What are everyone's thoughts towards Quartz

We all need at least one quartz to set/check our mechanicals :D they needn't be rubbish either - the Grand Seiko quartz is outstanding, in terms of fit and finish, plus sub 10 seconds variation a *year* comes in handy :D

My main issue with Quartz in the past was that the quartz movements themselves were generic crap, and the watches they put them in were little better - that's very much changed now, thank god. 

I have that kind of sense that if I have a Quartz (and I do, a few) it should also really be digital and have extra functions beyond telling the time. From an environmental perspective, I also feel it should be solar powered — batteries aren’t as environmentally friendly as mechanical after all. (Saying that, my eco drive died last week, and I am trying to work out if I can change the cell myself or not. Twenty plus years is a good innings, between me and my dad.) 

On the other hand, they should cost less than a mechanical, should be harder wearing, and are more accurate, without a doubt. So I do have one non-solar analogue quartz because I liked the design. (PD1713 Mechaquartz, todays Wrist Shot.)

If I am paying close to triple figures for a Quartz watch, it better do something other than look nice and tell the time basically. And in some ways, digital is its natural form. Analogue is a modern, late twentieth century, watch dressing up in its fathers clothes in some ways.

So you know, buy a G-Shock I guess.

One thing that limits the value of the accuracy is daylight saving time. You have to adjust then anyway, twice a year.

I strongly look down on many modern "conveniences" like ballpoint pens, automatic transmissions, microwave ovens, etc. But the ability of the cheapest quartz to keep very acceptable time for six to nine months whether you wear it or not is such a vast improvement over springs needing winding that it still remains my gold standard. The old timey technology watches are cute for style and retro vibes, but I have much less perfect faith in them.

Some can auto that I think — and on many it’s basically two or three button presses, doesn’t touch the seconds. My eco drive (while it lived) was also a perpetual calendar for leap years. The G shocks in the house it’s two maybe three button presses. 
Not to mention the radio/atomic watches out there. (Though in the event of civilisation as we know it collapsing, which is why all us urban dwellers wear watches that are tougher than a cockroach living in Chuck Norris‘ beard, having a manual set option would be wise. For when the lights go out.) 

Quartz is great. I love my quartz pieces. I have 3:

1 x Dress watch - JLC Reverso 

1 x Chronograph - Breil

1 x Beater - Casi-Oak

Quartz make watches that are smaller, more durable, cheaper and with less manual intervention.

I completely agree with you. I think the vast majority of quartz movements are generic & cheap. Thats not necessarily an issue unless it's in an expensive watch. Personally some of my favourite watches I own are quartz but their prices also reflect this. I do however look down at expensive watches with quartz movements. I know Grand Seiko use them but as mentioned they are inhouse, designed to an incredible level & are far more mechanically complex than a regular quartz. But the TAG use quartz in a few of their watches & if I'm being honest this has often made me look down at TAG for that reason. Are TAGs quartz special in their own way & I've just missed something? 

Other than G Shocks and other watches for sports, I’m not a fan. That said, I’ve come around to the idea of vintage quartz. I’ve become Interested in vintage but have also become familiar with some problems that come with old mechanical movements. Plus, if it doesn’t have a seconds hand, I don’t really mind them. 

The second hands on quartz watches have historically irritated me, they never line up correctly & you can see the studder when move along. Thats why I find the Grand Seikos 9F so incredible. 

I think the usual suspects when it comes to quartz movements are just highly boring. I have lots of quartz watches, as they’re usually robust and don’t need to be serviced, but they just don’t really interest me.

As a beginner, I thought quartz was bad and had bought alot of mechanical movements. My last watch purchase was the lunar pilot and I have to say it may be my favorite watch buy far. I cant speak about it enough. I dont even feel like its extremely/way to big.

Definatly get solar. 

At those prices, I have a problem with even the best non-sweeping second hands.  That said, I'd be happy to own one.

Quartz Good!

Mechanical Good!

Spring Drive Good!

Low end cheaply made quarts BAD!

I personally prefer Quartz over mechanical, they're cheaper to buy and keep running in the long run, that is if you buy a battery operated one, if you buy a solar, just keep in the light and it will always be working for at least 15-20 years without needing any service and also there is stuff like High accuracy Quartz thare are amazing movements on their won right, Citzen released an Eco-drive with sub 1 second beat error in 1 year, beating even their own Preciosionist movement found in Bulova watches.

My collection: 3/4 quartz 🥳

Low maintenance 👌

Thats a nice little collection you've got there!

