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All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

This is the place to learn all about watches and how they tick. Share your knowledge and how-tos with the rest of the class.
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All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

The quartz watch movement, generally characterized as inexpensive, simple, robust, low maintenance and very accurate, with plenty of exceptions, is the most widespread watch movement in use today.

On Dec. 1969 Seiko introduced the first quartz watch on the market, the Astron. Today they can be found from under $1.00 to many thousands with commensurate quality. From maintenance free for over a decade, possibly decades, solar/light powered watches, to watches able to withstand harsh environmental conditions and abuse. From accuracy of minutes to 1 second per year, to radio controlled, Bluetooth and GPS synced watches with potential lifetime accuracy of less than 1 second per year. From automatic time zone, DST and date adjustment to hybrid smart watches with miniaturized computers and sensors with a myriad of functions.

This, and more, is the wonderful world of Quartz watches.
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

Citizen Signature Courageous, one of my favorites.

Perpetual calendar until 2100. Quick hour hand adjustment.
Eco drive, power save function when not exposed to light will hold five year charge in power save mode. In power save second hand stops at 12, and moves to correct timing position when exposed to sufficient light. Hour and min. hands stop at twelve after 3 days and restart when exposed to light. Crown controlled electronic date and hand adjustment. Hour and minute hands move once every 15 seconds. Comfortable quality bracelet. Multi faceted dial.

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c2.jpg

c1.jpg
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by tommy_boy »

My late Father's best watch. Not a legacy piece obviously, but decent, sentimental, and a suitable grab-and-go.

Image

I have nine or ten quartz watches. None of which are characterized as HAQ or higher-end.

G-Shock and Suunto for work and play, fun affordables like the Hoglund and the Electric Californias for frugal variety.

Image

Image

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Just my $0.02 USD as always.
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by watchpalooza »

Great idea for a thread. Amazing the number of extended features that were not easily accomplished via mechanical means that have been added to the “quartz platform” over the years. The Suunto Core is a good example, with compass, barometer, altimeter, etc.
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »


tommy_boy wrote:My late Father's best watch. Not a legacy piece obviously, but decent, sentimental, and a suitable grab-and-go.

Image
Looks like your father took care of his watches. Good looking watch!



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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by Boourns »

Great thread. I think I probably have a common experience when it comes to quartz watches. Before I got into watches serosuly I had only worn quartz watches (if I ever wore one at all). Then when I got into this hobby and learned the basics of automatic movement watches, I really looked down in quartz watches and basically decided I'd never wear them again. But now after some time learning more about the history and variety of watches, I have come back around to really appreciate what quartz watches offer -- affordability, convenience, and complications that aren't possible (or rally difficult) to do with a mechanical.

Here's my latest addition, a Seiko SSB003 mecha-quartz. I'd been looking for one of these for over a year:
IMG_20200511_183145.jpg
I wish that watch were 38mm?
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

I doubt there are many who have not owned a quartz watch at some time in their life.

History, marketing and the human inclination to relate to the manufacture and workings of a mechanical device all contribute to the predominant mechanical movement current running through the watch enthusiast bubble.

It's more difficult to visualize the workings of a quartz watch. We can't see electrons, tiny vibrations, working electronics in general. These all require more specialized knowledge and complex tools to understand and visualize. It is a step away from simple innate human understanding and reach, an indirect connection.

Quartz watches are equivalent, and often surpass in quality, fit and finish, their mechanical counterparts in the same price range. And they can be just as interesting in every way to those attracted to them.

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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by JMD1082 »

tommy_boy wrote:My late Father's best watch. Not a legacy piece obviously, but decent, sentimental, and a suitable grab-and-go.

Image

I have nine or ten quartz watches. None of which are characterized as HAQ or higher-end.

G-Shock and Suunto for work and play, fun affordables like the Hoglund and the Electric Californias for frugal variety.

Image

Image

Image
What’s your impression of the Hoglund. I’m intrigued by the Mecha-quartz movement and it seems like a relatively cheap way for me to get my hands on one. Would love to get a review from an actual owner.


