Why Are Quartz Watches Cheaper?

Quartz watches are cheaper to buy and service and more durable; this means they are a popular choice of watch. They last for years; they don’t need the time set frequently if not worn for a while compared to mechanical watches.

Quartz watches are cheaper because they are not mechanical, and the manufacturing process is cheaper. Quartz watches have fewer parts and are not bound by strict restrictions; quartz movements are straightforward, including only a battery and circuit.

Unlike mechanical watches, Quartz watches are controlled by a battery; they don’t need to be wound up because they have no moving parts. These watches are powered by an electronic current that runs through a quartz crystal; the crystal vibrates at a constant rate, making the hands move.

Quartz Watches Cause Quartz Crisis

The Japanese Seiko brand developed the quartz movement in the late 1960s. Seiko was able to produce accurate, inexpensive alternatives to mechanical watches. They quickly dominated the watch market, leading to the ‘Quartz Crisis’ of the 1970s and ’80s.

The Quartz Crisis resulted in approximately two-thirds of the Swiss watchmakers, leading to many companies going bankrupt. With the release of the Swatch brand, the Swiss were able to market cheaper yet still high-end quartz-based watches. Swatch became a budget niche market for the Swiss.

The introduction of the Seiko watch forced the then Swiss leaders of the market to develop cheaper, quartz-based versions of prestigious watches such as Rolex and Patek Philippe; this allowed them to compete more efficiently.

The Quartz Watch Movement

A quartz watch consists of a battery, a quartz crystal, a motor, a dial train, and watch hands. These watches vibrate the quartz crystal at precisely 32,768 times per second. The frequency is constant, making them extremely accurate.

The quartz watch’s pulse-per-second (PPS) output is usually transmitted to a Lavet-type stepping motor. This motor moves the hands of the watch by converting the electronic pulses. Because the vibrations of a quartz watch are intermittent, the secondhand makes a ticking sound; they usually tick once per second.

Some quartz watches use higher frequency quartz and will tick more often than once per second.

Quartz Watches Are More Accurate

Mechanical watches need gears, escapement, and an oscillator to function; the power is supplied either through manual winding or by the movement of a person’s wrists. The movement of the parts causes friction, leading to higher energy consumption. Regardless of how often you wind the watch, some of the power is always lost.

On the other hand, Quartz watches do not rely on these moving parts; the power is obtained from a battery. The quartz crystal’s natural frequency is why it is a more reliable timepiece than the mechanical watch.

All quartz watches have timekeeping accuracy in common; the movement vibrates at the same frequency, even if the rest of the watch is poorly made. Mechanical watches will lose accuracy over time due to friction; a mechanical watch averages a loss of three seconds a day. A quartz watch retains its power because it has fewer moving parts.

Timekeeping accuracy is also influenced by gravity. Modern versions of mechanical watches have mostly removed gravity’s effects by using a tourbillon, a French word meaning ‘whirlwind .’The tourbillon is an anti-gravity chamber that rotates the watch slower.

Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon in 1795; they are only found in expensive mechanical watches. The modern tourbillon watch is more about style and showing off than accuracy. The average accuracy of a quartz watch is usually much higher than the best mechanical ones in the world; it will only lose or gain one second a day.

Quartz Is A Common Mineral

Quartz is a hard mineral composed of silicon dioxide; it is the second most abundant mineral on Earth apart from feldspar. The quartz crystal is unaffected by most solvents and remains crystalline to hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit; this makes it a very effective element in electronics.

Modern quartz watches use a bar or tuning fork-shaped crystal; the crystals are created from thin sheets of quartz, known as a blank. The accuracy of the crystal is determined by the precision of the cut-angle of the quartz sheet; it is cut along the crystalline axes and polished.

Synthesized Quartz Crystals

During World War II, crystal demand was high; radios and radar were two technologies using it. Shortages in the mineral spurred research into synthetic quartz; in 1950, Bell Laboratories grew quartz crystals for commercial use. By 1970, most crystals used in electronics were synthetic. A hydrothermal procedure manufactures synthetic quartz.

The synthesis of commercial quartz resulted in a much purer crystal than a naturally occurring one. Synthesized quartz is also more energy-efficient, and can be made in massive quantities, manufactured quicker than the Earth’s natural processes of quartz.

Oscillator Circuit Properties

There are several advantages of quartz that make it ideal as an oscillator. The tuning fork is very small and lightweight; it is not affected by gravity. Quartz will always vibrate at a constant frequency regardless of its position.

Quartz is not very sensitive to changes in temperature; it will, however, still lose or gain time slightly at different temperatures. It will gain slightly in low temperatures and lose slightly in high temperatures. These variations are very small and don’t affect the accuracy too much.

Due to their tiny size, quartz crystals in watches can also be enclosed in a small container; this allows them to remain insensitive to barometric pressure. Barometric pressure is the measurement of air pressure in the atmosphere. A quartz oscillator has no barometric error.

Quartz Watches Driven By Piezoelectric Effect

The piezoelectric effect, discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie in 1880, is the ability of a material to generate an electric charge. This effect is particularly strong in quartz and occurs when stress is applied to the material.

If a piece of quartz is bent, it generates a voltage; this produces an alternating voltage in time with the quartz vibrations. The opposite is true for quartz; if a voltage is applied to a piece of quartz, it will bend. The two phenomena combined are what is known as the piezoelectric effect, the basis of all quartz watches.

Conclusion

Quartz watches are cheaper because they are so accurate and durable. Unique properties such as the piezoelectric effect, size, and weight of the crystal used, and insensitivity to temperature and pressure, make them very affordable. They have fewer moving parts, so power is conserved power. Quartz watches have become the most dominant watch of today, accounting for around 90% of all watches in the world.