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EDITOR’S PICK: How I learned to stop worrying and appreciate the brilliance of quartz EDITOR’S PICK: How I learned to stop worrying and appreciate the brilliance of quartz

EDITOR’S PICK: How I learned to stop worrying and appreciate the brilliance of quartz

Scott Colvin

EDITOR’S NOTE:  The notion of a luxury quartz watch should never have been a contradiction in terms. Thankfully, a growing number of high-end brands have rediscovered its appeal. From Cartier to F.P Journe and Hublot to Grand Seiko, plenty of well-respected maisons are once again investing back into quartz. All of which makes sense given this humble crystal still offers mind-blowing precision beyond the dreams of a mechanical watch. And yet, many of us have to undergo a personal re-education program to change our mindset on this subject. Here, Scott shares his personal conversion.

After hours spent gazing with adoring eyes at the smooth sweep of a mechanical movement’s seconds hand, the ticking of a quartz watch can seem garish, unrefined, or almost brutish in unsophistication. Mechanical movements are accurate, visually intriguing and take an extraordinary level of skill to create. Where quartz watches are made, mechanical watches are crafted.

Instagram’s influence on movement finishing
A very finely finished mechanical movement.

But don’t be too quick to dismiss the ticking timepiece. Aside from the conveniences of lower ongoing maintenance, superior accuracy and no requirement to regularly wind, there are plenty of reasons that quartz watches should command our respect. The intricate devices inside many examples of modern battery-powered watches are serious and deserve serious contemplation. 

Grand-Seiko-94-SBGV238---6
The expertly finished caseback of the quartz Grand Seiko SBGV238.

We need to talk about Spring Drive

Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive reimagined what application quartz crystal and electrical current might have in a watch movement, aesthetically and philosophically, as much as mechanically. The perhaps blasphemous marriage of mechanical and electrical leverages the best of quartz to improve the accuracy of a traditional movement, while still being regulated by centuries-old technology.

You never forget the first time you see a Spring Drive movement. They have the rare power to make the sweeping seconds hand on a standard mechanical movement look pedestrian. There are whole other levels of smoothness to experience when embracing the Spring Drive, and it can be hard to go back to the old way once you have had your first sampling.

Elsewhere in Japan, Citizen last year launched the most accurate quartz movement ever made. The Citizen Caliber 0100 is accurate to +/- 1 second per year. That’s without recourse to external reference, all running magnificently on its own accord. Oh, and it’s powered by the sun. Frankly, I find the movement exposed through the display caseback to be arresting; its physical beauty is remarkable, and dramatically far-removed from the unsightly stereotypes people have about quartz movements. 

The Citizen Caliber 0100.

These are technical marvels worthy of recognition in the pantheon of our modern haute horology. They are remarkable examples of engineering and simple ingenuity, further reflections in the mirror maze of our ceaseless efforts to track the passage of our lives. The impulse to chart time goes on, and new expressions and old refinements will continue to flow from skilled hands.

The magic and mystery of the quartz current

Even the standard, cheap, basic, utilitarian quartz movement is deserving of recognition as an ingenious coming together of the mechanical and the natural. That a quartz crystal vibrates with a hyper-regularity when an electrical current is passed through it is a quirky, faintly mystical phenomenon of nature. I find it to be at least as interesting as, say, atomic clocks, which keep time by measuring the oscillation of atomic materials rather than quartz crystal. Both represent some wrenching open of the Pandora’s box of nature’s delights by human craftsmanship and tell us something about the natural world, our ability to master and command it, and what our place in it can or should be. 

F.P Journe Elégante 48MM Titalyt
Not your average quartz watch. A movement shot of the F.P Journe Elégante 48MM Titalyt. Image: phillips.com

But atomic clocks are exceedingly rare, rarer than almost every other timekeeping device yet invented, and earn a lot of their intrigue because of that scarcity, in addition to their impressive craft. In the same way, mechanical movements earn a degree of their prestige by remaining less common than quartz. We know that rareness (or perceived rareness) informs what is considered tasteful or interesting in a community of collectors. Just look at the thirst (and prices) for unique or limited-run pieces, or those in respect of which production is suppressed. But just because quartz is commonplace doesn’t mean that it is undeserving. 

The Urwerk AMC is set against a portable atomic clock that looks like a nuclear explosive device.

Some watches are noteworthy for reasons other than their inner workings. The materials technology in modern case design and manufacture ranges from the pioneering to the industrious and the frightening. Some watches exist purely for their design or function, and what lies beneath is less relevant or important.

What’s different between mass-produced mechanical and mass-produced quartz anyway?

After all — and this may be contentious — watches with workhorse mass-produced movements arguably fall into this category. Movements from ETA or Sellita are turned out in remarkable, industrial quantities and are often simply installed in a watch without further refinement or adaptation. This is without disrespect to those brands, which prove there are compelling reasons for watch brands to exist that go beyond movement craft. 

At its worst, veneration of mechanical movements for their own sake is a form of nostalgia. Old ways are generally considered superior or somehow more wholesome to current practices, and former presidents are always remembered more fondly than they are while in office.

At its worst, veneration of mechanical movements for their own sake is a form of nostalgia. Old ways are generally considered superior or somehow more wholesome to current practices, and former presidents are always remembered more fondly than they are while in office. They just don’t quite make ’em like they used to. The logical fallacy in this is clear, even if it doesn’t defeat the emotional reaction. 

Snobbery based on movement type is ridiculous

The quartz vs mechanical distinction is often used as a means of distinguishing people who appreciate watches and those who merely buy them. The virtues or otherwise of quartz go beyond the shallow discussion of accuracy compared to mechanical grandeur and to the very core of what we allow into the discourse of watchmaking. Only certain ways of telling time are worthy of the gushing attention of the watch glitterati.

By no means do I prefer quartz watches to mechanical, though I have long wondered how much of that is the effect of a long exposure to the biases of the watch community. I’m learning to appreciate quartz more, as a kind of Zen koan illuminating my own value judgments and prejudices, as well as challenging what I enjoy and why I enjoy it. 

history of quartz watches

The physical craftsmanship that goes into a mechanical movement, the knowledge that only a skilled hand could properly treat or care for it, and the cerebral simplicity of it all achieved with small bits of (mostly) metal — the experience of a mechanical watch physically and intellectually is extraordinary, and difficult to better. But there is also a brilliance to quartz, and one that I feel is important not to dismiss out of hand.

Tick or sweep, battery or mainspring — why not embrace both for any of the many wonderful reasons we love watchmaking?