Quartz Watches - Some Information Some May Find Interesting

NZ Watch · Jul 4, 2013

webvan
Good to hear and res a timing machine would help fine tune but it's good fun moving the trimmer in small increments and then measure the impact a few days later, with the video method (see watchuseek HAQ forums), it's actually pretty accurate. There are cheap "clones" for mechanical watch timing machines but nothing affordable for quartz timing machines, yet...

I use an app on the iPad, you can look at your watch then hit the SET button at top, clock has markers of 0.2 resolution.

webvan · Jul 4, 2013

Nice, but with the video method you get a resolution of 0.04 seconds and its frame by frame so you can can go back and forth to double check ;-)

ctpete · Jul 2, 2014

Great post!! I have three Omega quartz watches - 2 Seamaster 300's and a Constellation. I am now buying mechanical watches and just got my first Seamaster 2531. Love it! I do have a question for you Archer...I want to put my three quartz Omegas away to perhaps give to grandchildren when they are old enough to appreciate them. So, what about long term storage?? I'm talking 10-15 years. Remove the battery?? Any other guidelines I should follow so they don't degrade over that period?? Thanks.

Hijak · Jul 2, 2014

Without a doubt remove the battery...or, over time, it will leak all over your nice watches and ruin them!😲

Archer · Jul 2, 2014

No watch battery should be left in the watch after it has died. You run a very great risk of leakage that will ruin the movement.

Cheers, Al

ctpete · Jul 2, 2014

Archer
No watch battery should be left in the watch after it has died. You run a very great risk of leakage that will ruin the movement.

Cheers, Al

Thanks for the confirmation on the battery. Is there anything else I should do before putting it away for a period of years??

Archer · Jul 2, 2014

No, not really.

Cheers, Al

blackwatch · Jul 2, 2014

The quartz clock in my gs300 doesn't display seconds, and of course it doesn't have any mechanical stuff to move/drag, so it's a vastly simpler mechanism to anything that goes on a wrist. But I am amazed that I haven't set it in over 3 years (maybe 4 or even longer, it probably was the last time I replaced the battery) and it's still correct to within less than a minute. If I was really anal about it, I'd observe when the digits change and use that as zero seconds, but I've never been that bored. This is in a car that goes from 60 to 130 F interior temp in a single day, and 20 to 140 interior temp over the course of a year. I don't know if it's temperature compensated but I doubt it as that would be impractical in a car. (temp compensated quartz time sources usually live in an "oven" because it's easier to maintain a constant high temperature than a constant low temperature.) But as one of the oldsters who was part of the watch buying public when quartz watches first appeared I've always been amazed by them.

dsio · Jul 2, 2014

Most high end cars with satnav don't need to be accurate at all as they synchronise their clock to the GPS satellite signal which is far more accurate than any quartz timepiece

blackwatch · Jul 4, 2014

No satnav in my car, I just have a 5 year old garmin with maps that weren't accurate even when it was new.

msp1518 · Jul 5, 2014

My dad's Seiko 6923-808a, known as the A View To A Kill watch (worn by Roger Moore in that film) has started to lose time. It will be fine for two days and then he will look at it and suddenly it is an hour behind. The watch is mint (original band long gone but the head looks brand new), however at nearly three decades old I wonder if this is it. The battery was changed about four months ago.

This is a very uncommon watch, but by no means a collectors item. But it has real sentimental value. I'd really like to keep it going for him. Any ideas what this issue might be? I certainly can try a new battery for starters.

Archer · Jul 6, 2014

If you don't have equipment to diagnose quartz watches, then the only thing you can do is to try a new battery. Just make sure it is a fresh one.

Cheers, Al

msp1518 · Jul 7, 2014

Yeah that's about the only choice. This model isn't exactly worth anything so if it's toast, it's toast.

megamon · Feb 7, 2015

WOW. What an amazing article.
Thanks Al

Best,
Pinzon

redpcar · Feb 7, 2015

Now that the quartz topic has come up, what about batteries? I know some claim longer life than others, some tend to leak, some are erratic. Can you summarize your thoughts on the different batteries? Renata, Varta, Energizer, Seiko, etc.

rhetoric · Feb 7, 2015

Very interesting. Worthy of a sticky somewhere, I think. 👍

x3no · Feb 8, 2015

Just getting a chance to read this. Very awesome information. Thanks Archer.

rayd_smd · Feb 8, 2015

Thanks Al! Very interesting. Bookmarked. Question: I have two Seiko Quartz watches: one is a late 90's dress type and the other is a c. 1980's Seiko Quartz 100 day/date diver. A reputable local jeweler was kind enough to change the batteries for me for no charge. On the diver, he noticed there's was a bit of corrosion and he cleaned it out for me. The second hand was not moving after the battery swap but he told me to wait a few minutes or longer and it should start if there was not any damage. Any idea why there is a delay? I looked online and could not find a reference. Thanks!

Archer · Feb 8, 2015

redpcar
Now that the quartz topic has come up, what about batteries? I know some claim longer life than others, some tend to leak, some are erratic. Can you summarize your thoughts on the different batteries? Renata, Varta, Energizer, Seiko, etc.

I use Maxell personally, and have been very happy with them. I hear horror stories from almost all the brands, but Renata is the one that comes up most often as the brand that has leakage issues. Ironically the battery that Omega uses as OEM...

Cheers, Al

Archer · Feb 8, 2015

rayd_smd
Thanks Al! Very interesting. Bookmarked. Question: I have two Seiko Quartz watches: one is a late 90's dress type and the other is a c. 1980's Seiko Quartz 100 day/date diver. A reputable local jeweler was kind enough to change the batteries for me for no charge. On the diver, he noticed there's was a bit of corrosion and he cleaned it out for me. The second hand was not moving after the battery swap but he told me to wait a few minutes or longer and it should start if there was not any damage. Any idea why there is a delay? I looked online and could not find a reference. Thanks!

Some movements have to go through arrest procedure, so there is a slight delay before they start ticking again. Some you have to manually "short" the circuit to get the movement to restart - it's specific to each movement. I don't work on Seikos much so I can't tell you what the specific reason is on the one you have.

Cheers, Al

Quartz Watches - Some Information Some May Find Interesting

NZ Watch

webvan

ctpete

Hijak

Archer

ctpete

Archer

blackwatch

dsio

blackwatch

msp1518

Archer

msp1518

megamon

redpcar

rhetoric

x3no

rayd_smd

Archer

Archer

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