For years, the conversation about affordable automatic watches started and ended in the same place: the NH35.

And for good reason. Seiko's workhorse calibre is cheap, reliable, hackable, hand-windable, and supported by a parts ecosystem so vast it feels borderless. Walk into any watch forum and mention you're building a microbrand, and someone will suggest the NH35 before you've finished your sentence. It became the default — not because it was the best option, but because it was the safest one.

That's changing.

A new generation of Chinese watch brands — and a handful of independent microbrand founders who came from inside the manufacturing world — are asking a different question. Not "what movement can we afford?" but "what movement does this watch deserve?"

The answer is increasingly the Miyota 90S5. And it's worth understanding why.

Why the NH35 Won in the First Place

To appreciate what's shifting, you need to understand why the NH35 dominated for so long.

The NH35 prioritises affordability, parts availability, and modding ecosystem at $35–45, with a 21,600 bph beat rate and 5.32mm thickness — making it the dominant choice for custom watch builders and budget-conscious buyers. For a new brand trying to keep retail prices under $200, that mattered enormously.

There was also the ecosystem effect. The more brands used the NH35, the more aftermarket dials, hands, and cases were made to fit it. The more parts existed, the more brands chose it. A self-reinforcing loop that made any alternative feel like a risk.

But the watch market has moved. Buyers are more educated. They notice the seconds hand hesitation. They know what 21,600 bph looks like compared to 28,800 bph. And they've started asking why a $300 watch is running the same movement as a $99 one.

The Technical Case for Moving On

The Seiko NH35A beats at 21,600 bph, whereas the Miyota 9015 beats at a higher 28,800 bph. That gap is not just a spec sheet number — it's something you see every time you glance at your wrist.

At 21,600 bph, the seconds hand takes six discrete steps per second. At 28,800 bph, it takes eight. The difference reads as a smoother, more fluid sweep — the kind of movement that used to tell buyers they were wearing something Swiss.

Accuracy tells a similar story. The 9015's -10 to +30 seconds per day specification represents a 50% improvement in accuracy range compared to the NH35's -20 to +40 seconds per day. For a watch worn daily, that tighter tolerance adds up over weeks and months.

Then there is the question of thickness. The Seiko NH35 measures 5.3mm — nearly 1.5mm thicker than the 9015's 3.9mm profile. This difference matters significantly in slim dress watch cases where every millimeter affects wrist presence and aesthetic balance.

A 1.5mm difference does not sound dramatic until you are trying to design a watch that sits flush against the wrist, with a case profile that reads as refined rather than bulky.

Enter the Miyota 90S5

The 9015 is not new. What is new is the 90S5 — Miyota's no-date variant of the same calibre, and arguably the more interesting movement for what Chinese horology is trying to become.

Remove the date complication and two things happen. The dial opens up — no date window to design around, no compromise on symmetry. And the movement's open-heart configuration becomes accessible: the 90S5 is part of the 9-series lineup alongside the 9015 and 9039, all of which include hacking. The balance wheel, visible through a cut-out on the dial side, turns a functional component into a visual statement.

The 90S5 operates at 28,800 vph with 24 jewels and a power reserve of approximately 42 hours — the same beating heart as the 9015, dressed differently.

For watch designers who want a clean dial without the constraints of date placement, the 90S5 is not a compromise. It is the cleaner choice.

What This Means for Chinese Horology

The brands that built Chinese watchmaking's reputation — San Martin, Pagani Design, Steeldive — did so largely on the back of the NH35. They proved that quality cases, finishing, and design were achievable at prices the West had never associated with China. That was the first chapter.

The second chapter is about refinement. It is about brands that are not just making watches, but making watches that can hold their own in a conversation with European independents. That requires better movements, better dials, and a different kind of storytelling.

The 9-series movements — 9015, 9039, and 90S5 — are positioned for $300–$600 watches. That is not the price of a budget watch. It is the price of a considered one — a watch someone buys because they chose it, not because it was the most affordable option on the page.

The brands making that leap are the ones worth watching.

The SCAGLIA Perspective

We came to this question from an unusual direction.

For twenty years, we made watch hands in Dongguan. Hands for Swiss manufacturers, for European independents, for the brands whose names appear on dials we will never put our own name on. We know what precision looks like at 0.1mm. We know the difference between a hand that lands on a dial correctly and one that almost does.

When we decided to make our own watch — the SCAGLIA SOL — the NH35 was never really a consideration. Not because it is a bad movement, but because the watch we wanted to make required something different. A clean dial, a visible balance wheel, a seconds hand that sweeps the way a well-made watch should sweep.

The 90S5 was the right answer. Not the cheapest answer. The right one.

That distinction is what we think the next generation of Chinese horology is actually about.