Steady339 Member Member Geek
Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: California Posts: 55 Real Name: Roger
Beautiful Puzzling Mechanical Skeleton I received a gorgeous 46mm, gold-tone Invicta 5077 Vintage Mechanical Skeleton watch today. The decorated 6497 mechanical skeleton movement is very beautiful with the look of hand decoration on the bridges. I had been searching for a beautiful skeleton watch at an inexpensive price and for the $150 I paid I feel this one is a good choice. Invicta claims a Technica Swiss Ebauche 3600K mechanical movement, but no where does this watch say "Swiss Made" or "Swiss Movement." Although Invicta is not giving details, from what I've read the movement has both Swiss and Chinese parts. I find it puzzling that this watch looks to have hand-decorated bridges. I say this having noticed slight variations in the decoration when looking at pictures of other examples of the model 5077. Other nice features of this watch are: sapphire crystals front and back, nice mahogany embossed leather strap, a tastefully styled cut-away dial, polished gun metal hands, and a signed clasp.
Last edited by Steady339; 04-12-2010 at 08:46 PM. Reason: Aadd photos
Steady339
#2 04-08-2010, 11:35 PM
RenatoDiamond Junior Member New Geek
Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: California Posts: 0 Real Name: Gene
Very nice, the Ebauche company used to be in Switzerland, but moved to China, and have just kept the "Swiss" in their name. __________________ RenatoDiamond RenatoDiamond
#3 04-09-2010, 01:38 AM
dutchman Senior Member Senior Geek
A very classy watch. The band is very complimentary. dutchman View Public Profile Send a private message to dutchman Send email to dutchman Find all posts by dutchman Add dutchman to Your Contacts #4 04-09-2010, 07:35 AM
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Buzzard Senior Member Veteran Geek
Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Bayside, NY Posts: 839 Real Name: Joe
That is a real nice watch...awesome looking movement. to me, it doesnt matter where it is made. Congrats! __________________
Co-Founder N.E.W.A. - Click here to join: http://watchgeeks.net/group.php?groupid=36 Buzzard View Public Profile Send a private message to Buzzard Find all posts by Buzzard Add Buzzard to Your Contacts #5 04-09-2010, 07:40 AM
tkromer Senior Member True WatchGeek
Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Morgantown WV Posts: 13,946 Real Name: Tommy
That is a beautiful watch, definitely looks pricier than $150! tkromer View Public Profile Send a private message to tkromer Send email to tkromer Find all posts by tkromer Add tkromer to Your Contacts #6 04-09-2010, 10:21 AM gigfy Senior Member Senior Geek
Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 254
This is a wonderful movement but don't believe the hype and misleading name. It is a 100% Chinese Sea-Gull ST3600 movement. For $150 you got a screaming deal on the best pocket watch movement Sea-Gull makes. http://www.seagullwatch.com/cn/produ...imageField.y=0
More reading on the subject can be found here. http://www.tractionink.com/watch_wik...Swiss_Ebauches http://watchgeeks.net/showthread.php...light=technica cheers, gigfy gigfy View Public Profile Send a private message to gigfy Find all posts by gigfy
Add gigfy to Your Contacts #7 04-09-2010, 10:55 AM gigfy Senior Member Senior Geek
Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 254
Quote: Originally Posted by RenatoDiamond Very nice, the Ebauche company used to be in Switzerland, but moved to China, and have just kept the "Swiss" in their name. Where did you hear that? Eyal told me directly that the Technica Swiss Ebauche movements were made in Korea. He was specifically referring to the ST19 (mechanical chronograph) but I would find it hard to believe they have multiple TSE locations in Asia. Following quote located in this thread: http://watchgeeks.net/showthread.php?p=427279 Quote: Originally Posted by gigfy Here is what Eyal told me in an email from approx. Feb 2008. (not a quote, but paraphrased) He said that the movement is assembled in Korea. Invicta outsources some labor from Seagull employees and also source some parts from Seagull. The assembly is managed by a team of Swiss watchmakers. He also indicated that they are seeing better performance from their movements and are able to extend this value to the customer.
And here is another wrinkle on the name. Why is it OK to totally dismiss the "Swiss" part of the name? It's just a name, nothing more. Then on the other hand, totally buy in to the "Ebauche" part of the name. Implying that they take an movement blank and improve upon it or make a better movement from it. It is more likely that they are 100% Chinese movements (Sea-Gull for the ST1902 mechanical chrono example), and any improvements they see is a product of the QC and assembly conditions at TSE. Now, I'm not bashing these 6497/6498 movements. I like them a lot and have a few but I do have a problem with the TSE name.
Cheers, gigfy
gigfy View Public Profile Send a private message to gigfy Find all posts by gigfy Add gigfy to Your Contacts #8 04-11-2010, 07:12 PM Troutstroker Senior Member True WatchGeek
Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Pioneer, California. Posts: 20,979 Real Name: Brian
Invicta's Vintage line has some beautiful timepieces. The one you picked up is no exception, very nice. Congrats __________________
Troutstroker View Public Profile Send a private message to Troutstroker Find all posts by Troutstroker Add Troutstroker to Your Contacts #9 04-11-2010, 07:44 PM
socrates Senior Member Master WatchGeek
Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Live in Hawaii on the island of Oahu Posts: 2,753 Real Name: Paul
We are just beating a dead horse here. believe Jim and/or Michael have waded in on this and explain the issue.