I would focus personally on fewer, higher quality pieces vs trying to fill out an arbitrary number in a box.
Over my time collecting I’ve fallen into the trap a few times of wanting to buy a certain kind of piece because I didn’t have something like that covered off in my collection, without pausing to think that maybe the reason why that gap exists is because I don’t like that kind of watch. Inevitably, every watch I’ve ever bought to fill a perceived hole in my collection has ended up getting neglected and then sold.
If I’m debating between two different pieces I’ll sometimes compare against what I already have and buy the one that has less overlap with my current pieces, but that’s about as far as it goes. Ultimately, I would say you should just buy what you like.
And over time I’ve just learned to have a better and better sense of what that really is.
Yep you’re more than welcome to buy the movement for $65, sit it on a desk and look at it by itself 😂
It’s also slightly disingenuous as an argument. Baltic is decorating the movement, blueing screws, etc. So it’s not exactly the same as the base $65 movement. There is some additional cost there. If that decoration isn’t to OP’s liking, fine. But it’s a relatively inexpensive watch. I wouldn’t expect much at all in the way of movement decoration on a sub $600 watch.
Beyond that, on the microbrand level it seems kind of nonsensical to me to so heavily scrutinize the movement itself. That’s kind of the point of a microbrand imo. You can get nice finishing at the price because the money isn’t being spent (by and large) on movement R&D and is being appropriated elsewhere. So it would make sense to me that a higher proportion of the ‘value’ of the watch is in the every day visible parts of it vs a more traditional or luxury brand. Buy it because you like the design, you like the case proportions, you like the dial and case finishing, etc. The dial in particular on the MR01 is very nice for a watch at its price level. And realistically that’s what you’re looking at 99% of the time. I think it’s important to bear in mind that it’s a Baltic, not a Lange.
And honestly, you’d be hard pressed to find a nicer looking watch with a microrotor for the same kind of money anyway. Or for considerably more money for that matter. OP knew the price going in and knew what the movement was, so it clearly wasn’t that big of a barrier at the time of purchase.
It’s also a strange criticism for me to complain about the watch’s thickness when it’s under 10mm including the crystal. I’ve seen and worn the MR01 many times at meetups and am always impressed by its thinness and relative proportions. Do I own thinner watches? Sure. For sub $600 though? Under 10mm is pretty thin.
The stepped case is more personal taste and references some historical cases. If that’s not OP’s cup of tea, fine. But I think it’s a stretch to call the watch ‘flawed’ based on these criticisms.