One of the most frequent questions I get from watch shoppers is this: What are the differences between quartz and mechanical movements? Before I answer that, though, it's worth taking a step back.

which will stop running unless they are wound or worn (automatic watches have a rotor that will wind the movement with wrist motion), quartz watches will run for months or even years. Quartz watches ...

A quartz movement is a tool that so simplified timekeeping that, upon its invention in the 1970s, completely upended the watch industry. While mechanical watches are beautiful and prized for the ...

While mechanical watches are put on a pedestal as complicated high art (and to be fair, in many cases they are), quartz is labeled timekeeping’s easy answer. You can see how the perception takes root.

Since the Eighties, quartz has been by far a cheaper choice of movement, thus the ticking seconds became associated with low price. Mechanical watches, once the only game in town, became luxury ...

a biweekly column highlighting important or little-known watches with interesting backstories and unexpected influence. This week: the Beta 21 quartz movement. A disaster — this is how the watch ...

That’s when the quartz watch movement first came on the scene, making it possible — and eventually vastly less expensive — to keep time accurately using a battery and vibrating quartz ...

It was a limited edition of 100 gold-case watches, priced at ¥450,000, equivalent then to the cost of a Toyota Corolla. Its battery-powered movement featured a quartz oscillator with a frequency ...

Long scorned despite being cheaper and more accurate than their mechanical counterparts, quartz watches are finally getting some love. By Scott Cacciola Wristwatch enthusiasts can be persnickety.