A Renewed Perspective On Quartz: Reappraising Battery-Powered Timekeeping

Quartz, Quartz and Quartz.

Yes, you just read the word quartz three times without any suffix of ‘crisis.’ That’s legit bizarre for a platform dedicated to watches. The crisis association, however unfortunate, has persisted, creating a negative perception of the battery powered watch. This tainting by association regrettably overshadows its many virtues. Quartz did lead to a catalyzing event that risked obsolescence of the very foundation upon which the entire Swiss watch industry stood.

Traditionally, the Swiss have been hesitant of change, and in a sense, aren’t we all. We find comfort in being stuck in a comfortable rut, a place where we've settled into a familiar routine. It's a cozy space, isn't it? For the Swiss, they got lulled into this sense of security, with a fear of the unknown and the discomfort of change. For the entire industry, this comfort of tradition proved to be a cunning disguise for stagnation.

While I hesitate to label it as propaganda, what ensued post Christmas Day 1969 (launch of Seiko Quartz Astron, the world's first quartz watch), was a campaign sought to promote the notion that quartz is cheap and inferior. This institution-lead fear of the game-changing technology emanated, as innumerable small-scale Swiss watchmakers collapsed existentially and while some high-end manufacturers barely managed to survive, others flocked to imitate quartz. Even after half a century, the industry's enduring affinity for mechanical movements and aversion to quartz prove stubbornly resistant to change.

Let’s just admit: It’s no secret that quartz is a divisive technology. The love-it-or-hate-it affair with this Japanese tech often relegates it as a cheap, mass-produced and disposable commodity. In doing so, the core reality of the mechanical watchmaking segment of the industry is challenged, where quality spectrums are diverse and extremities poles apart. It also ascertains the fact that for mechanical watches, mere enthusiasm can validate a product's existence. Without ignoring its technological capacity, we’ll explore quartz not as a fatal threat to the mechanical watch, but actually judge it on its own merits, and in doing so anoint it a vessel for the art of mechanical to thrive.

Are we born with a hatred for quartz?
This is not news, but in an era of price and priority distortions, practicality is out the window for the most part with watch collecting. In favor of quartz, I’m going to make my case and if you don’t love, you don’t buy. But an open mind might be rewarded with the unexpected kick that re-energizes your horological affinity, and sort of induces reason into your collecting philosophy. If you're feeling burnt out on the hype of steel sports luxury mechanical watches, consider giving quartz a chance.

While the wounded Swiss of the 70s have a role to play in the persistent disdain of quartz, it’s been a default drill of horological upbringing for the masses which adds to the taint. Here’s a look at the standardized schooling of an enthusiast: Early in our collecting experience, the internet teaches us that there’s no such thing as the “ultimate watch,” that mechanical watches are actually not as accurate as electronic timekeepers, speaking of which, we also learn that quartz is crap and that's how it's always phrased to us. We learn that quartz is for newbies, fashionistas and it's often the prize you get in a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

I'm here to tell you that it’s mostly wrong. Well, at least the first two lessons, while oversimplified, do have some merit. But the third is absolutely inaccurate. Luxury quartz watches specifically can be incredibly capable, indisputably well-made and yes, designed to last a lifetime, not just the lifetime of the person who owns the watch but of the watch itself. They should never be confused with disposable consumer articles like smart watches, which are frankly more like digital devices. Smartphones, tablets, computers and smart watches are all separate from luxury quartz. Irrespective of the similarities in what powers them, there are extremities of engineering and craftsmanship in each category and luxury quartz watches occur at the highest echelon in every regard.

Features that make me love quartz.
Just like the variance between the Rolls-Royce Spectre and a Hyundai IONIQ 5, there is a far stretching disparity between the quartz caliber in a Grand Seiko and one that’s in a Hello Kitty watch. The latter in both cases, however, occur perfectly dependable and competent in their own regards. Luxury watch brands like Omega, Longines, TAG Heuer, Hamilton, Bulova, Bulgari, Piaget, Tissot and Hublot have a heavy volume of quartz models in their current catalogs. In the higher reaching segments, luxury quartz examples populate the catalogs of Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, Grand Seiko, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Girard-Perregaux and even F.P. Journe to name a few.

