I ordered 2 of the Boderry Titanium field watches. As already well discussed and reviewed these offer a ton of value at their introductory price of sub-$70. I also have 7 of their other designs from skeletons to divers in both titanium and bronze and have been generally pleased with their fit, finish and aesthetics.
STUTTERING MIYOTA
Regarding the field watches and specifically the Miyota movement, I have one (the white dial) that works perfectly. It exhibits no stuttering in the second hand that has been described here and elsewhere. However the black one very much stutters when sweeping from 12 - 3. It honestly doesn’t bother me as you only notice if you’re staring at the watch during the 15 second ‘stutter zone’ and it appears to keep the same accurate time as the non-stuttering version after 4 hours of observation.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
I sent Boderry an email yesterday at around 6:30pm. And received a response around 10:00pm. Understandable given the 12 hour difference from EST to Guangzhou, China (or Hong Kong). So no conspiracies here for me or a watchmaker hiding out or attempting to block customers’ emails. Their response seemed reasonable and the provided link was also helpful regarding the movement.
RESPONSE
Hello,sorry for the late reply.
The problem you mentioned is a structural design problem of the Japanese Miyota 82XX series movement, not a defect of the watch itself.
The series of Miyota movements based on the 82XX caliber have the Indirect Drive system.
The “Hesitating Second Hand”, you observed on your watch is simply a characteristic of the “Indirect Seconds” type of movement design and in no way has any effect on the watch accuracy or timekeeping.
A quick Google search brought the following answer:
what does second hand skipping automatic:
https://calibercorner.com/stuttering-se ... explained/
We suggest you fully wind the watch (20-30 turns) and observe whether its performance improves.
Thanks for your feedback. Let us know your thoughts.
Best Wishes
BODERRY TEAM
@Boderry Official - boderry.com| Contact us: support@boderry.com
CONCLUSION
While I don’t think that time or 30-winds are going to correct an engineering reality of the movement, I’d also say that the stuttering is not a ‘deal-breaker’ for me. I have nearly 500 watches and several have this movement (around 30). This makes 3 now (or 10%) that stutter in my collection. No idea if that’s a good number, about average or worse. I do think a PSA regarding this issue would’ve helped others preemptively if Boderry would’ve included it. Some would argue, if you are a watch-lover you should already know. Others would argue that it’s not acceptable. So in summary for me:
- If 10% (or more) of the Miyota movements do this, well it’s a bit of a lottery
- If it really doesn’t impact the accuracy of the watch, I really don’t care
- Boderry’s value overall is really hard to beat and I’d still have ordered the watches had I known of the potential stuttering
- Boderry’s communications and service for me have been better than most micro brands that are self-distributing
- Overall the stutter doesn’t both me or effect the accuracy so I’m pretty darned pleased with my automatic, titanium field watch on engraved nato strap for under $70…….but that’s me.
