Grand Seiko Quartz or Nomos

Gavin1

Hi,

Looking for a bit of a steer on this. I am looking at a Grand Seiko Quartz or a Nomos Orion and am a bit stuck.

I like the idea of the Grand Seiko background and thoroughness. Similarly with Nomos and that they are trying to bring decent watch building ideals to a wider audience.

What is the collective think on either of these options?

Thanks

Time

For me it’s the Nomos, I get the appeal of the GS but at the end of the day it’s still a quartz, a very fancy one. But for me they just don’t have the soul an automatic has.

Looks wise I think the GS is far nicer, the Nomos reminds me too much of the generic Daniel Wellington style watches.

blue5000

What Nomos Orion are you thinking about?

Thirdfox

For me it's the Grand Seiko - the Nomos' design is so simplistic that you can spend €100 and get a perfectly serviceable homage to the bauhaus design:
(just a quick google to see what came up) - https://www.seagullwatchstore.com/Classic-Rodina-Automatic-Wrist-Bauhaus-Watch-p/r005-arabic-white-dial.htm

Whereas with the Grand Seiko - sure you can get other quartz watches - but the whole point of GS is that the love and finishing they put into the watch won't be matched except by other top tier Swiss/German makers - it'll be a cut above the Rolex/Omega's and (what I imagine) the Japanese equivalent to the Patek/VC finishing (at least on the dial side and not the movement side) - here's a thread about the PP/GS owners:
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=414360

I own mostly mechanical pieces but have 2 quartz pieces - a well made timepiece is well made regardless of movement I think. I believe with a GS they make sure each second tick hits the second indices exactly and have some sort of motor to brake the second hand so it doesn't have a "quartz wobble" that cheaper quartz watches would have.

Having said that if I were to buy a GS I'd probably either go with their Hi beat 36000 automatic movement or their spring drive one because I don't own a super hi beat watch and spring drive is their baby (and the smooth hand is very appealing to look at):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyl7-gHRBX8 - slow motion comparison of 1bps quartz to 8bps eta 2824 to ~bps Seiko Spring Drive (spring drive from 2:35 onwards).

The video above also shows the "quartz wobble" I talk about in that Timex at the start - I believe Grand Seikos don't have this issue.

Final thing is are you considering resale value? I have no idea of what either piece would fetch if you wanted to sell it on - of course if you don't intend to resell then it's not a consideration.

So I vote for Grand Seiko - not necessarily the quartz model though.

Whatever you choose post pictures afterwards

scwazrh

I would definitely choose the GS . I don't think its even right to compare GS and Nomos. The two are worlds apart .If there is any way you can get to hold both at the same time you will feel the difference.GS finishing quality is far superior to any similar price point watches including the most popular swiss brands.

Thirdfox

Though I guess it is fair to point out that if you are wearing watches for others to see then many/most non-watch people will be "oh it's a Seiko". At least with Nomos people may think "oh German watch - cool".

On the flipside - some people like that about the GS - it will fly under the radar of 99% of people.

I remember talking watches in a boutique and the salesperson laughed when I mentioned that I may be considering a GS in the future - I guess she thought they were somehow related to the €100 Argos Seikos or a Seiko 5 (not knocking the trusty Seiko 5 either ).

Gavin1

Thanks for the replies.

Most of what I have is automatic and across different brands.

I also have some higher end Quartz (Rolex Oysterquartz and Omega X-33).

The Nomos thing is around the in-house movement and finish at the Nomos price point. I was looking at an Orion with the blued hands and gold hour batons.

However, I understand that GS are in different class altogether. I would pick a Quartz up second hand for Nomos money. The Quartz GS, I understand is at the peak of Quartz movement, up there with the Oysterquartz.

Food for thought and the thinking continues.

Thanks

Thirdfox

https://www.chrono24.com/nomos/orion--id9509692.htm

There's an Irish Nomos on Chrono24 right now btw - blued hands and gold indices.

Gavin1

Thirdfox wrote: »

https://www.chrono24.com/nomos/orion--id9509692.htm

There's an Irish Nomos on Chrono24 right now btw - blued hands and gold indices.

You are a bad man!!!

Oafley Jones

Thirdfox wrote: »

https://www.chrono24.com/nomos/orion--id9509692.htm

There's an Irish Nomos on Chrono24 right now btw - blued hands and gold indices.

Very early model so it’s not an in house movement, which I think is important to the OP.