[KnightsWatch]

Hi guys, first poster here. Definitely not knowledgeable about watches.
I have an Edox watch for a few years now - a brand which seems fairly good to me.
I've always liked it, still do and wear it very frequently since it's a comfortable watch, but I started wondering how good it actually is.
It's hard to find good info on the Edox brand itself...
I only found a few posts on this forum about Edox watches and so far those seem to be quite positive.
Edox seems to have some heritage background that dates back to 1884, but that might just be the brandname itself (like a revived brand), I'm not sure about that.
They do very, very little marketing and so far, I've only found that they've sponsored a few sports events.

My watch is an Edox Grand Ocean 85008 357B BUIN and contains an Edox Caliber 85.
Aparently it's based on the ETA2824 or Sellita SW200 according to their website:

The Edox Lab - Edox

www.edox.ch

As I'm basically a watch beginner, so the specs don't tell me much:

• Frequency : 28’800 A/h
• Power Reserve: 42h
• Diameter: 25.60mm (11 1/2”’)
• Movement Height: 4.60mm
• Number of Jewels: 25
• Shock Resistance : Novodiac
• Accuracy Margin: 30 s/d
• Functions: Display of hours, minutes, seconds

As a total noob, 30 seconds/day seems like a bit much to me, but apparently it's according to spec of a standard quality level ETA2824.
Is that normal?
Novodiac is a similar thing to an Incabloc, right?
Since I've had this watch for a few years now and I'm wearing it a few days every week, does the movement require some maintenance?
I mean, it's still running just fine, but maybe some preventive maintenance to prevent further wear of the mechanics?

Considering the usage it still looks quite nicely.
Decided to make some casual pictures of the real thing, since stock images are often computer processed (I'm sorry for all the reflections, photography isn't my thing haha):

Case is still in good shape, including the sides.

The back is also still nice, but a bit more greasy that it should be haha
The porthole on both the dial and the back are in line, so you can look all the way through the moving balance wheel (I'm not able to capture that in a picture...).

Even the blueish color on the leather strap looks fairly decent, with only some fading by usage. It's mounted onto the watch using screw bars with slotted screws that fits the overall theme of the watch.

Anyways, that's just my experience so far... my main questions are:
What's the general consensus about Edox watches?
Are their movements good?
Are the other Edox watches also as good as this one?
How far off is this quality from, something like a well known Swiss watch such as an Omega Speedmaster?

 

[KnightsWatch]

Also curious to know how to fix the picture size lol.

 

[SFwatchGuy]

All I can add is I've never heard anything bad about the brand. I think pictures now post in the size you choose from the source of your photos.

 

[CometHunter]

Hello. KW, and welcome to WTF!

The history of edox is kinda tricky to ecplain on this page, so I'll refer you to read about it on wikipedia:
Era Watch Company - Wikipedia

How good is an Edox? It's good. Not super-duper fantastic, but it's quite serviceable. I personally feel it is unfair to definitively say how "good" a watch is, when they purchase their watch movements from someone else. Having said that,
more watches the world over use the ETA 2824-2 than any other movement! It is the bar by whick other movements are compared. And the Sellita SW200 is identical in every way to the ETA. Sellita started making their version as soon as ETS's patent on the movement expired and the design was fair game for everybody to copy. And the did a damn good job. I have watches that house both movements, and I am happy with both!.

As you have read, Edox was founded in 1884. Edox is not a "revived brand". And although the family running the company has changed a couple of timrs, it has been producing watches for 137 years non-stop!
I don't mind a basic lack of advertising. That tells me they're more concerned with in-house quality than they are their 'public image'. IMHO, that's one of the main reasons Rolex is the ridiculously over-priced conglomerate that it is today.

The standard number of jewels in a movement is 17, and more than that is pretty much un-necessary. If your watch isn't a chronograph or a fantastically complicated watch, then having more than 17 jewels is basically a gimmick...a publicity stunt

30 seconds per day is a little on the slow side. "Normal" for todays mechanical watches is roughly +/- 15 seconds per day, while the specs for a super accurate watch (known as a CHRONOMETER) is closer to =/- three seconds per day.
( FYI, ACCURACY FOR QUARTZ should run anywhere between +/- 0.01 and 0.07 secs per day. )
That power reserve sounds about right! MOST brands are very close to 40 hours.

