We’ll never settle the debate over quartz vs automatic watches. Enthusiasts still argue the topic today. But which side of the fence do you sit on?
It’s easy to purchase a watch based solely on its style and functions. But true watch enthusiasts will look a little deeper. They’ll consider the watch’s interior and how its internal mechanism works.
When talking about watches, there are two main types of internal mechanisms: mechanical and quartz. Both offer different advantages and disadvantages depending on what you’re looking for in a watch.
In this guide, I’ll explain the differences between quartz and automatic watches and what each offers.
What’s the Difference Between Quartz and Automatic Watches?
The movement of a watch powers the hands around the dial. It also controls the other features you see on a watch face. These include functions like the date, day, month, year, moon phase, and power reserve, to name just a few.
When breaking down the two main categories of internal mechanisms, we can go a little deeper.
While the quartz movement stands on its own as an electronically powered mechanism, we can separate mechanical movements further. There are those that are self-winding (automatic) and those that are hand-wound (manual).
Hand-winding (or manual-winding) watches and self-winding (automatic) watches work similarly to one another. They power the hands around the dial via the winding and unwinding of a mainspring.
A battery powers a quartz movement, generating power for a tiny motor and sending the hand ticking around the display.
Let’s dig a little deeper to explore the difference between quartz and automatic watches in more detail.
Mechanical Watches
As explained, mechanical watches can be manual winding or automatic. You can explore the innards of a mechanical watch in more detail if you want to.
Here’s a simple explanation. The winding of a crown or the turning of a rotor (in an automatic) tightens a spring inside the watch. That mainspring is then responsible for slowly unwinding with the help of an escapement.
The controlled unwinding of the mainspring provides energy to the watch. This technically complex system of tiny, intricate components gives the wearer a glimpse into the past. Many collectors would describe it as “the soul” of a watch.
What’s more, many manual-winding and self-winding watches afford a view of this mechanical synergy through an exhibition case back. Often crafted from sapphire crystal, you can explore the engine’s high level of decoration and traditional Swiss finishes here.
Quartz Watches
The battery replaced the spring in the 1970s. It caused catastrophic damage for traditional mechanical watch manufacturers, particularly throughout the Swiss watch industry. Quartz watches were quicker and cheaper to manufacture, plus they were more accurate, too.
A quartz watch works by converting electrical energy to physical energy via the piezoelectric effect. It’s also responsible for taking pictures of atomic structures, recording sound, and keeping time!
Once electricity passes through it, a quartz crystal vibrates thousands of times per second. This high frequency gives the watch a reliable measure of a second.
A simple battery sends an electrical current to a microchip, which causes the quartz crystal to vibrate. The microchip then picks up these vibrations from the crystal, turning them into electrical pulses. These electrical pulses drive a motor that sends the hands around the dial.
Quartz technology made the escapement, the springs, and the several hundred components within a mechanical watch redundant during the 1970s. This ushered in a period we call “the Quartz Crisis”.
Quartz or Automatic? Which Is Best?
The debate between quartz watches vs automatic watches will last until the end of time. Do you prefer quartz or automatic? It’s entirely down to personal choice.
The Pros and Cons of Quartz
Some watch collectors enjoy the ease and simplicity of quartz watches. With no maintenance, services, or regular cleaning to consider, they’re certainly a great no-fuss option.
Pricewise, quartz watches are also cheaper since machinery produces them. That can also be the case for mechanical watches, although they comprise more components.
However, the disadvantage of a quartz watch is that it won’t last forever. You’ll get a maximum of 2-3 years out of one before its battery will need replacing. But that’s not why people opt for quartz over automatic.
Quartz watches are better in terms of accuracy. They’re the preferred option for many, just like digital music is better than listening to it on a CD. But why, then, do people still love to buy and listen to vintage records?
Luxury quartz watches aren’t bad quality. Japanese watch brands like Grand Seiko, for example, make some particularly beautiful quartz models.
Their hand-finished elements are as beautiful as any Swiss master. But they lack the tangible beauty afforded by a watch governed by your wrist movements or nurtured by manual winding.
The Pros and Cons of Automatic Watches
There are elite watch-collecting circles out there that wouldn’t entertain the thought of a quartz watch. To them, the beauty in watch-wearing is to appreciate the complexity of the engine within.
They’d argue that the appreciation of a timepiece lies behind the individual components that work harmoniously together as one.
Automatic watches are more expensive. Some watches are created by traditional watchmakers, and their finishes and craftsmanship justify the higher price tag.
True horologists love the fact that their timepiece is unique. The thought of sending their watch back up a Swiss mountain for repair is all part of the novelty of wearing it.
You don’t necessarily need to understand how a mechanical movement works, but if you wanted to, you could. Avid watch collectors have spent years marveling at the way these cogs, gear trains, and springs work.
When you see those tiny parts working together as one beating organ, it’s quite the spectacle. You can see the chain reaction, feel it, and understand it.
On the other hand, modern technology is a little like a hidden science. We can’t see it, and we don’t always know how it works. Could the concealed quartz technology in a battery-operated watch explain why horological connoisseurs feel it lacks a soul?
The Quartz vs Automatic Watches Debate Concluded
Is mechanical actually better? Or does the quartz watch offer more benefits for accurate timekeeping? Well, the answers to those questions all come down to personal preference.
The accuracy of a quartz movement blows the automatic movement out of the water. But it is the romantic and captivating pursuit of collecting the latter and marveling at its inner workings that enthusiasts love.
Quartz watches are simple to maintain and require no maintenance aside from the odd battery change. But the argument for automatic watches lies in their craftsmanship.
They evoke a feeling of nostalgia and a sense of pride that, in buying one, you’re keeping the tradition of haute horology alive.
As a lover of vintage timepieces and traditional, authentic Swiss watchmaking, it automatically gets my vote.
Which do you prefer? What’s your argument for quartz vs automatic watches, and why? Let me know in the comments below.
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