Movements

The movement is the heart and soul of our watches, and we take movement selection very seriously. Our vision for movements includes new and vintage; mechanical; and electronic. While we can dream, we can only deliver what the market and our finances can afford.

The movement market is restrictive. ETA will only sell their quartz movements to non-Swatch companies – so it is legally impossible to buy mechanical movements from ETA, if you do not belong to the Swatch Group. Swiss 2824-2 and 2892-A2 clone makers also have price, quantity, and regional restrictions. Citizen and Seiko will only sell their bottom of the range movements. Other movement makers are expensive with other restrictions.

Currently we offer:

• Sellita SW300-1 Elaborate Top Regulation
• Seagull ST-1812 (ETA 2892-A2 clone)

(We reserve the right to change, delete and add different movements without notice)

Movement Choice

(A history of compromise).

We have used: Seagull ST-2130 (ETA 2824-2 clone); Seagull ST-1812 (ETA 2829-A2 clone); Soprod A-10; and now Sellita SW300-1 Elaborate Top Regulation.

As a small maker at the bottom of the world it was hard. As a man who tries to remain firm to ones’ values, it has been a difficult road of compromise and considerable cognitive dissonance.

Unable in the early days to secure legal commercial purchase agreements with Swiss movement manufactures in amounts that we could afford, we had to seek other means. This meant travelling into the “grey market” – this was also intolerable.

We found the offerings by Seiko and Citizen unacceptable. But we managed to establish a commercial agreement with Tianjin Seagull, the largest movement maker in the world that made everything from cheap to their Premium AAA movements.

At that time “China bashing” was widespread. Only the Swiss could make good movements. But we started to use the Tianjin Seagull ST-2130 (ETA2824-2 clone). They were good.

Still the market remains biased against the Chinese. All I can say is credit where credit is due, and the Premium Seagull movements are on par with the Swiss, albeit with a price advantage and lower than acceptable quality control.

We do all Seagull Quality Control in-house. Meaning that we test and discard about 20 (or more) out of every 100 movements.

As we outgrew the entry level (2824-2) we moved upmarket to their ST-1812 (2892-A2).

When Soprod offered the A-10, it was a breath of fresh air (albeit a Seiko 4L25) and we embraced this along with the Seagull ST-1812.

The Seiko 4L25 sat in the Credor range just underGrand Seiko. Soprod made the body and Seiko the escapements. An excellent marriage, albeit never admitted by Soprod.

Soprod eventually took over full production, calling it the M100. We did not purchase the newer M100.

We are now using the Sellita SW300-1 Elaborate Top Regulation; this is the highest specification they sell to non-Swiss companies. The only thing it lacks is the COSC swing tag. It is significantly more expensive and appreciably better than most movements offered by many small watch companies.

We still use the Seagull ST-1812 as an economical alternative.

As with all precision instruments, respectful treatment and regular serving by trained watchmakers will allow the movement to work for many years. It is our link to eternity.