Quartz quality starts out with cheap no jewel ones for a couple bucks to expensive metal ones with multiple jewels. The swiss ETA, selita and ronda movements are real quality. Japanese will last the warranty period and chinese are a crap shoot. GS are the outlier but for the price they better be good. It all comes down to money like everything else.

Roughly a third of my collection are quartz watches. I like quartz chronos because quartz makes a ton of common sense for a chronograph. I also own several digital G-Shocks and they are perfect by virtue of being square and G-Shocks.

And then there is the Bulova Accutron II and every time I watch its second's hand gliding smoothly across the dial I can't keep myself from wondering why can't all quartz watches be like that.

I am almost 50-50 on Quartz/Mechanical in my  collection so I have to real opinion I guess. 

Do have a look at the specifications of the Longines Conquest VHP. It is an incredible watch and I'm very happy with mine.

This discussion seems to have changed a lot in the past year or two. As a great fan of quartz watches, I like this move forward. Even a year ago, the discussion was all about quartz being inferior and (my favourite) 'lacking soul!'

I have both mechanical and quartz watches and much prefer my quartz ones. They keep better time, they are more reliable, you can just pick them up and go, they are cheaper but many still look like the excellent timepieces they are. Let's not forget that a quartz mechanism is also a masterful piece of work. 

Couldn’t agree more. Quartz movements are often looked down upon for being inferior yet the engineerlong that originally went into quartz movements is incredible & shouldn’t be scoffed at. 
 

for me the issue of with the cheap watches they have been put in. People point at the mass production of them being an issue but to me that just points to how incredible they are that they can mass produce something for cheap, that holds time better than the most complex mechanism. 
 

Not if it's Atomic synced. ;)

I love the mechanics of a mechanical, but have many quartz. They are too practical not to. 

Cost of maintenance is essentially zero compared to their forebears. 

Accuracy? Worlds better. 

Convenience? Mostly only have to set them 2x a year at the unnatural clock changes and some are synced to the Atomic clock for true set it & forget it functionality. 

Mechanical will have the romance, but quartz is where tool watches are now. 

I guess my collection is about half and half. I love my quartz Lunar Pilot (I am pretty sure this is the most accurate watch not only in my collection but for several miles around me at any given moment), my Shinola Runwell, the Tag my old man let me ‘borrow’ (he’ll get it back when he lets me borrow is Daytona) and even my Timex Q. That all being true as I look to get a new watch I don’t consider quartz movements much. I am thoroughly still in love with the machine of a mechanical watch. 

https://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=1410426&rid=130

I definitely feel that there is room for quartz, but I admit that I find mechanical watches more intriguing.  Just as there is a huge difference in quality between an Ali Express mechanical watch and one from brands such as Rolex, JLC, Omega, etc, there is also a huge difference in the quality of quartz watches. 

The Omega 5619 quartz caliber used in the Speedmaster X-33 Skywalker is similar in performance to the GS 9F calibers. I picked up an X33 earlier this year because I was fascinated by the specs, and liked the look of the watch (and was able to get a great deal on a pre-owned specimen in great shape). The X33 includes an alarm (that is loud enough to wake you), as well as several timers and alarms. All of the alarms and timers use digital displays, but the main time display is analog, with the seconds hand hitting all the markers dead on with no backlash. I set one of the phase elapsed timers when I bought the watch, so that I could monitor the accuracy over time. That PE1 timer now shows 158 days, and the watch has gained just over 1 second in that time. Overall, an extremely impressive watch, albeit not exactly inexpensive (similar to 9f based GS).

I've gone through the gambit with quartz. I like a lot of military watches and have bought the issued quartz variants even when an auto is available (CWC SBS for example). There was even a time where I wore quartz for a month straight because I just didn't want to bother setting any of my mechanicals. I'm at the point now where I like a watch based on what it offers more than anything else.

I have a mix of automatics and quartz. Loving the 9F in the blue dial Grand Seiko that just arrived this week. So, I am in a bit of a honeymoon phase and a little biased. That said, the near vintage (25-30 years old) watches I own are all quartz. Seikos and Tag Heuers. They all wear like tanks and keep great time.

Is this done via separate crown positions or with pushers?

The first problem with crown positions is that you need to hit them. Even when adjusting the date you may (well, I may) easily pull the crown just a tad too much and oops, you meddled with the time. It would be worse if there are additional crown positions, because then we are getting into functionality which (i) one does not use very often anyway, and (ii) as a watch collector owning more than 20, 50, perhaps 100 watches you are less likely to remember the idiosyncracies of the watch you placed on the wrist that day.