subject: Battle Of The Watches - Quartz Or Mechanical? [print this page] Most traditional watches are rooted from the 14th century. These mechanical devices have balance wheels that regulate time and a wound spring that powers the watch itself. The entry of the more recent quartz watch in the 1970's has revolutionized the standard watch. Today, quartz is dominating the market of watches. Know the reasons why and also why some still like mechanical.
The Accuracy of Quartz
The underlying reason behind quartz's popularity is its accuracy. A quartz watch is said to be 60 times more precise than its mechanical counterpart. The time adjustment is not that significant for quartz because it only changes about a second (plus / minus) each week as opposed to mechanical that can lose one full minute each week. In this connection, the latter becomes less reliable compared to quartz, most especially when telling longer time periods. For example, after a year you might already lose at least 48 minutes for a mechanical watch while quartz barely loses a minute with at least a 48 second loss only. This is also due to the quartz crystal, which makes high oscillations possible up to 32,768 rounds per second.
Frequent Servicing and Wear and Tear in Mechanical Watches
Another reason why many consumers favor quartz is because of the lesser tendency for wear and tear. The fewer the moving parts in the watch, the lesser the friction involved and the less likely it wears out. Because it contains fewer moving parts, quartz also does not suffer from breakdowns much easily unlike the mechanical ones. To add, the load on the gear train varies in both types. For quartz, its gear train is not affected by any load unlike in a mechanical watch where its gear train is always carrying the mainspring load. Because of the fragile nature of mechanical watches, they need to be serviced and checked every three years or so to keep them up and tell time correctly. They are also wound up to give additional 40 hours of runtime. Watch out for an automatic watch. This watch stops functioning if it cannot detect wrist movement. As a result, it stops ticking several hours after it has been removed from the wrist and will just function back once it senses motion. This limitation is addressed with a quartz watch. Because it has a built-in long-lasting battery, it does not need much adjustment and servicing because it accurately tells time most of the time. However, you do need to regularly change the battery pack every 2-3 years.
The Proven Strength of a Mechanical Watch
In terms of longevity, it is quite surprising for most people to know that mechanical watches actually last longer than quartz. With regular servicing and tuning up, a mechanical watch can live a longer life. You also have the advantage of easy repair since there are lots of mechanical spare parts to replace worn-out parts. Furthermore, a mechanical watch can fetch a huge sum in the trade and resell market because they have the potential to become so rare that most collectors love to have them. It is not sensitive to cold climates unlike quartz that usually ceases to function out in the cold. Quartz also falls short because its circuitry makes fixing quite difficult. The fast improvement in technology makes some of its parts obsolete very quickly.
