Orvin/Sears Re: Lucien Picard - good value for the money or no respect at all?

On Apr 29, 6:35 am, "dr. ive" <ivor.wei...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Apr 28, 9:16 pm, Alan Dye <alan...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



dr. ive wrote:

Thanks Alan. Your post was insightful and I had a feeling about the
LP and other watches I have seen. I think it may be more of a
marketing gimmick than a semi serious watch. While flipping through
the TV channels I happened to come across LP, Invicta and Chase Drurer
(sp?) being sold on Home Shopping Network. To be honest, the watches
they were selling looked like great deals because they claimed they
were heavily discounted (an automatic watch that sells for $1,000
retail for $200 - sapphire crystal, carbon fiber dial, automatic
movement) due to the purchasing power (volume) HSN has at its
disposal. The red flag for me is always: "You get what you pay for"
and I think you get a good looking watch that is mechanically
inferior, way inferior.

If you are looking for a nice mechanical in the sub $500 range, there
are number of good quality ones. Start with Tissot and Hamilton, both
owned by the same conglomerate that owns Breguet and Omega. The parent
company (Swatch Group) produces probably close to 90% of all the swiss
watch movements through their ETA division which are sold to other
manufacturers for use in their watches. Both Hamilton and Tissot have
sporty lines and dressy lines and both provide good value for the dollar
spent.

http://www.tissot.ch/
andhttp://www.hamiltonwatch.com/index_flash.html

The Invictas with swiss movements are actually fine watches as well.
The Invicta 'sub' (built in the style of the Rolex Submariner) routinely
sells on e-bay in the $300 range and is a fine watch, I own one. They
sell two versions, one with the japanese movement and one with the swiss
movement. While both are serviceable and the prices are significantly
different, the swiss movement one is better in my opinion.

I can't comment on Chase Durer as I have never purchased one.

Welcome to the forum by the way, we look forward to your posts. If you
have follow up questions (next class up ($500-$1500) or even higher)
feel free to post them here and we'll try to help.

All the best,

Alan

Thanks again. I am actually a vintage watch collector. I am a novice
and have about 68 watches in my collection. I collect the following:
Omega, Tissot, Wittenauer, Heuer, and Orvin. Most of the watches I
buy are art deco period. I do have a number of Orvins which I think
are terrific watches. This was a Sears and Roebucks watch that is no
longer available. I have put many of my Orvins against my Omega
Constellation Chronometer Certified and they do quite well as far as
keeping time. For me, the Orvin is a symbol of the old glory days of
Sears.
Sears was an American retail icon where service and quality was the
rule not the exception!

Anyway, I have a website and I have some pictures of my watches. If
you go towww.ivorweiner.comand click on my Gallery page, you will
see a few photographs. I'd like to get your feedback on some of my
watches.

With Peace and Light,
Ivor

Orvin is a municipality located just above Biel/Bienne, in a higher
valley in between the first and the second Jura mountain range.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orvin

In the "good old days", Sears Roebuck used to have a buying office in
Biel/Bienne, at the heart of the Swiss Watch Industry. For (some of?)
their private label watches, they selected "Orvin".

An Orvin Watch Co was mentioned in "Quick Fit Swiss Material Systems"
by E. James Renz, New York, 1952. The company was first listed in 1923
as well as 1940-1946. It must have had a close relationship with
Cortebert Watch, as it was using its US import code (quoted from Swiss
Timepiece Makers by Kathleen H. Pritchard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biel






.

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