Historic Quartz Watches

I am far far away from a quartz expert but I have been doing a lot reading regarding Cartier and their various watches, many of which are quartz. Their chronoflex movement is particularly interesting, being a jewelled quartz chronograph with a perpetual calendar that took 5 years to develop with Piaget. Putting quartz movements into their watches allowed Cartiers watches to remain accessible in price.

Define historic? What are investigating - improvement in accuracy, shift in market, cultural impact, importance to brand? Are you just making a list and going “aren’t these cool”?

Casio F-91w is the best selling watch in the world and has a cult following.

Tag Heuer Formula 1 effectively rescued the brand in the late 80s by mass releasing cheaper, colourful watches tied in heavily with Formula One, and remains a staple in their line up.

The CWC G10 effectively kept the UK military in sync from the early 80s right up until around 2006. These are incredibly popular, and rapidly going up in price.

The historic GP 'casquette' driver's watch. One of the earliest Swiss quartz watches made and with a really special shape (20centurywatches.com/led-holy-grail)

And the Omega Constellation Marine Chronometer can't be left out either.

I am trying to write about the watches which are prominent in the history since the quartz watches arises and some of the quartz watches that all the watch enthusiasts should know. 

I am still none the wiser - prominent how? What is the criteria by which you are judging this? You have missed out Omega btw.

The first Swiss quartz watch was the Omega Electroquartz in 1970.

1974 Omega Constellation Marine Chronometer was the first quartz watch to be certified as a marine chronometer.

1976 Omega Chrono-Quartz, first ana-digi chronograph watch.

I think for Seiko, the peak achievement for accuracy for quartz was in the late 70s where the twin quartz movements achieved an accuracy of having a deviation of 5 seconds a year (Superior twin quartz). Here is my 1978 grand twin quartz (10 seconds deviation a year).

Yes! OP, please cover vintage Seiko quartz. Here’s a good link to start: https://www.grand-seiko.com/in-en/special/10stories/vol4/1/

These watches are so cool! I really want one (or two. Or three 😂) for myself. Some of them come with really cool textured dials, which make them very desirable. There’s a “snowflake“ looking dial, which is obviously popular nowadays. 

The little symbol above the 6 o’clock position tells you whether or not it’s a single or double oscillator. Double being thermocompensated and more accurate. The single oscillator is affectionately nicknamed the “penis dial”, as you can see here: 

Take a look at the movement inside the 9943. You can see the two quartz oscillators: one for time, one for  thermocompensation.

Here’s the blog post I grabbed the photo from, with lots more commentary and photos. adventuresinamateurwatchfettling.com/2021/09/26/twin-quartz-a-seiko-grand-quartz-9943-8000-from-june-1978

Rolex Oysterquartz definitely deserves attention here. I found this awesome blog post with lots of information about the product line: https://www.bobswatches.com/rolex-blog/buying-guides/rolex-oysterquartz-ultimate-guide-facts.html

The Citizen Chronomaster series sports the A660 movement, +/- 5 seconds per year, Eco-Drive (Solar powered), and a perpetual calendar! Also, while Grand Seiko‘s 9F will have an instant date change (somewhere between 0 and 5 minutes after midnight), this will change smoothly exactly at midnight. This is due to the mechanics of how the date change function works. From what I recall, the 9F caliber builds up tension with a spring like a traditional mechanical movement, and will eventually “snap” the date wheel into place after the spring‘s tension is too great. That’s why it’s not exactly at midnight, but pretty close. The A660 is more “electronic“ in the sense that it will simply trigger a motor to turn the date wheel precisely at midnight. Same with the perpetual calendar, it’s more like a G-Shock’s perpetual calendar (electronic) than a Patek Philippe’s (Gears and springs). Still There’s no double-tick anti-backlash mechanism like the 9F, but some people may consider that a good thing. At least on video, I find the 9F seconds hand to be wobbly despite having the anti-backlash mechanism. The A660 on the other hand, looks flawless to me.

Another cool thing about the Chronomaster line is that they have very interesting “washi paper” textured dials. Even cooler when you remember that there are solar panels beneath powering the watch!

Funny enough, when I found the pic of the A660 movement, it was from a forum post kinda asking the same thing! Worth a read since you’ll find tons of movements and photos in that thread: https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/pictures-of-notable-haq-movements-and-watches.78559/

Citizen Eco-Drive One is worth a mention, in my book. Thinnest light-powered watch at only 2.98mm. The movement itself is only 1mm!

Seiko Kinetic movements are super cool, too! Have you ever seen a quartz watch with a rotor before? (not counting spring drive)

How about the Seiko 7a28 powered RAF Gen 1 chronograph?  First quartz chronograph issued to the RAF, used by fast jet navigators.   Jeweled, serviceable, super accurate for a tool watch too.

Not sure on the model but citizens first eco drive would be a good addition.

Great suggestions here, I have a Citizen Chronomaster and absolutely love it. Another to add would be the Omega X-33 since it is a purpose built ani-digi Quartz watch made for astronauts  

Have not read other comments but have you looked into Seiko’s 7A28/38 and 7T59 chronos?  

The 7T59 itself is a1/100th and was used in the olympics.