Electronic Movements In Quartz Watches

Watches used to be mechanical in nature. There are tiny gears, springs and levers inside watches that make their hands move. Unfortunately, a hard impact would dislodge or loosen the gears, rendering the watch inoperative.

All of these changed with the advent of electric quartz watches. The moving parts in these kinds of watches are few or non existent at all. This makes the watches easier to manufacture at a much more productive rate. Also, the electric movements’ lack of moving parts makes the watches sturdy, making them capable of resisting hard impacts.

The first electric watch was made in Switzerland in 1962 by the CEH Laboratory. Then 1969 saw the first electric watch that entered production. This watch was the Seiko 35 SQ Astron. After the introduction of the Seiko Astron, modern improvements of electronic movements in watches were manufactured in huge numbers. So much so that even the cheapest wristwatch has quartz movements.

Electric watches use a piezoelectric effect in a small quartz crystal for its operation. That is why electric watches are often labeled as quartz watches. Piezoelectric effect is the production of electricity in the quart crystal that is subjected to mechanical stress. Specifically, this effect provides the watch a constant time base for a mostly electronic movement.

Electronic movements in watches work like this. The crystal reverberates at a precise and high frequency. The reverberations are at pace with a timekeeping mechanism. In other words, while the movement is mainly electronic, it is designed to drive the mechanical hands on the face of the watch.

Typically, the electronic movements in watches have a frequency of 32768 Hertz. The frequency is converted into a 1 pulse per second signal using a simple 15 stage divide-by-two circuit. This pulse is responsible for the watch’s timekeeping.

The electronic movements in watches that use quartz crystals are very accurate. In fact, the movements are more accurate than the ones that are purely mechanical. That is why quartz watches are often regarded as more precise than the classier mechanical watches. For example, while costly mechanical watches can be off the actual time several seconds in a day, even the most inexpensive quartz watch can be accurate within 500 milliseconds in one day. That is 10 times more accurate than any mechanical watch.

Definitely, quartz watches have more advantages than mechanical watches. It is a good idea to get one now.