Automatic vs Quartz Watch | Which One is Better?

[lost108]

Hello and welcome to my post about automatic vs. quartz watch review, I am sorry if my English grammar is not that great I will do my best to make it clear for you all what are the benefits of an automatic and quartz watch..

First of all let's talk about the difference between an automatic and a quartz watch.

• The main difference between an automatic and a quartz watch is the movement of the watch. The automatic watch has a mechanical movement which is the most important for me, I gain a lot of sentimentality by owning a automatic watch on my wrist. The mechanical movement on the automatic watches is charged by movement (when you shake your hand while you wear it) and this is requires a little bit more maintenance, so if you don't wear your automatic watch for few days the watch will stop working and all you have to do is give him a quick shake and it will start working again, fascinating.
  
  Quick look in the inside of a mechanical movement automatic watch. Source

• While the quartz watches are very easy to use, they don't have mechanical movement and they are powered by a battery which lasts mostly from 5 to 10 years, depending on the quality life of the battery. Once your watch runs out of battery you change the battery and it will keep you good for another 5 or 10 years.
  
  Quick look of a quartz movement watch. