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This comes under the heading of "anything with "aviation" in its description costs at least 3 times what it is worth".

A few years ago I purchased one of Torgoen's watches. I got a simple one because I just wanted the second time zone. By time I paid shipping, it was about a $250 purchase.

The watch worked well for a couple of years and then got erratic. I had it repaired to the tune of $136. In the process, I picked up an interest in watch repair, so started studying that.

Once I got a little knowledge I undertook to disassemble my watch and take a look at it.

What a surprise!!! I discovered that the wholesale price of the movement, which was replaced in the repair, is about $12!!! The case is made in China.

The movement IS a Swiss movement, but it is one of the "economy" single jewel Swiss movements. These watches are sold as high quality time pieces and are priced accordingly.

Not exactly!

Reg

I think, as you've found out, the Torgoen watches are overpriced.

I have a nice collection of Seiko chronographs [members.cox.net] . But with my now old eyes, I wanted something easier to read. I bought an Airman GMT with a Citizen (Japanese) movement, but its case is huge. I swapped the innards into another case. Now I have a one-of-a-kind, inexpensive, nice looking GMT watch.

Timex has this GMT watch [amazon.com]. If you can find it, it's around $60.

Hung, you are one interesting guy.

When I was looking for a GMT watch, I couldn't find one, except the Torgoen and Breightling. The Breightling was WAY out of my price range.

With new resources, I have new options. When this movement starts to go south again (which it undoubtedly will) I will go looking for another GMT movement that will fit the case.

I am learning that movements can be had for a lot less than watches. In fact, I can get expensive movements free at the moment. The price of gold being what it is, jewelers are buying gold watches, chucking the movements, and selling the gold. For instance, I just acquired a 23 jewel women's Bulova movement that the jeweler had just pitched in the trash when I walked in looking for old movements to tinker with.

Reg

Reg....I have a Citizen's Skyhawk (Euro model) that failed on me a year or two back....loved the watch, but didn't want to pay more than I bought it for to get it fixed. Maybe I will send it over to you to use as a project.

I ended up giving up on the fancy watches and bought a Casio with the Radio signal time and solar recharging and even that is giving me fits with the winter months setting in, but at least it has UTC on it.

Jeff:

I would love to tinker with that! I will PM you with my mailing address.

If I can get it running, I will send it back to you.

Reg

You know that you are getting lazy when you can't keep your self-winding watch running. Please don't ask how I know.