I don’t understand why most quartz watches are stuck with ticking second hands rather than smooth sweep second hands. I prefer quartz movements for their dramatically superior accuracy, but I also prefer the look of a smooth sweep second hand. I have yet to see a convincing explanation for why quartz second hands must tick beyond vague gesturing at power saving, but not only that, I have seen sweeping second hands on inexpensive quartz wall clocks from IKEA, so it’s clearly possible.
I regret to say I’ve started to think that ticking second hands on quartz watches are essentially cartelized marketing on the part of watchmakers to easily distinguish less expensive but technologically superior quartz movements from luxury-branded mechanical movements. Can anybody talk me out of this conspiratorial thinking, or confirm it?
I just watched a spring drive movement video on Seiko’s website, and it seems very cool, but requires hand winding! Seems like a cool idea, but I want my watches to just run.
There are automatic Spring Drives just like mechanicals, but you need to wear them to keep up the power reserve. But the idea/appeal is that they don’t need batteries, which is why they’re considered “hybrid” quartz+mechanical.
Yeah, I mean, I’m not trying to move the goalposts or anything, I just like the watch to run even if I’m not winding it wearing it.