Quartz watch

The quartz watch, is a fully electronic or electromechanical watch.
The most important part of a quartz watch is the clock, which is based on a quarz oscillation and the electronics which processes the clocks. The energy source in wristwatches with quartz movement are usually small batteries instead of the balance or pendulum driven by weights or springs.



Just like mechanical watches, quartz watches can have various complications, such as a date display, a chronograph or even a perpetual calendar.
The quartz watch, whose introduction for general use began in the early 1970s, became a serious threat to the Swiss and German watch industry in the mid-1970s, which had not jumped on the "quartz bandwagon".



At that time, the Japanese, especially the Seiko company, were the undisputed market leaders.
Omega and even Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Piaget, a total of 20 Swiss companies developed their own quartz caliber called Beta 1 and Beta 2 in the 1960's. This was based on electromagnetic vibrations. In 1969, Omega launched the Seamaster, Rolex the Oysterquartz Referenz 5100 "Datejust" and " Daydate", Patek Philippe Referenz 3587, Piaget 14101 and an IWC Da Vinci. All these models used the jointly developed Electroquartz Beta 21 caliber.



The success remained modest, although the rate accuracy for that time was a sensational 5 sec/month.
Disadvantages were the considerable size and thickness of the movement, which inevitably led to somewhat "clunky" cases, as well as the short battery life, since the power consumption was relatively high.
Today, even these models belong to the sought-after collector's watches, which enrich some auctions.