Difference Between the Movement of Quartz And Mechanical Watches?
These days, many people buy watches based on appearances alone. People don’t think about how the watch works. The watchmakers spend a good amount of time designing watches in an appropriate way. Once you get a detail, you will appreciate every aspect of it, including its internal parts. You will be surprised knowing how things work inside a watch.
Here in this article, you will get to know the difference between quartz and mechanical watches.
Let us give you readers a brief introduction about how things work inside both types of watches. It is very important for people to know about these things if they are fond of collecting watches.
Working of Mechanical Movement Watches
First, let us discuss how mechanical movement works. Mechanical movement of watches falls into one of two subcategories: manual- winding and self-winding (automatic) watches.
In manual watches, a person has to turn the crown which is located on the top of the watch, to tighten the mainspring. After the crown is tightened, you can expect your watch to work for around 40 hours prior to the next winding. Many watches also have a power reserve which is expected to extend the winding of the crown for the next 10 days. In automatic variants, there is an oscillator that automatically winds the mainspring to power the watch. You can think about the oscillator as a type of rotor that spins when the wearer moves his wrist. This means that the watch is powered by kinetic energy.
Both types of watches have similar construction. When you wind the crown, it puts pressure on the mainspring. This pressure creates a force that is transferred through the gear train to an escapement. A little bit of power is put out each time in this process.
Working of Quartz Movement Watches:
The quartz movement is known to be first introduced by a Japanese manufacturer Seiko in the year 1969. These movements are much simpler. These quartz watches were made to challenge the traditional mindset on the production of watches. Until this point, there were only mechanical watches available in the market, and it was difficult for common people to afford them. Watches made with quartz movements were affordable, and it changed the watch industry forever.
Quartz movements are battery-powered. You need not provide any winding. Batteries inside the watch send electric signals to quartz crystals and make it vibrate 32,768 times in a single second. Vibrations produced are then measured through a circuit and converted into singular electrical pulses, one pulse per second. These watches are more accurate than mechanical watches.