All Edox models are pretty much the same. If I had the available funds, there is NO model that I'd refuse to spend my own money on. And while they're not quite as good as the more famous brands keep these two things in mind:
Higher-priced watches tend to be manufactured to tighter tolerance levels (like less wobbly winding stems and more water and dirt resistant cases. Often, those higher-priced watch companies design and manufacture their own movements inside their own factories. Those are called "in-house movements". Some even go so far as to make their own shock absorbers and watchcase crystals. The super-giant companies like Audemars-Piguet, Rolex, and Vacheron Constantin (to name just a few) will make 100% of all the parts needed to make their watches...from the watch case , all the way down to the jewels, and even the tiniest screws!

The movement of a watch depends mostly on how many different things it can do. A movement that just tells hours, minutes and seconds will be thinner than one with a calendar, moon phases and chronograph (stopwatch) dials.
Don't worry about it!

Novodiac shock absorbers ARE MADE by Incabloc!
Novodiac shocks are merely used for watches with "entry level price tags". A $1,500 Edox will have a price tag, while a $8000 Longines or $18,000 Omega will use the incabloc.

Assuming you're old enough to drive, your car is still running, Yes?.... It needs preventative maintenance, yes?
So does your watch. In spite of what some know-it-alls may say, mechanical watches should be regularly serviced. A good rule-of-thumb is have it serviced EVERY 5-8 years. Minute particles of dust and droplets from water vapor WILL
find their way into the movement, eventually causing problems.

And if you still have questions, or if I forgot something, please, please, PLEASE come back and ask away! None of us are born with this info. We ask questions and then ask some more. LOL

 

[CometHunter]

Thanks for reminding me, WFwatchGuy.
Basically, I use my WIndows Paintbrush and Editing Tools to make adjustments (and to shrink) photos BEFORE posting them here.

 

[KnightsWatch]

Thanks for all the replies!

All I can add is I've never heard anything bad about the brand. I think pictures now post in the size you choose from the source of your photos.

Hmmh the host I'm using doesn't offer rezising options, so next time, I'll probably have to resize the pictures themselves before uploading.

As you have read, Edox was founded in 1884. Edox is not a "revived brand". And although the family running the company has changed a couple of timrs, it has been producing watches for 137 years non-stop!
I don't mind a basic lack of advertising. That tells me they're more concerned with in-house quality than they are their 'public image'. IMHO, that's one of the main reasons Rolex is the ridiculously over-priced conglomerate that it is today.

I agree that advertising isn't that important, but because it's not that well known, it's hard to find info on it. Like for example on YouTube, there are many review videos of all types of Swiss watches, but only like 5 to 10 feature an Edox watch. Like almost nobody knows it exists.

The standard number of jewels in a movement is 17, and more than that is pretty much un-necessary. If your watch isn't a chronograph or a fantastically complicated watch, then having more than 17 jewels is basically a gimmick...a publicity stunt

Ah yes, that doesn't surprise me, I've had a bad Tongji in the distant past, it had 35(!) jewels, but it broke within three years lol.

30 seconds per day is a little on the slow side. "Normal" for todays mechanical watches is roughly +/- 15 seconds per day, while the specs for a super accurate watch (known as a CHRONOMETER) is closer to =/- three seconds per day.
( FYI, ACCURACY FOR QUARTZ should run anywhere between +/- 0.01 and 0.07 secs per day. )
That power reserve sounds about right! MOST brands are very close to 40 hours.

Interesting, I've heard about chronometer "certificates" to prove the accuracy - do those actually show measurements someone did in the factory or does it vary between watchmakers?

All Edox models are pretty much the same. If I had the available funds, there is NO model that I'd refuse to spend my own money on. And while they're not quite as good as the more famous brands keep these two things in mind:
Higher-priced watches tend to be manufactured to tighter tolerance levels (like less wobbly winding stems and more water and dirt resistant cases. Often, those higher-priced watch companies design and manufacture their own movements inside their own factories. Those are called "in-house movements". Some even go so far as to make their own shock absorbers and watchcase crystals. The super-giant companies like Audemars-Piguet, Rolex, and Vacheron Constantin (to name just a few) will make 100% of all the parts needed to make their watches...from the watch case , all the way down to the jewels, and even the tiniest screws!