What’s the catch here? Of course, it’s down to the specific advantages intrinsic with quartz movements: unparalleled precision and the potential for extraordinary thinness. A quartz watch's tiny crystal vibrates with astonishing precision, 32,768 times a second, generating a one-second pulse. At its very best, the oscillation frequency in a mechanical movement has never surpassed the rate of 108,000 vibrations per hour (30 times a second) of the Zenith's 2017 Defy Lab. As demonstrated by Breitling’s SuperQuartz, accuracy of around 15 seconds per year is possible. Grand Seiko’s 9F82 quartz caliber (in production from 2017-2019 and featured in the ref. SBGV245) effortlessly achieves accuracy in the range of ±10 seconds per year. It gets even better with the Citizen Caliber 0100, with annual accuracy of ±1 second. Beat that!

In terms of slenderness, the 1989 Seiko caliber 9A85A is to date the world’s thinnest watch movement. This standalone marvel measures just 0.85mm thick. Thanks to quartz, we also have the world’s only curved movement. A quartz caliber is multiple folds robust than any mechanical movement as well. It was a Rolex Oysterquartz that accompanied Reinhold Messner on the first ever ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen in 1980.

In the new generation quartz, such as solar-powered like Citizen's Eco-Drive and motion-powered like Seiko's Kinetic, technology has liberated us from the hassle of battery replacements. In the 1990s, Junghans and Citizen pioneered radio-controlled watches that synchronized with atomic clocks. Today, GPS watches, such as Casio's 1999 PRT-1GP, sync with satellite time signals to achieve remarkable accuracy. Add to it the affordability and ease of service, quartz proves to be a perfect antithesis to a mechanical movement’s limitations.

These high performing examples also denounce the notion of cheapness persisting around quartz. Any good quality timepiece from a quartz watch manufacturer can set you back thousands of dollars. Although this takes a bit of figuring, the early quartz watches, particularly from the 1969-1980 era, were far from cheap. In fact, even the most affordable Seiko quartz models at the time were more expensive than their automatic counterparts. Moreover, these high-quality quartz watches were designed to be serviced regularly, much like mechanical timepieces. Given the fact that you can find battery powered watches at less than ₹500 rupees, that’s many levels below the minimal price threshold of any mechanical example today, it is the maturation of technology that we need to concentrate on. The fact that quartz has made watches unbelievably accurate, robust, accessible and affordable is the true merit of this Japanese tech. Isn't this the fundamental purpose of innovation?

As a staunch advocate of high-end quartz, I find myself greatly impressed by many examples of its exceptional capabilities. The Grand Seiko SBGV245 is quartz executed to haute horlogerie perfection. It is my battery-powered grail for that matter. This watch, to me at least, has more character than a lot of mechanical watches. Like many Grand Seiko’s, what makes it truly grand is the finishing. Every angle, facet and curve has been religiously worked upon and that goes on for the 9F82A caliber powering it. This hand-built movement is constructed with the same level of engineering thought and refinement as the brand's mechanical offerings. For me, it represents a balance of the many parts of watchmaking that I most admire and appreciate: beauty, uniqueness, value and craftsmanship.

A high-end quartz example with a fierce subversiveness to it in every regard comes from the Maison of an independent master. If you were to conceive the worst possible pitch to a male watch collector, you would say, “guess what, for you I’ve converted a ladies non-round quartz watch into a gent’s timepiece by making the case bigger and removing the diamonds”. Yet this recipe, that found its genesis in the F.P. Journe Élégante 48, became a blockbuster. Its caliber 1210 is special even by quartz standards. It is endearing, lovable and warm. It uses rose gold, is finished to exacting standards and actually merits a sapphire display case back on a battery powered timepiece. On that note, battery life is spectacular at 8 to 10 years on the wrist and 18 years is the shelf life with its “snooze function.” If you're not wearing it regularly, sleep mode puts the watch to sleep after 35 inactive minutes and a microprocessor memorizes the time, so when you pick it up, there's a little eccentric mass, a little rocker, that wakes up the watch and the motors will turn clockwise or counterclockwise, whichever is shorter to reach the current time and minimize the energy expended. This is genuinely brilliant for quartz!

The sheer subversiveness of the F.P. Journe Élégante 48 and the way it runs against the grain of watch collector prejudice, endears it to me and exhibits a strong case for the much-needed rebranding of quartz and this is where I make my concluding remark. Why can’t we replace the word “quartz” with “electronic oscillator” and so on? This would lend the technology a sexier appeal and mitigate its nerdiness. Such a shift could awaken a genuine and justified mass appreciation for the quartz movement.