Has anyone heard of Sempre watches?
They must be rare. As far as I know Sempre only makes winders. Self winding watches, (they are usually identified by the smooth moving second hand and the word "Automatic" on them), tend to be worth more than a quartz (tick once a second). Do not expect to have a "lotto win" on your wrist. A watch is like a car. It goes DOWN in value. A mechanical watch (no battery) usually must be serviced once every 4-5 years. The cost is about $600 on a fine watch. If yours is not serviced the value is affected. Just like a car, it only goes up in value if it is 25 years old, or is a rare model. I own a genuine 1995 Rolex Submariner. A new one cost about $7,000. I would be lucky to get $2,000 cash, or $4,000 in trade for it. Some things are just expensive to buy, but not worth much to sell.
Does Omega produce quartz watches?
Yes, Omega produces quartz watches. This Swiss luxury watch maker pioneers in making timepieces which fits the style of an individual and also embraces a wearer’s wrist easily. A quartz movement contains a battery that gives a timepiece energy without any pause. The battery needs replacement after a certain period of time. The advantage of these type of watches is that they comparatively reasonable than watches with other movements.
Does anyone know the purpose of watches that have a ring around them that you can turn. Usually they have marks that line up with the numbers on the dial, and usually one mark is different from all the others?
I'll give 3 examples of the most commonly used bezels on watches and their functions. Using an extremely popular brand Rolex.Tachymeter: Rolex DaytonaThis usually cannot be rotated. Although in some watches it can. It is used to measure speed of fast moving objects. Most used on chronograph watches. However, you'll need to know the distance traveled. It is unit agnostic, so you can either measure in km, miles, nautical miles, the numbers around the bezel means units per hour. It was useful back in the days when computers were not around and people need a quick estimation of the speed of race cars around the track.Dive time tracker: Rolex SubmarinerThis bezel is extremely popular among dive watches and are usually uni directional (only turns one way). The markers usually mark out 15-20min which is the normal decompression period of shallow water diving. However, this bezel is a little insulting as it suggests people can't calculate/memorise a 15min time period. One notable dive watch such as Panerai does away with the bezel completely in favour of a clear, easy to read dial.24 hour timezone - Rolex GMT MasterThis is in my opinion the most useful (and relevant) bezel for modern day use. The bezel features a bi-directional bezel that shows a 24 hour time zone. It is use in conjunction with a 24hour hand (the blue one) on the watch to display a separate time zone. In the stock picture, both the hour hand and the 24 hour hand are showing the same time (10am). They can set to show different time zones of course. What's good with the rotatable bezel is that you can turn the bezel, to quickly show a third time zone without having to set the watch. For example, if I'm flying from San Fran to New York, all I have to do is to turn the bezel counter clockwise 3 clicks and the 24 hour hand will be showing the time at the new time zone.There are many other different kinds of bezels around. But these 3 are definitely the most common.
Has Rolex ever brought out a battery powered watch?
Yes - the OysterQuartz, produced in the 80’s and 90’s and now highly sought after as a collectors piece.Rolex Oysterquartz - Wikipedia