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All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

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PetWatch
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

The Quartz Crystal Watch Movement

46 crystal.jpg

The Evolution of the Quartz Crystal Clock
This is an excellent, long and detailed paper on the history of human timekeeping and in particular the scientific research and discoveries that would eventually make the quartz wristwatch movement possible.

https://ieee-uffc.org/about-us/history/ ... clock/?amp


Pre-Production Quartz Prototypes

1967
First Quartz Wristwatch Prototypes


The Beta 1 prototype, using an 8192 Hz quartz oscillator and a stepper motor for the seconds hand, was the first fully operational quartz wristwatch completed in July 1967 at the Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH), a consortium of Swiss companies working on the development of an electronic watch.

Later that same year, the Beta 1, the modified Beta 2 with a vibrating motor that would eventually lead to the Beta 21 production model, and entries from Suwa Seikosha (now known as Seiko) were entered at the Centre Electronique Horloger (C.E.H.) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, chronometer competition. The first year quartz wristwatches where included in the competition. A competition for timekeeping stability, precision, not accuracy. A watch capable of continuous performance of 10 seconds fast per day is more precise than a watch that may be accurate at some point in time but whose timekeeping fluctuates.

1967 was the first time quartz watches participated in the competition. There were five Beta 1 and six Beta 2 C.E.H entries, the first Beta 1 was assigned # CEH-1020, and five watches from Suwa Seikosha. The CEH Omega Beta 2 entry had the best performance of the group. The first Beta 1 performed 5th best with CEH entries taking the first 10 places. All entries performed better than their mechanical counterparts. The future evolutionary path of the wristwatch was evident. The Beta 1 technology would be adopted and progress into future successful quartz watches. (Couldn't find information about the Seiko quartz prototypes technology or when they were first fully functional.)


CEH Beta 1
42 Beat 1.jpeg

Suwa-Seikosha Prototype
43 seiko W-00x+Wrist+Chronometer+1967.jpg

https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_First_Q ... rist_Watch

http://ieee-uffc.org/wp-content/uploads ... 1/step.pdf

https://www.plus9time.com/blog/2019/6/1 ... tz-entries
PetWatch
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by PetWatch »

How a Quartz Watch Works

Typical quartz watch crystals, manufactured of silicone dioxide, shaped like a tuning fork.

1 Quartzuse.jpg

With case.
2 Quartz.jpg

In movement.
3quarts.jpeg.jpg

Movement components.
5works.jpeg

A clear and simple explanation and diagram showing how a quartz watch works.


4 Howitworks.jpeg
6 Quartz movement.jpeg
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/quartzclockwatch.html

https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/g ... watch2.htm


A more in depth explanation.

“The principle components in a quartz watch are the power source or the cell, the quartz crystal resonator, the IC (integrated circuit), the stepping motor, the gear train, and ultimately, the hands and display. Please consult Figure 1 (below). Energy passes from the cell to the IC chip, which powers the quartz crystal. The quartz crystal then cleans up the dirty signal and transmits back to the IC, a signal that is resonating at a frequency of 32,768 Hz. Within the IC, a divider circuit steps down the signal fifteen times until it reaches a very steady one impulse per second. This current is then fed to the motor. The motor is comprised of three components: the coil, the stator, and the rotor. The coil receives the current from the IC. As the current passes through the coil it creates a magnetic field that is transmitted to the stator. The stator and the coil usually share a mechanical connection; however, power is never transmitted through the stator. It merely acts as an electro-magnet with the polarity traveling in one direction. The rotor is a permanent magnet with hemispheres of opposing polarity. It has pivots, so that it may rotate, and a pinion, so that when it rotates, it will in turn rotate the intermediate wheel of the gear train. When the magnetic field passes through the stator, it reacts with the polarity of the rotor, and as everyone knows when you try to force two magnets together of the same polarity, they repel one another. Opposite polarities attract. The rotor rotates 180º until it is attracted by the opposite polarity and it stops. The current then runs through the coil in the opposite direction forcing the same action, only changing the direction of polarity in the stator and causing the rotor to once again rotate 180º. This happens once every second in most quartz watches. Again, to recap, the magnetic field from the stator acts upon the rotor causing it to rotate, which rotates the gear train. This creates the motion of the hands and tells us the time.

6.1.jpg
https://www.brinkersjewelers.com/wp-con ... ay2011.pdf
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Re: All about The Quartz Watch – Show & Discuss

Post by watchpalooza »

This is great information! This thread now appearing in both the Watches & Timekeepers and Knowledge and How-to forums.
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