View single post by zippofan
 Posted: Sun Aug 5th, 2007 02:02 am
PM Quote Reply Full Topic
zippofan



Joined: Tue Feb 6th, 2007
Location: Scranton, Pennsylvania USA
Posts: 2408
Status: 
Offline
 Miyota is a subsidiary of Citizen Watch company.  They make quartz and automatic movements that are used in many company's watches including Citizen auto divers.  The well known Invicta 8926 has a Miyota automatic movement (82xx series) as well as the SeaPro divers.  I have a St. Moritz quartz chrono that has a Miyota OS10 chronograph movement.
Some collectors look down at Miyota because:
They are not Swiss
They are inexpensive (compared to the ETA workhorse 2824)
They are 21,600 bph vs 28,800 bph for the ETA (higher beat rates are considered more accurate)
They are an indirect seconds design, which occasionally can lead to a condition called the "Miyota stutter", which is to say if the watch takes a bump, the second hand stops for a second or 2 even though it doesn't affect time keeping accuracy)
They are hand windable but do not hack like the ETA

I have had 6 Miyotas, I had trouble with one and returned it to the manufacturer.  The other 5 work flawlessly.  I have heard of problems with ETA 2824 movements, so it is no indication that they are "bad".

Here is a comparison between the two movements, very informative:  http://www.17jewel.com/two.html

To me, Miyotas have one advantage.  If the movement dies (highly unlikely), they are readily available and easy for a watchmaker to just install a new movement.  I have an Alpha Planet Ocean clone that had a Chinese copy of the Miyota movement.  It was junk but I like the watch.  A watchmaker installed a Miyota movement and now it is a favorite of mine.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Griff