Some interesting comments in TZ Public forum about Fredric Piguet 1185 reliability...

Isaac. Posts:Well, the FP 1185 is the one I've had the most problems with>>> [May 06, 2006 - 09:34 PM]

I'll contribute by answering in an indirect way--

The only watches I have ever had problems with were 1185-equipped Blancpain Flybacks. I have had two of them--a Monaco YS, and a Ti model. They were both purchsed new. The Monaco's minute register never advanced past the five minute mark. Thinking that I had a fluke bad experience, two years later I purchased a Ti flyback that had an even more ridiculous problem--the center seconds hand was not mounted on the center arbor with enough friction such that with every reset to zero the seconds hand rotated more and more to the left of 12 o'clock. At the end of the first day, to my dismay, the center seconds hand would reset to the 10 o'clock postion!

The FP 1185, while interesting in concept, is IMHO the least reliable chrono movement out there. One could argue that the problems I had were secondary to poor QC at BP (which I would not disagree with, BTW) but I think there are intrinsic problems to the movement as far as reliability and ruggedness. As evidence, the derivative Omega 33XX movements have had significant problems also. I had to chuckle when the first owner's reports emerged because not only did BP screw more customers indirectly, but this time it had caused shame to its older Swatch group sister.

One might think that this was too small a sampling size for me to draw such a conclusion. I argue that it was two separate watches produced at different times (I bought my second Flyback two years later) yet both had problems. That's not unlike the random sampling that a company must use to ensure good QC. I will never be a Flyback purchaser again and I may never purchase a BP again. Search the archives and you will see a disproportionate number of posts questioning BP's overall reliablility. No other brand forum exhibits this amount of uncertainty; I'm sure that I am not the only previous owner that can give you insight as to why that might be the case.

Regards, Isaac in Philly.

Personal commentary follows...

It seems that I'm not the only person who has a low opinion of the FP 1185, it's decendants and the work of F. Piguet in general. I wish Swatch Group would come to their senses and drop their FORCED shotgun marriage between Piguet and Omaga. What the heck was bad with the concept of Omega's sporting Lemania movments that worked, worked reliabily and were durable watches? Expensive Hanger Queen chronographs will likely prove to be as disasterous to Omega as the Quartz and Japanese onslaught of the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Again, as Bas Van Dorp first advanced, the people behind the demise of the Lemania 5100 deserve to be the first peoples lined up agains the wall when the revolution comes.

-- Chuck

This post, as noted above, is a bit off topic...

Most Speedmaster collectors know that when it comes to prowess in both collecting and knowledge about Speedmasters (and watches in general) few countries/nationalities can match, and fewer still can surpass the Dutch. Among all the countries/nationalities in the world in my opinion only the Italians and Japanese could claim to surpass the fervor and dedication of Dutch Speedmaster collectors while British, German, Aussie, Canadian and American collectors struggle to keep up.

Over the past 16 months I have been weaned off of one of my other lifelong hobbies (radio) by a new form of communication, Podcasts. Podcasts are a medium where anyone with a computer with audio-in capability and a connection to the internet can literally host their own program, be it audio only (like radio), Audio-Visual (like a music video, movie or TV program) or simply files of interest (photo's, documents, etc.) and people who are interested can subscribe to them easily... Podcasting has been likened to "Audio blogs" the difference is that with podcasts and a suitable player, Apple made/marketed iPods are the most popular but other brands and even CD-ROM's can be burned so that people can decide what they want to listen or watch when they want, where they want, and how they want.

One of my favorite podcasts has been an Ambient music podcast by a gentleman out of Rotterdam who goes by the name of "TC" called SpaceMusic... The Podcasting portion of TC's site is located here. Since he started podcasting in 2005 every year on 5 May he has posted a special "Liberation Day" podcast to commemorate the liberation of the Netherlands from Axis/Nazi subjugation during World War II. Unlike most countries, the Nethe1rlands sets aside two days to mark this event. The first day is a commemoration of those who fell during the occupation and those who sacrificed to liberate those in occupied lands. The second day is a celebration of their freedom and hopes for the future. It is TC's Liberation Day 2006 podcast that prompted me to post this note...

The Dutch are a class act. In a world where many peoples / organizations / countries routinely co-opt May 1st (May Day) to ferment and popularize pet-causes, revolution, parade tanks, missles and machine gun toting soldiers, the Dutch chose to remember the fallen, those who fought to liberate them and to celebreate their freedom and hopes for the future. They are a class act for many other reasons too, but this one came to mind today!

Just my opinion, but everyone is entitled to share it!

-- Chuck

P.S. I know that many other countries celebrate liberation days. However, the manner which the Dutch do has impressed me greatly...