Saturday, October 22, 2011

Which is Better: Quartz or Mechanical Watch?

Traditional mechanical watches had their origins in the 14th century. The mechanical watch is powered by a wound spring and the balance wheel regulates the time. The invention of the quartz watch in the 70's has however dominated the watch market . Today , 90% of all watches manufactured are quartz watches. Quartz watches are cheaper, more accurate, dependable and require less maintenance. Quartz watches are 60 times more correct than mechanical watches. A quartz watch loses or gains 1 second a week while a mechanical watch may lose 1 minute a week. This translates to bigger inaccuracies for longer periods of time. In a month you would lose 4 seconds for a quartz watch while a mechanical watch loses up to 4 minutes in a month. The quartz crystal is correct because of its extremely high oscillations of up to 32,768 cycles per second.

Quartz watches have few enchanting parts. enchanting parts cause conflict and wear and tear and as a corollary they are more prone to breakdown. By having less enchanting parts quartz watches do not have breakdown as often as mechanical watches. Also , the gear train of a mechanical watch is under constant load from the mainspring whereas the gear train in a quartz watch is not under any load.

Skagen Watch Battery

Mechanical watches also require servicing every three years to keep the watch working in good health and tell the time accurately.

Mechanical watches require winding up which provide hold power of 40 hours. An automatic watch relies on the movement of the wrist to power itself. But still, if you do not wear it all the time and just wear occasionally, you will find the time on the watch has stopped and you need to adjust the time . A quartz watch powered by a battery is permanently powered and tells correct time all the time and do not need time adjustment. Of procedure you do need the turn the battery after two to three years.

Mechanical watches have longer lifespans than that of quartz watches. A mechanical watch can last indefinitely with proper care and servicing. Should it break down , parts are all the time ready for repair. A mechanical watch can come to be a collectible and it can fetch high resale value due to its rarity. A quartz watch on the other hand features electronic circuitry that has a minute lifespan. You cannot repair it because the electronic components for it would be obsolete by then.

Lastly, a mechanical watch is not as sensitive to ultimate cold climatic characteristic as quartz watches. In ultimate cold, the mechanical watch still keeps working while the cold will temporarily shut down the battery of the quartz watch.

Which is Better: Quartz or Mechanical Watch?

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