I have too many expensive swiss auto watches and I love wearing them. But dollar-for-dollar the best watches are the Eco Drive Citizen solar collection. In terms of reliability, full functions, and some very snazzy sporty styles, they are my favorites to wear on a daily basis. I have a Casio Edifice that is also exceptional.

You’re looking at things purely from an utilitarian standpoint. And in that sense, yes solar watches are probably the best for you since they’re accurate and doesn’t really require any maintenance like services for mechanical and battery changes for quartz.

People who collect watches like the idea of a mechanical watch where the entire watch is run by springs and gears. There is a certain romanticism to it although the added work required to make a mechanical watch makes them more expensive than quartz and solar.

At the end of the day you buy the watch that you deem to be the best fit for you. And I’ll be the first to agree that regular Seiko mechanical movements aren’t exactly value propositions.

Automatics are very expensive and don’t worth in utility that much.

I dont think anybody will argue with you on this point. There is really no discussion, pretty much any quartz watch is better than pretty much any mechanical watch in pretty much any objective measure.

Any 15 bucks no name quartz or solar watch from your nearest supermarket will be way more accurate and with exponentially more power reserve than a patek philippe for 150k. And for 30 bucks you can get a digital watch with way more features than any automatics.

Its just that most of us dont wear watches for utilitarian reasons. Also your phone almost certainly has all of the same features and equal or better accuracy as any digital watch, at zero extra cost, because you need one anyway. So unless you work in a high security environment that doesnt allow phones you probably also dont “need” a solar watch for actual utility.

Automatic watches are “better” at being one of the few non-digital, lifetime lasting items in our modern world. So they are really just a romantic throwback to a simpler time and/or fashion accessory and/or status symbol.

I understand what you mean, having all 3 types around, yeah, solar is the most convieient one, it’s accurate, often radio controlled and all you need to do is keep it in the light and it’s working, automatics reuire a bit of daily use or hand winding and quartz require a new battery every few years, but every type of movement has it’s place and use.

Go with what you like, getting opinions out of other people about what you should like is pointless. Watches is probably the most subjective hobby out there.

Solar is the most practical type of watches we have today fi we only count watches and not smartwatch es.

This is why I always recommend people to buy a citizen eco-drive or a Casio solar for an everyday watch eve though I’m pretty sure that people on this sub are tired of seeing the same reply from me on the new posts looking for recommendations.

I’d say automatic watches are for watch enthusiasts. Whoever wants a practical everyday watch should get a quartz or a solar watch.