Is it true that some higher end brands like Tag Heuer and Omega have ETA movements in their "entry level" watches?

Novodiac shock absorbers ARE MADE by Incabloc!
Novodiac shocks are merely used for watches with "entry level price tags". A $1,500 Edox will have a price tag, while a $8000 Longines or $18,000 Omega will use the incabloc.

Oh wow I have vintage Mical Eminent (also a brand that's very obscure for as far as I know) that has the Incabloc.
What I love about those 50s/60s vintage watches is that most of them are much thinner than modern mechanical watches, but I don't get it... why are most watches so thick nowadays?
Because thick watches with a dial over 40mm likely to be a bad match with thin wrists.
Is that a matter of fashion or technology?
Or because most are automatics nowadays? (idk if the rotor adds a lot to the thickness)

Assuming you're old enough to drive, your car is still running, Yes?.... It needs preventative maintenance, yes?
So does your watch. In spite of what some know-it-alls may say, mechanical watches should be regularly serviced. A good rule-of-thumb is have it serviced EVERY 5-8 years. Minute particles of dust and droplets from water vapor WILL
find their way into the movement, eventually causing problems.

Ah that makes sense, 5 to 8 years definitely isn't that bad for something mechanical that moves rapidly, non-stop.
I hope that it will be affordable to service, because of the use of a standard ETA movement.

 

[CometHunter]

I agree...it's like: "If we don't advertise, how are they going to know we exist?'' That's why I read books about watches, and subscribe to magazines like WatchTime, Swiss Watch International, Orologi, and International Wrist Watch.

C.O.S.C. certicicates are issued by the Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometre. It is a official timing laboratory/institute located in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. Some watch companies submit all of their watches for testing (like Rolex and Breitling, while some will submit only one or two models. Submissions for accuracy tests are purely optional (and expensive) and the COSC lab will test ONLY those watches that are manufactured AND assembled within Switzerland.
And just like the testing is optional, it is up to the watch manufacturer to decide whether or not to receive written copies of the tests. Otherwise, they just remain on file at the COSC labs. The certificate contains things like:
The average daily rate of the movement
The mean variation in rates during the 14 days of testing
The greatest variation in those rates
The difference between rates in horizontal and vertical positions (when the movement lies face up, face down, the crown in the 3, 6, 9, and 12 position.
The largest variation in rates during testing
The variation in rate depending on the ambient temperature
No OFFICIAL testing is done by the watch company in it's own factory, although they can do their own quality assurance tests.

TAGHeuer relies heavily on the reworking of ETA movements, although they do have one or two that are made in-house. I fact it is common for higher end watch companies to rely on movements made someone else. Rolex uses ETA for its subsidiary brand (TUDOR)! Ball uses ETA movements. Breitling will take ETAs and add their own special tweaks. BULGARI uses several different makers. Other brands are CARTIER (Girard-Perregaux, Piaget, ETA), CHRONOSWISS, DUNHILL, EBERHARD, HUBLOT, IWC, LONGINES, TISSOT, the list goes on. Many watch brands would be substantially more expensive if the company had to manufacture its own movements! In fact many brands could not afford to stay in business if they couldn't buy movements from outside sources.

True story: ETA is owned by a parent company called The Swatch Group (you've heard of The Swatch Watch, right?) For decades, watch companies would purchase unassembled movements from people like ETA, make their own personal additions to the movement, stick them in watch cases, and in the end, take all the credit for creating marvelous in-house movements. Only in the last few years did ETA finally decide it would start selling only ebauches (a French term for a completely assembled watch movement) to all brands NOT also owned by The Swatch Group.