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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by tommy_boy »

JMD1082 wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 1:07 pm
tommy_boy wrote: Image
What’s your impression of the Hoglund. I’m intrigued by the Mecha-quartz movement and it seems like a relatively cheap way for me to get my hands on one. Would love to get a review from an actual owner.
Seems like someone left a brief review in one of the threads here. But I can offer this: My expectations for this watch were modest. When mine arrived, the center seconds hand was misaligned. I contacted Mr. Hoglund, and he was very accommodating. I returned it and he sent me another watch right away. It is very light, very polished (the markers are polished, and at least one of them is marked up a bit when viewed through with a 6X loupe.) The chronograph hand chatters a little bit, similar to a Sea-Gull mechanical chrono that I have. I didn't buy it because I wanted a chronograph. I was interested in the movement, and I like the panda thing. I wonder why he painted the subdial hands black, though. Oh, and the strap that came with it? Straight into the strap drawer.
Just my $0.02 USD as always.
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

A Chronological Highlights Journey Through the Evolution of the QUARTZ Wristwatch.

But first, a bit of watch history.
(The links provide some reference and additional subject information.)

1505
First Portable Clock

Somewhere around this time the first portable clocks were built, in time they would become known as a watch. Who invented the first portable clock and which surviving model is the oldest is a controversial topic.

Peter Henlein, a locksmith and clockmaker in Nurember, Germany, is generally credited with the first
portable clock. By miniturizing a spring coil (mainspring) to power the watch and a torsion pendulum (balance wheel) as an oscillator for timekeeping precision, it function in any position although it was highly imprecise, several hours a day.

There is an account of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England receiving a gift from Robert Dudley,the Earl of Leicester in 1571, described as an arm clocke adorned with jewels.

The earliest account of a portable clock is a letter dated November 1462 from the Italian clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi to the Marchese di Mantova Federico Gonzaga offering him a pocket clock that belonged to the Duke of Moderna.

The Pomander Watch is possibly the oldest known watch in the world. It could be carried by a chain around the neck like a pendant or attached to clothing and had three legs to stand on a table. These early models where about 3 inches in size and only had an hour hand.


47 Pomander-Watch_Bisamapfelu_freigestellt-989x1030.jpg
Similar watch depicting size.
47.1 Man-Holding-a-Pocket-Watch-c1560s.jpg
https://www.yourwatchhub.com/watches/ol ... the-world/


From portable clock, to pocket watch, to wristwatch.

“It acquired the name watch from sailors who used it to replace the hourglasses they used to time their 4-hour shifts of duty, or watches. And the name has stuck ever since. This egg-shaped design eventually evolved into the much more common flat pocket watch and, by 1675, they had grown fashionable enough to become commonplace. And they would remain the dominant form of carry-able watches for the next 240 years.”

ladies were the first to adopt the wristwach, wearing them as pieces of jewelry.

https://gallantry.com/blogs/journal/the ... of-watches



1812
First Documentated Case of a Wristwatch.


The Breguet No. 2639 wristwatch, commissined by Caroline Murat Queen of Naples in 1810 as a fine piece of jewelry. "in addition to a repeater watch for bracelet for which we shall charge 5,000 Francs". It was completed in 1812 by the French watchmaker. It has been lost to history. The lady was quite a watch enthusiast, acquiring 34 clocks and watches from Breguet.

48 1st documentatio breguet.jpg

A Breguet interpretation 200 years later.

49 2639 representation.jpg
https://www.breguet.com/en/history/inve ... wristwatch


1868
The First Known Surviving Wristwatch


Created for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary by Swiss watch manufacturer Patek Philippe in 1868. A fine piece of decorative jewelry.

Photo 50
50 PP first surviving wristwatch.jpg


1903
First Men's Wristwatch


Dimier Frères & Cie / Dimier Brothers, a British-Swiss trading company with no manufacturing capability, registered the design for a wristwatch with fixed wire lugs and one piece leather strap in 1903, the Depose No. 9846. This is the first documented evidence of a men's wristwatch. First worn as a tool by active and military men, being more practical than wearing a pocket watch in a pocket or on a wristlet, wristwatches for men would become more widely popular during and after WWI.

