Why do all Quartz movements have a beat of 3600?

[PHicks]

Having never taken a quartz movement apart I am puzzled as to why they always have a beat of 3600. Since the quartz crystal vibrates at some really high frequency it seems reasonable that the drive could be arranged to give a smooth second hand motion. I wondered if it was related to battery life.

I'm sure one of our seasoned members can unravel this puzzle for me. Of course I could do the research myself but this would deny our membership the opportunity of enlightening me!

 

[levelmanroger]

I'm pretty sure battery life is the issue. With a smooth sweep, the battery would be discharging constantly, which would reduce the battery life by @ 7/8.

 

[brtelec]

Yes Roger you are correct. If it swept smoothly it would seriously reduce the battery life.

 

[PHicks]

I guess I answered my own question then!

I have a quartz watch that has lasted 25 years and is still going strong. In that time I don't suppose I have replaced the battery more than 5 times. I could easily live with once a year. Besides, given the size of modern mens watches you could put car battery in most of them.

The reason I asked this question in the first place relates to the frequent discussions about 21J, ETA, 7750 reliability etc. It seems that quartz movements in the Rep world are frowned on primarily because it's so obvious that it's a Rep. Even my buddy at work who doesn't even wear a watch can spot that one.

So my revised question is this; would you buy a Rep with a 28800 beat quartz movement in place of an unreliable A7750?

 

[levelmanroger]

AFTER 5 MONTHS, I FINALLY GOT ONE RIGHT!!!!

 

[PHicks]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while!

 

[drfcfighter]

So my revised question is this; would you buy a Rep with a 28800 beat quartz movement in place of an unreliable A7750?

I like quartz fine. I have a Tag chrono indy500 quartz rep that is probably the best rep of a gen in the market. It's just not popular because you can get the gen for a grand. The rep with this Swiss ETA quartz, basically the exact same engine as the gen, is $150, so it's not terribly popular. I wear it with pride as I know it's the same thing as the genuine article in almost everyway given the same engine.

As for 28.8k quartz, yes, I would. There is a sweeping quartz by Miyota, and it costs about 5-6x more than a real Swiss ETA. So it defeats the purpose.

 

[PHicks]

There is a sweeping quartz by Miyota, and it costs about 5-6x more than a real Swiss ETA. So it defeats the purpose.

Interesting, you're quite correct of course, it does defeat the purpose.

I suspect that this is not a technological issue but rather a marketing one. If there was a big market for sweeping quartz movements then they wouldn't cost very much. I've read that the vast majority of rep's produced are of the 'junk' variety and end up in countries like Africa. The price for an asian 21J and a quartz appears to be similar so I guess they produce both in huge quantities. The bottom line is the end user really doesn't care as long as it works for a while and impresses people.

What puzzles me is that the Chinese went to all the trouble of copying one of the most complex movements around, the 7750. At $500+ for an ETA I guess I can see the attraction but it must imply that the market for 'high end' reps is worth the investment. Now it seems that the 2836 is firmly established as their next clone. My point is that the 'high end' reps have sufficient market to warrant the huge investment to produce these movements so why not a 'high beat' quartz? It must surely be because they don't believe that we will buy them. For all the logic we still like to own a watch that has all that mechanical stuff, balance wheels, regulators etc. It's a kind of nostalgia.

 

[drfcfighter]

From what I understand, and I am often wrong :lol: , it takes more tech to make a sweeping quartz than automatic movements.

 

[fakemaster]

It does have to do with battery life. That little bit of extra beat would be a power sucker.

 

[levelmanroger]

To answer the previous question: YES - I would love to buy a 28.8 quartz rep which would A) decrease the probability of early death, and B) increase the accuracy of time-keeping. If they could set the crown position and date wheel depth correctly, I'd buy the quartz every time. A battery a year is a very small price to pay, but I think development would have to be made to make it run that long at that beat rate.

As for quartz in general - I'm a fan. Surprisingly, after getting into this hobby, I've found that two of the watches that impress me the most are my gen Lum-Tec and my gen Seiko - both quartz and both rock-solid great watches.

 

[Tranman]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while!

LOL, that's one of my favorite lines BUT I think this may be more appropriate given the topic at hand.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day

 

[Pix]

AFTER 5 MONTHS, I FINALLY GOT ONE RIGHT!!!!

I'm with you Roger

 

[Chewbacca]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while!

LOL, that's one of my favorite lines BUT I think this may be more appropriate given the topic at hand.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day

i lol'd too i hadn't heard the nut ditty before
but now being old enough to use such quotes, im going to add it to my memory banks
and forget about it some time between now and tomorrow.