And yes, that darned automatic rotor is the main reason modern watches are thicker. You can still find slender auto watches, but they will be prohibitively expensive. In essence, the watch maker would need to "re-invent" the movement in order to create a thinner machine. And that takes money. It's why a really thin automatic watch costs more than my last two cars put together:
Audemars-Piguet Extra-Thin $39,200
Jaeger LeCoultre Master $23,800
Chopard L.U.C. XP (a steal at) $8,200
Vacheron Constantin Extra Fine $30,500
Piaget Altiplano $34,300
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Costs vary according to the regional standard of living, so I ca only talk about my own experiences. The very first watch I ever took in for a service (Clean and re-lubricate) cost me about $100. My local watchmaker had to
*dis-assemble the watch
*clean off all the parts in a sonic immersion bath
*examine the parts for wear and tear
*reassemble the watch
*properly re-lubricate the watch
*pressure test the seals and where the case opens up
*make sure the watch is running on-time
And the longer I stayed a repeat customer, the bigger my discounts became. Eleven years (and 37 watches later) my most recent service was for a 1971 Omega Seamaster Deville and a 1958(?) Gruen small sweep seconds. Bernie charged me roughly $40 per watch. It pays to cultivate a business relationship!

 

[KnightsWatch]

C.O.S.C. certicicates are issued by the Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometre. It is a official timing laboratory/institute located in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. Some watch companies submit all of their watches for testing (like Rolex and Breitling, while some will submit only one or two models. Submissions for accuracy tests are purely optional (and expensive) and the COSC lab will test ONLY those watches that are manufactured AND assembled within Switzerland.

Hmmh... It would be very interesting to see all those measurement results, but if just one certificate is already expensive, I think it would be even more expensive to maintain it.
I mean, if the watch goes out for an overhaul service every 5 to 8 years, it also needs to be re-certified, right?
That would push up the maintenance costs a lot.
I haven't seriously considered maintenance costs of a watch yet (I've only looked at the price tags on the watches themselves so far), so long term costs are something to take into consideration when buying a second mechanical watch.

TAGHeuer relies heavily on the reworking of ETA movements, although they do have one or two that are made in-house. I fact it is common for higher end watch companies to rely on movements made someone else. Rolex uses ETA for its subsidiary brand (TUDOR)! Ball uses ETA movements. Breitling will take ETAs and add their own special tweaks. BULGARI uses several different makers. Other brands are CARTIER (Girard-Perregaux, Piaget, ETA), CHRONOSWISS, DUNHILL, EBERHARD, HUBLOT, IWC, LONGINES, TISSOT, the list goes on. Many watch brands would be substantially more expensive if the company had to manufacture its own movements! In fact many brands could not afford to stay in business if they couldn't buy movements from outside sources.

Wow even Tudor, Cartier, Hublot and IWC uses ETA?
I always assumed that those were a independent watchmakers that made their own movements.
Sounds like the Swatch Group is a very power entity, considering that so many brands that basically "live" on the ETA movements Swatch makes.
When I look online at watches and their movement is listed, they almost always contain ETA, very rarely Sellita or Valjoux and I think I've seen something called Toprod or Tuprod once.
So ETA definitely has a very big market share, or at least for the watches that are for sale over here in the Netherlands.

And the longer I stayed a repeat customer, the bigger my discounts became. Eleven years (and 37 watches later) my most recent service was for a 1971 Omega Seamaster Deville and a 1958(?) Gruen small sweep seconds. Bernie charged me roughly $40 per watch. It pays to cultivate a business relationship!

Cool!
I've had some bad "service" experiences in the past, with quartz watches - yes, they only needed a battery replacement.
Even that was apparently too hard, two of the indentations on the case back were damaged when they screwed that "lid" off the back.
I think their tool slipped out of those indentations.
I've also brought a cheap diving watch to a jeweler once for a battery replacement, went swimming shortly after and got water ingress... went back and they said it was "normal" that a watch isn't waterproof anymore after a battery replacement. As far as I know that's a load of nonsense, since the rubber gasket was replaceable.

But that were jewelers, so I thought that it would go better when going to a watchmaker.
So another time I went to an actual watchmaker to replace the battery, he made a scratch in the bezel... a tiny scratch, but big enough to be annoyed by it if you know it's there.
So he offered to buff it out, which he did very nicely.
The bezel and case were some type of matte steel - what I noticed some days later, was that the bezel was a different grain of matte than the rest of the case, much rougher matte, in contrast to the silky matte of the rest of the case.
It was a funny discovery, but I'm not really bothered by it, makes it look different from original, but not necessarily worse.
The watchmaker should've been honest about it though...

I really like that Omega, especially those indices and the rectangular holes in the hands.
I'm not sure about the square Gruen... square and rectangular dials aren't my kind of thing.