OT Watch Enthusiasts - Certina or Alpina?

I'm currently wearing a Hamilton Khaki Aviation ... I really like.. considering purchasing another

My cousin has an Alpina and loves it. FWIW.

6 one way half dozen the other. It’s your preference and ignore the static from outside

$1k is kind of weird range, but you can get some pretty good stuff.

Certina and Hamilton are owned by the Swatch group and their movements are likely going to be the one of the tried and true ETA movements. Either the 2824 or one of the new 80 hour movements with a slower beat rate. They'll call the movement something that sounds proprietary to Certina or Hamilton, but the guts will inevitably be the ETA movement, which is a good thing. They'll all be made in Switzerland and have years of performance behind them. Pretty much every watch repair shop will have seen them a minimum of hundreds of times.

Alpina is owned by Citizen and I'm pretty sure they use the Sellita SW200 or some variant in their Alpine watches. The Sellita movement is good and pretty robust as well, with a lot of the design being pretty much a copy of the ETA movement.

The Swatch group, which owns 17 watch brands, has limited their movements to only owned brands. So the ETA movement is only available now to those specific brands. Sellita has kind of swooped in and become the 2nd largest provider of movements. Their failure rates are a bit higher and the movements are a bit more workman like, but nothing to really be concerned about.

I think you're likely good on quality regardless of choice. The watch business makes it seem like there are more movements out there than there really are. There are only a limited few bespoke movement manufacturers and probably 90% of watches or more use the same 5 or 6 movements.

One brand that falls into the entry luxury space is Tissot. They make some nice stuff and are a Swatch Group company, so would have ETA movements. Give them a look as well.

As for taste, that's unique to you, I definitely suggest trying everything on to see if they fit your wrist correctly. There's nothing worse than dropping a lot of coin just to find out that something feels wrong when you wear it.

All in all, I think you're in good shape from a price/value/quality perspective.

I’d get a Prodiver.







https://www.stowa.de/sports

I always prefer the diver sport type watches my current are the Tudor brand

I'd give Baltic a look. If you are into divers, the Aquscaphe is the play. If you are looking for classic elegance then the MR Classic (looks to me to be Calatrava inspired though not an overt knockoff). If field watch is your jam, then the Hermitique.

I don't own one, but I bought one (Aquascaphe blue) for my youngest son when he graduated HS. Baltic is very solid in the microbrand space. I know the Aquascaphe line uses Miyota movements, not sure on the others. They are tyipcally in the 600 EUR range.

ed. for typo

Another question, would you buy a watch from a Venezuelan EBay seller if they have a 100% rating? Prices are fantastic but I dunno.

Ooo, very interesting watch there. Might have to add that one to the list!

Baltic, Monta or Doxa are worth a look also.