To use sdtom's analogy:
This is not a matter of accuracy or degrees of function (0-60 times, top speed), this is a matter of even perfoming (engine starting) in the first place.
I dislike the artificial dichotomy between quartz and mechanical movements that is trotted out when accuracy or reliability is mentioned. It's not a matter of choosing one or the other, it's a matter of the movement in question perfoming to expectation. Personally, I am not an accuracy freak and am capable of regulating a watch to a my satifaction. But not running at all.....?
That said, I completely agree with the lack of correlation between price-point and reliability, however human nature will tend that way, I guess.