i, too, am fascinated w/mechanical watches(aside from being sick of a dead battery every 3mos.-like current generation of lightbulbs, i guess). couple of years ago, i got a seiko black monster automatic diver's watch. i loved it-tough and easily readable. 6 mos. ago it started to hang up just at midnight when the mechanism to change the date would become engaged. now it's good for 24 hrs of timekeeping(if i can help it, i'll never get another watch w/a date function-i don't need it and it obviously overcomplicates a cheap watch). i say cheap even though this thing was $210 at sam' club. reason being that i took it to a watch guy to see if a cleaning or fix was available(including disabling the date operation). he said it just wasn't worth it as something else would come up and that seiko, citizens, and even the newer omegas just weren't up to snuff. i said, well ok, what are you selling? he laughed and said no, that wasn't it, but just take a look. he got out a watch($700) branded to his shop and made in switzerland by a serious watch manufacturer. he opened up my watch and his and displayed the workings of both. i'm doing $20 casios until i can get the bread for a real watch-i'm sorry, the quality difference was too obvious-like a chinese knockoff vs. a colt or s&w. the seiko looks like stamped out parts assembled by nimble fingers on a production line whereas the swiss thing appeared to be a fitted construction of selected components-slightest movement set the winding weight to a smooth rotation, no rough edges on any parts i could see-attention had been paid. so, yeah, i know what it's like not to be able to afford what i want, but a good watch is like a good bed-you spend a lot of time(no pun) w/it, and it's very personal w/you. save your bucks, and do yourself right.
