Are all quartz movements created equal?

All quartz movements are definitely not created equally. The HAQ (High Accuracy Quartz) are typically accurate to within 15 seconds or less per year, versus 15 seconds per month for most quartz. I have an Omega Speedmaster X-33 quartz that has gained only 12 seconds in the 442 days that I've had it.

As an interested layperson, here are all the things that can differ about quartz movements:

• Hand alignment. As far as I can tell, many quartz movements (especially at the cheap end) just do not consistently move the second hand a perfect 6.00 degrees per tick, which has no impact on accuracy but makes perfect alignment impossible. More frustrating is a movement that is consistent, but has been installed wrong, ensuring the second hand never perfectly hits the markers. More expensive brands have usually taken more measures to prevent this.

• Second hand backlash. I have a couple quartz watches with a heavy second hand, and the wobble after every tick is actually noticeable. Grand Seiko claims to have a special dampening mechanism to completely eliminate this.

• Frequency. A cheap quartz movement is lower frequency, "only" vibrating a few tens of thousands of times per second. Higher frequency doesn't guarantee accuracy but is a component of it; expensive quartz movements will have a frequency in the millions.

• Thermo-compensation. An internal thermometer is an extra piece of circuitry necessary for super high accuracy.

• There are lots of other features that are possible in a reasonably high-end quartz movement while being rarely seen in any mechanical watch under $10,000... my Citizen has a perpetual calendar, jumping hour hand, and instant date change, which are all extremely satisfying to see in action.

• Then you have other fully digital gimmicks like radio control, GPS receiving, Bluetooth synchronization etc...

Some people will still have no sentimental attachment to any of this stuff, but there is a big difference between a $2 "Japan Movement" and a high-end Seiko/Citizen caliber. (The worst $2 quartz movement will lose about 15 seconds a month, while Citizen currently holds the world record with a solar 1 second/year movement.)

The Sieko 9F has been the gold standard for quartz movements with +/- 10s a year. Excellent craftsmanship and comes in a lot of great models. I would argue it is better constructed than your run-of-the-mill ETAs and Sellitas.

Seiko has a new quartz 3 hander (VH31) that has a second hand that ticks 4 times per second. I just got one and a donor watch to put it in.

There’s bad quartz - actually majority at entry level. Then there are all sorts from mid tier to high end. Grand Seiko or Longines might be a way to look; doubt you’ll regret it

1st generation Omega quartz , most accurate watch you could buy when it was released in 1976.

I have one too, not sure where I’ll use it though.

Solar Quartz is the way to go....

i got the new seiko speedtimer recently. it's solar quartz, and it's a marvel.

The blue or the white?

Grand Seiko has some of the more accurate quartz watches. This even trickled down to a Seiko model, but the exact one escapes me. Longines has the VHP or Very High Precision which is amazing too. Then there are the radio controller or satellite controlled ones that will get auto updates to ensure the correct time. All very interesting too.

No, they are not all equal. Aside from obvious design choices, there is the quality of the quartz itself, and Seiko grows at least some of their quartz in-house. There is also the question of whether you pre-age the crystal, and for how long. Somebody mentioned temperature compensation already. There are differences in design, but they are hard to quantify.

Personally I've had good luck with Ronda and Seiko quartz movements. The only ETA quartz movement I own is ... okay.

Like with mechanical watches, quartz chronos are more likely to fail than simple three-handers. If you pay $26 for a mechaquartz movement on AliExpress you should set your expectations accordingly.

do all eco drives have the same level of accuracy? i wouldn't think so.

My body produces many strange reactions when I see jewels in a quartz movement.

If they were all equal, I wouldn't have turned two Miyota 2035 movements into earrings for my mom.

i went for the weirdo one with the 2 tone bracelet. love it!

Recently got a quartz grand seiko after reading up about the movement and how it’s manufactured. It’s funny to think that out of all the expensive watches I’ve owned with perhaps the exception of a jlc duo face reverso this is the one that has been through highly trained human hands. It’s amazing that seiko can make quartz movements for pennies mechanical ones for a few pounds and allowed almost every one to be able to own a reliable watch yet it can also develop and produce works of art made by craftsmen. I don’t think any movement is rubbish nowadays, mechanical or quartz but some are more special than others

Bulova's high beat quartz has a sweep smoother than most automatics.

https://youtu.be/maHzyL1cGPk

very interested

Certina precidrive is +-10 seconds per year and the recently discontinued Longines VHP is +-5 per year.

I'm guessing you don't like the typical quartz one tick per second. What if the VH31 movement was also solar powered? That would eliminate quartz's other problem - battery changes.

What about solar meca-quartz, if there was such a thing. Would you buy one?

I love Swiss quartz and got this one to try out in a build. Lately Ali has been selling Chinese quartz watches with Sapphire cheaply for donor pieces. Solar movements don't last any longer than battery ones and are more expensive in the long run. Batteries are cheap every few years.

"There's bad quartz - actually majority at entry level." Not in my collection. I have 22 quartz watches, the most expensive of which cost $160. I'm guessing the most expensive movements are Seiko 7N42s which cost about $25. I have four watches with this movement. They have steady and precise second hands, and use a battery that costs a dollar, lasts for three years and gives you a two-second warning for weeks when the battery is low. They're also crazy accurate.

But I would guess that some of my watches have entry level movements. They don't all have precise second hands or a two-second warning. But twice a year at the time change I set them all to the exact same time and every single one of them will be almost completely in sync with each other six months later.

Come on SimonB, why did you have to post this? Man, that's tempting. Just look at that dial. The Precisionist movement is almost a bonus. I wouldn't care if it was powered by microscopic hamsters running on a treadmill.

It's cool, I know! Apparently they are going to put into more styles of watches soon.

A majority of manufacturers buy the crystals in bulk from general suppliers. GS actually grows them "in house" then tunes the movement to the specific crystal in use.

A mecha-Quartz is a Quartz -it Just has a mechanical flyback — spring drive is also a Quartz

Indeed they are - "solar" is the operative word. A solar meca-quartz would solve the two most heard complaints about quartz watches - battery changes and the one-tick second hand.

Spring Drive solves the one-tick second hand, but costs thousands of dollars. Citizen and Seiko have been making low-cost solar movements for years and Seiko makes reasonably priced meca-quartz movements.

Would you buy a solar powered non-Chrono watch that never needed a battery change and had a sweeping second hand (at least 4 ticks/second) for, say $200?

Yes I would!! I also love the solar gshocks too —I own the DW5610

HAQ is the rabbit hole you need to go down. Thermocompensated Quartz the other thing to look up. If you are wanting accuracy then radio controlled watches with multi band 6 probably more relevant than the Quartz movement.