There are accounts of a large number of watches made by Swiss watchmaker Girard Perregaux for the German Imperial military in 1880, but there are no known surviving records or watches.

Pocket watch Wristlet

wristlet.jpg

British Registry Design 405488, February 1903

firstwristwatch.jpeg

Swiss Registry Depose 9846

Demier firs.jpeg
Demier.jpeg


https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/earl ... atches.php
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

The Wristwatch Tech Revolution

For centuries mechanical watches reigned supreme. Essentially, kinetic energy powered devices, using a torsion spring to store potential energy released as kinetic energy, a gear train to transmit energy throughout its component parts, and a balance wheel oscillator to regulate timekeeping. The accelerating pace of technological innovation in the 20th century would radically change the watch industry. New and improved technologies and miniturization of electrical energy components in the later part of the century reached the longstanding mechanical watch movement, leading to the creation of new types of movements that would forever change the horology scene.

1952
First Electric Watch Prototype


The first documented evidence of a working prototype is by Elgin National Watch Co. of Elgin, Illinois, US, announcement of March 18, 1952, exhibited in Chicago the following day. There are reports that LIP Watch Co. of Besançon, France, exhibited their prototype in Paris on the same day, but there is no documentation available. Elgin and LIP were sharing information on its development with each conducting separate research.


Elgin letter to their Jewelers and Watchmakers, March 18, 1952.
elgin-letters-WoT-19520318.jpg

Chicago Exhibit March 19, 1952?
Elgin exhibit.jpg

US 2865163 Patent filed March 1952 for Electrically Powered Time Device, granted Dec. 1958.
Patent-2865163-1952.jpg

https://www.elgin.watch/enwco/events/watch-of-tomorrow/

Hamilton had a working prototype in 1953.

https://www.classicwatch.com/asp/manufa ... p?code=218


1957
First Electric Watch

In 1957 Hamilton Watch co. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, US, introduced to market the first electric watch, the 500. It retained many of the mechanical watch features - but it was powered by the electrical energy stored in a battery using magnets and coil to regulate the balance wheel, improving accuracy.

https://wornandwound.com/hamilton-elect ... red-watch/

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-a ... ered-watch


38 Hamilton-Electric-Watch.jpg

39 Hamilton-Electric-movements-crop.jpg


The Ventura model was particulary popular.

Hamilton-Ventura.jpg

41 Elvis.jpeg

1958
First Electronic Watch


The LIP R27 was the first watch to utilize an electronic component, a diode. A diode works by allowing electric current to flow in only one direction. This reduced wear on the electromagnetic balance wheel system, extending the life of the watch.
(see following post by TheJohnP)

http://people.timezone.com/msandler/Art ... p/Lip.html


1960
First Transistorized Electronic Circuit Watch


The Bulova Watch Co. of New York, US, Accutron tuning fork movement 214 watch was the first to utilize a transistor, resistor and capacitor in an electronic circuit. It substituted the balance wheel with an acoustic tuning fork vibrating at 360 Hz, 360 times a second, driven by two electromagnetic coils controlled by a transistorized electronic circuit powered by a battery, greatly increasing accuracy to 1 minute a month. The Accutron Spaceview being a prime example where the front of the movement is visible showing tuning fork and electronic components in place of the dial. It's a reliable and simple movement, it hums and has a smooth sweep seconds hands, The most accurate watch of its time proved very successful until the advent of quartz.


Accutron, Accu for accuracy, Tron for electronics.


44 spaceview.jpg

45 bulova-accutron-internal-parts.jpg

bulova-accutron5.jpg

https://monochrome-watches.com/watchtim ... k-watches/

https://www.watchdoctor.biz/accutron/

https://jestineyong.com/bulova-accutron-214-part-2/
Last edited by PetWatch on Sat May 23, 2020 3:04 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by TheJohnP »

And let's not forget Lip's history in electric watches.

From Electric Watches out of the UK:
https://electric-watches.co.uk/makers/lip/lip-history/

Lip started experimenting with electricity in 1928, and they produced some interesting electric clocks in the pre-war period, but it wasn’t until 1948 that they started work in earnest on electric watches. In 1949, Lip and Elgin signed a deal to exchange technical information, and a group of 20 French engineers went to America to work with Elgin.

