Oops, I did it again...

Another high end quartz wristwatch has entered my small collection: A Maurice Lacroix Miros Diver Chronograph. This is, funnily enough, the first ever COSC certified chronometer (either mechanical or quartz) that I've ever owned and was made as a limited edition (999 watches each in black, blue, brown-bronze and silver-white) for the German market. I hesitated as to whether to get black or brown (and considered a blue one) but am very happy I eventually chose the bronze brown colour, which looks quite different depending on the light:





Unlike my Seiko 8F HEQ watches that I have blogged about before, this watch does not use a quartz movement vibrating at an unusually high frequency to achieve high accuracy. Instead, it is fitted with an ETA 251.232 movement that uses a standard 32kHz quartz oscillator combined with thermocompensation: Simply put, the watch is fitted with a temperature sensor which is used to correct the accuracy variation of the movement at different temperatures. This method of correction produces even more impressive results than the high frequency crystals used in the Seiko 8Fs - this movement is accurate to within 10 seconds per year, as opposed to 20 seconds per year for the Seiko. Of course Seiko also produce thermocompensated quartz movements such as the 9F, which are just as accurate as this ETA, but either way this is very impressive timekeeping.

The ETA 251.232 is, as you can see, also a chronograph movement (which is fun for timing the run-to-work marathon) and has an independently settable hour hand. Sadly, it lacks the perpetual calendar and battery end-of-life indicator that I enjoy on the Seiko 8F watches; but this is still a deeply impressive movement in a very nice watch. Did I mention it's also water resistant to 300 meters?