Hello, I want to buy my first automatic watch and that is semi luxury (At least ist luxury for me right now) for the price of max 1000usd (800usd is preferable) and at this price range all swiss brands (swatch group brands mostly) use the movement powermatic 80. Tissot gentleman uses Powermatic 80 silicium and mido oceanstar 200(not 200C) uses caliber 80 and I am stuck between these two options. I want a watch that will last me a lifetime ( I know that it is hard to find a watch in this price range that will last lifetime but I am trying) and I have heard that this movement has an only problem overtime that is plastic parts. So I wonder if these two exact models has that problems cause I also have heard that these movement is not produced with plastic parts anymore (I do not know if this is true or not) . Thank you in advance, this is very important for me.
P.S. Also if anybody has mido oceanstar 200 how it looks on 6’7-7’1 inch (17-18cm) wrist will it be too big for me
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“Powermatic 80” and “Caliber 80” are rebrands of the ETA C07 series movement. There are several subtly-different variations within that series, but they’re all essentially an ETA 2824 with the beat rate tuned down to increase the power reserve. The movements are easily serviceable, although general practice in that price range is to just replace the movement at service time; it’s cheaper and easier than actually servicing them. Any mechanical watch will easily last a lifetime with regular maintenance, and cheaper watches with common movements will have the best longevity because they’re the easiest to service over the long term.
After reading so much about these movements I feel like that baby alpinist Seiko will be the better choicecause it will be cheaper and easier to maintain with local watchmaker.
Someone more knowledgeable can confirm, but as you pointed out there are numerous Powermatic 80’s. The base one has a plastic pallet fork but the higher end ones don’t.
That being said, their service costs are pretty low - Tissot charge not too bad compared to a good jewellers given the guarantee etc. They technically don’t “repair” movements and just swap it out but that doesn’t matter you at the end of the day.
Will it last 20+ years? Eh maybe not. 5-10 years yeah that’s fine
People complaining about the plastic part don’t know what they’re talking about, it’s not like it’s going to disintegrate in a couple months. It’s durable and self lubricating.
The real issue is that it’s corner cutting on a luxury item, but that’s a different discussion.
I want to service it locally as sending is not that easy