The 19th of March 1952, Lip and Elgin announced their prototype electric watch, in which the amplitude of the balance was maintained by electro-magnets. Fred Lip presented it to the Acadamie des sciences in Paris, while John Shennan, the president of Elgin, presented it in Chicago. The prototypes functioned but were far from being a commercial proposition: for one thing, the bean-shaped batteries developed by Lip were not stable and had a tendency to explode, for another, the watches consumed too much current. They soon replaced their own batteries by those from Union Carbide and Mallory. Interestingly, the batteries from Union Carbide were probably the ones jointly developed with Hamilton for the Hamilton 500.

They eventually produced the R27 movement, which worked but still had problems, including excessive consumption, finicky regulation and high production costs. It also needed two batteries, which led to design limitations.

Image
Image
Image


In January 1957, Hamilton launched the first electric watch using their cal 500 movement, while Lip were still trying to overcome technical problems, including contacts which were difficult to regulate. It’s interesting to note that the Hamilton 500 was released ahead of time in order to be first on the market, even though it still suffered from many technical problems, the most important of which was the difficulty of regulating the fine wires which controlled the switching. This is the same problem that Lip had, which is not surprising considering that the R27 and the Hamilton 500 work on the basic principle of using electromagnets to maintain the amplitude of the balance (Hamilton’s magnets act on the hairspring, whereas Lip’s act on the balance itself).

Finally, on 7th December 1958, Lip put their first R27-based electronic watch on the market. The watch was actually electro-mechanical, but as it had a diode to reduce contact arcing, they felt entitled to call it electronic rather than the more prosaic electric or electro-mechanical.

They presented one of the first R27s produced to General de Gaulle, the president of France, and another to President Eisenhower. In his biography, Fred Lip says that in order to impress de Gaulle with the watch’s accuracy, he actually had two identical watches made, and once a week the president’s wife would swap the watches while he was asleep. Lip’s best regulator would then regulate the watch as accurately as possible before it was replaced the following week.

It’s interesting to compare the way Lip and Hamilton released the cal 500 and the R27-based watches. Lip got their resellers and watch repairers involved and motivated, including sending letters from Fred Lip himself telling them how important the watch was, and explaining the advantages of the new technology, whereas Hamilton 500s had to be returned to the factory for servicing, which gave watchmakers the impression that they weren’t trusted to work on them. Lip also ironed out the majority of the technical problems before releasing the watch, so it didn’t develop the same reputation for unreliability as the Hamilton.
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

Good catch TheJohnP, somehow I skipped that one. Will update my post.
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by Boourns »

PetWatch wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 12:04 am
1812
First Documentated Case of a Wristwatch.


The Breguet No. 2639 wristwatch, commissined by Caroline Murat Queen of Naples in 1810 as a fine piece of jewelry. "in addition to a repeater watch for bracelet for which we shall charge 5,000 Francs". It was completed in 1812 by the French watchmaker. It has been lost to history. The lady was quite a watch enthusiast, acquiring 34 clocks and watches from Breguet.
It's a bit tougher to find a conversion of $5,000 francs in 1812 to now, but in dollars, $5,000 is 1812 would be more than $100,000. But 5,000 GBP in 1812 are worth more than $350,000 today. In terms of raw purchasing power, the 5000 francs in 1812 would be worth more than $1 million or GBP.

Some additional topics for this thread, all Seiko related:
1. The HAQ F-movements -- i.e, 9F you'd find in Grand Seikos today. I've recently become obsessed with looking at older 8F movements like in the early 2000s alpinist. But these (especially the alpinists) are becoming really expensive.
2. The electric Elnix movements of the 70s. Also a brief obsession of mine. Never got one.
3. Spring drive - is this quartz or mechanical? (I think the answer is both due to mechanical mainspring and electric regulator)
I wish that watch were 38mm?
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

Research into historical information is often found in bits and pieces, often contradictory and lacking documentation. I will continue to update timeline posts as new and more accurate information is found. Do share any documented evidence you may find.
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