Here is an old writing on mechanical vs. quartz:
"Why would I want a mechanical/automatic watch when quartz is more accurate?
Simple. Quartz is clearly better on accuracy. But there are many other advantages and pleasures from wristwatch ownership beyond just measures of precision levels that are beyond the notice of many people.
Frankly, quartz watches and many other technologies don't really do anything significant to better people's lives. People with quartz watches are no more reliably on time than people with mechanical ones. People driving cars with manual or automatic transmissions still get where they are going equally well. People still enjoy music about as much as they used to, even though CDs play it more clearly that tape or LPs did. You are not likely to have any smarter thoughts simply because you wrote them down with a computer than with an ink pen. You can easily spend as much time playing golf or football on an accurate computer simulation game as on a real playing field, but the experience is not any more fulfilling at the end of the day. And you can certainly do a lap around the lake faster in a speedboat than in a rowboat, but what have you really accomplished?
The newer technologies often gain a level of efficiency that makes them... uninteresting. In many cases, the older ways and technologies were more than sufficient, and it is their minor failings that give variety and character to doing things that way. With the older ways, you usually have to be more aware of details, understand more of what you are doing, and take more time being involved in the process. That greater interaction makes the process more personal and enjoyable for some people.
With the newer ways, you can be pretty assured your quartz watch is on the right time, your car's automatic transmission won't miss downshift on the way home, your CD will play exactly the same as it did yesterday, your computer will catch and correct your typos and misspellings, your video game won't stop in the middle because of rain or a player injured in a tackle, and you certainly won't be bothered seeing much of the detail and wildlife on the lake at high speed from your motorboat. How boring.
Mechanical watch enthusiasts often compare the movements, the finishing, the level of adjustment, types of certifications, performance under different circumstances and other esoteric measures of mechanical timepieces.
Quartz watch enthusiasts compare... mostly accuracy measures.
So if efficiency is your main desire, then quartz is for you. If you are tired of efficiency and want something interesting instead, try a mechanical watch.
What does a COSC certification or Chronometer rating on a watch really mean to me?
While highly touted, a COSC certification or Chronometer rating on a mechanical (manual wind or automatic) watch really doesn't mean all that much anymore. Most any modern mechanical watch from a luxury watch brand is capable of operating at the performance level tested to receive these certifications.
People frequently mistake a chronometer rating as an absolute guarantee of performance to a particular specification--usually the often quoted -4 to +6 seconds per day which is actually only one of the seven performance measurements used in the test. In fact, the certification testing is nothing more than an additional quality control test that the movement in the watch passed at some time in the past, long before it was even assembled into your watch. It is not a guarantee that the watch will never deviate outside a particular range. In fact, mechanical watches are normal to deviate--that's why the chronometer rating exists in the first place. The range of these tests were established decades ago, when the average mechanical watch was nowhere near as accurate as they are today.
Imagine getting an A+ in math in high school and then being expected to never ever make a mathematical mistake the rest of your life. That's not how performance tests work. They only certify that you have proven once to have achieved a specific measure of performance under reasonable conditions. They neither mandate that you can never vary below that level in the future, nor do they prove that someone else who did not take that same test can never meet or exceed your level of performance. But having once established that you can achieve that level, the certification gives greater public confidence that you can perform similarly well in the future.
Same with your mechanical watch. It may have passed a test in the past, showing it was capable of getting an A+ in performance. But the actual day-to day performance of any mechanical watch--certified or not--can change a lot based on how well the watch is wound, what position it is left in overnight on your dresser, whether it takes a significant bump during the day and other factors. So do not give tremendous amount of weight to the significance of these certifications. In particular, do not assume that a specific watch is inferior because it lacks a certification--it did not take the test and fail, it simply never took this optional extra test.
The reason that some watches are still submitted for these certifications is more as a marketing and sales tool among competing brands. The presence of a certification can give you a small measure of additional confidence in the selection of your watch, but nothing more than that. Most any mechanical watch from a premium brand, when adjusted properly, will perform to within the certification ratings.
I am worried after reading on the Internet about some people having a problem with the watch I'm thinking about buying.
Virtually none of any of the 'problems' you might hear about are more than isolated cases. Expensive watches are not different from any other elaborate mechanical item, whether it is Rolex, Omega, BMW, Mercedes, or other such items that are simultaneously high-end and large production volume products. Despite superior quality control procedures, all are subject to minor manufacturing inconsistencies and technical glitches. It is virtually impossible to find any luxury brand of technical product that at least a few people have not had a problem with.
In addition, many first-time owners of luxury and mechanical watches have misunderstandings and unreasonable expectations of the operation, accuracy, durability and limits of these fine timepieces. So often, complaints or criticisms come from concerns not actually related to any real defect or problem with the watch itself.
To give some perspective to the issue, consider the largest of the luxury watch manufacturers, Rolex, who manufactures over 1,000,000 watches a year. Even if they have an astronomically high 99.995% perfection rate (they do not publish their actual rate, so this number is purely an example of an extremely high perfection rate), that means that over the past ten years, 50,000 watches may have been sold with imperfections that might need to be addressed.
Most of the people you see posting on Internet watch forums have bought at least one and frequently three to five new expensive watches in the past 10 years. When these people mention any bugs they experienced, you are seeing a sampling of problems across a huge number of watches and a large number of years. Certainly any brand will have some reported problems. But given the relatively small number of problems mentioned of Omega, Rolex and most other premium watches in the online forums, that sampling rate proves that these watch manufacturers have an excellent success rate. The unfortunate but inevitable imperfections appear to be at an extreme minimum and are normally addressed within the warranty period.
Occasionally an unhappy customer of a product will post an anti-company propaganda web site to harass the company--often out of vengeance or a 'pay me off to shut me up' motive. Despite a lot of emotional wording, these crusades attempting to scare customers away from the company's products are seldom based on anything more than an isolated case of customer confusion or mishandled customer service. Some continue to post disparaging information long after the issue was amicably resolved with the dealer or manufacturer.
So do not let any isolated complaints or problem reports scare you off any of these fine brands. For every isolated problem report for a top brand luxury watch, there are thousands of satisfied owners who never experience any difficulties."
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It is very soothing. 
A small price to pay IMHO. 
