Lots of people are starting to notice that watch makers are starting to indicate the movement of a watch as "Swiss Movement." For most of us, such an ambiguous designation is unacceptable, as this can mean just about anything. Strictly speaking, for a watch or movement to legally have the "Swiss Made" designation upon it, the watch or movement does not have to be made or assembled completely in Switzerland. In fact, only a certain percentage of the components must be made in Switzerland, and the watch does not need to be put together in Switzerland.
Regardless, of the circumstances where you see "Swiss Movement," this means essentially one thing, the movement in the watch is going to be either an ETA or Sellita movement. Ablogtoread.com wrote an article regarding Sellita's presence here. Occasionally there are other potential makers, but this is rare. So you ask yourself, "I don't know what movement I am getting? What am I even paying for?" This is a perfectly reasonable question to ask, but consider this. Lets say ETA are the "name brand" movements, and the Sellita movements are the "generic brand." Each is identical in construction and function. Small differences might lay in the quality of manufacture, and special modifications for the manufacturers, but for the most part, the movements function the same, and have similar accuracy and reliability.
Sellita is a Swiss movement manufacturer and for the most part copies ETA movements. It does this because it has the machinery capable of such work, along with the fact that the ETA designs are old enough to likely no longer be protected under any Patent rights. For this reason Sellita can make copies of ETA movements just like drug companies can make generic drugs after a period of time.
Having said that, when you see the Sellita SW200 movement in a watch, it is the same movement as an ETA 2824-2. The reason watch makers are using Sellita movements, is not so much about cost, but more having to do with the fact that ETA is slowing down production and will cease to provide movements to watch makers outside the Swatch Group in 2010. So because ETA movements are harder to get, watch makers will use an ETA or Sellita movement depending on what they are able to acquire in time to put the watches together.
Fear not the Sellita movements as they appear to be just as good as ETA. The true test will come in a few years, but know that the parts are the same, and ETA parts will fit into Sellita movements to the best of my knowledge. Despite this, some people are still all about having an ETA movement, you can rest assured that most watch makers are complete sticklers for quality, and would not use any movement that would do their name injustice.
See Sellita watches on eBay here.
See Sellita watches on Amazon here.
 GORGEOUS 14K GOLD 17 JEWELS SELLITA LADIES COVER WATCH  US $1,749.00
|
 SWISS MADE VINTAGE AUREOLE SELLITA AUTO MEN WATCH US $9.99
|
 Vintage handwind Sellita watch with Trivera dial US $1.50
|
 Lady's 14KW Diamond Sellita 17 jewels w/ GF band 5859-4 US $299.99
|
I purchased a Gevril Park 2503 with a Sellita SW200 movement last August and have had a sour experience. The watch has erratic timekeeping, and my concerns to Gevril in Monsey, N.Y. are still to be adequately addressed. The watch has been back twice,with phone conversations as well, with the comment by Gevril that nothing is wrong with the piece. It seems to mostly run fine on a flat surface, but erratically on my wrist. I may have to discard this piece, as a watch that is unreliable has no usefullness to me.
Incidentally, I also own another Gevril(Model A0111) with an Eta 2824-2 movement that is a flawless timepiece. I suggested to Gevril that they swap out this Sellita SW200 movement with the Eta 2824-2 movement in my Park timepiece, as this watch is still well within warranty, and, as this article states, the two movements are supposed to be interchangeable. No effort on Gevril’s part to make the warranty good has been forthcoming(my contacts with them started back on Nov. 27th, 2008). I am going to try to speak with someone in a position of authority at Gevril during the coming week about this, as 4 months have lapsed with nothing resolved to date, but I am puzzled that they do NOT seem to be concerned that their reputation rests on the repeated buys of good customers like myself, who in the past have returned to Gevril for additional purchases.
If anyone has any “sway” with Gevril, I’d appreciate that this response be forwarded to them. Perhaps I’ve been engaging underlings who are “asleep at the switch” over there.
Meanwhile, just thought it usefull that others know tha the Sellita SW200 movement is suspect, as far as I am concerned.
Hi Lynn,
These are valid concerns of course, and I thank you for sharing them. It is difficult for me to dismiss an entire movement or brand based on a couple of issues. Actually, I have had terrible experiences with customer service at watch companies on many occasion. They are just not set up for it. Luxury brands can’t seem to figure out basic customer service, you when you deal with Casio or Citizen, things are a lot better – it is ironic.
As for the SW200 movement, like ETA movements, they come in various levels of quality. “Grades” as the movement makers often refer to them by. This means that it isn’t a good idea to deem a movement bad based on an experience with one grade of their movements. Though I can imagine how frustrating for you it may be. The real people to blame here is Gevril. It is their responsibility to adjust the movement in all positions – but that doesn’t always happen with “less expensive” watches. Mechanical movements that run erratically often need parts replaced or special treatment to fix. The bottom line is that watch companies are often loathe to do it because they are so short handed most of the time with watch makers, especially here in the US. You’ve touched upon one of the industry’s biggest problems, just not having enough people around to do all the fixing.
Sorry if my response was a bit anticlimactic, but the final thought should be that problems exist, but you can’t blame the Sellita SW200 movement design overall. Thanks for reading and take care.
Hello!
I agree perfectly with the Admin. I in contrast of the majority of the people can affirm about the subject because i work with both the movements. SW200 and the 2824 as well as all its variations and still with the SW300 and its brother 2892.
Was said, the guilt is not of the movement in itself but yes of the Brand. It’s they who asked for it to Sellita as parameters for its movements…
Parameters that exist can go since 60 seconds per day (average) in 2 positions (Dial Up and crown Down) and the 8 seconds per day in all the positions in instantaneous march (each one of the 6 positions has to be between 0 and +8 seconds per day)
Curiosity
2 Positions
Dial Up, crown down
3 Positions
Dial Up, crown down, crown left
4 Positions
Dial Up, crown down, crown left, crown Up
5 Positions
Dial Up, dial down, crown down, crown left, crown Up
6 Positions
Dial Up, dial down, crown down, crown left, crown Up, crown right
You have absolutly no diference betwen the Movements Eta and Sellita… only if the Brand decide to make 2 series whid diferent settings
Hi there. Thanks for the details. Much appreciated. Take care.
[...] I guess we can’t end without saying that it’s been announced by ETA that it will no longer be supplying movements outside of the Swatch group. This has since been revised so that they will continue to supply big firms like IWC and the Breitlings of the world. However, the availability of movements to small companies like Bathys or Christopher Ward might come into question. In fact both companies use a clone of the ETA 2824 in their watches, the Sellita SW200. http://ablogtoread.com/general/making-sense-of-the-sellita-sw200-movement-same-as-eta-2824-2/ [...]
But if you dont know… is Sellita that assemble the ETA movements for IWC and Breitling…
And IWC start to use the SW300…