Quartz movement & quartz watch
The modern quartz watch is known as one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century. Quartz watches have revolutionized timekeeping, providing far greater accuracy than the most expensive mechanical timepieces, all at a very reasonable cost. By offering accuracy, affordability and unprecedented reliability in a single slim package, it is no surprise that over 95% of the watches being produced today have quartz movements.
So, how does a quartz watch work? The tiny electrical pulses generated by the quartz crystal are sent to an integrated circuit where they are reduced to a single pulse each second. The circuit essentially counts the pulses and returns to zero each time the count reaches 32,768. The one-second impulses returned by the IC circuit are then sent to a small stepping motor connected to a gear train which turns the hands.
A digital quartz watch has no gear train and just keeps counting pulses until they add up to minutes hours and days. Over the years, advances in technology have allowed quartz movements to become increasingly sophisticated while at the same time becoming smaller and less expensive.
Today, virtually every major watch manufacturer in the world makes quartz watches. Even watchmakers’ known for their mechanical timepieces.
VIDEO: Watch Movement Testing Process at 3WATCHES.
