, we chose the same colors. We’ve become addicted to these middle of the road watches and have been wearing them more than the upscale ones. W000T found a new nitch, keep it up W000T. You realize people have a thing for watches! Years back, having 1 or 2 good watches was enough for anyone. No longer.
I could say, I agree with you except I also own 3 elite watches, 2 of which are Rolex. I could say that but then I would be telling a big lie.
I believe that watches under $100 can be decent watches…at least most of them can. Half of all watches today are under $25. The middle of the road watch is under $500 and the elite, expensive watches are $1,500 and up. The expensive watches are not purchased because of their ability for accuracy but rather for the status symbol they represent. The truth is that a $25 quartz Timex can easily out perform a $25,000 Rolex in terms of accuracy any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I’m quite happy with a middle of the road watch. They are pretty, they are reasonably accurate and they are affordable to the extent that I can own as many watches as I own suits or pairs of shoes.
Currently I have a Relic watch. Previously, I had a Fossil. Both were priced about the same as these. Both required batteries. The Fossil eventually stopped working after 2-3 years and 2-3 battery replacements. The Relic is still ticking, but the face is pretty scratched.
Can I expect the same or better performance with one of these watches? I don’t expect life-time heirloom quality, just a few years of telling me the time and preventing me from looking at my phone in meetings.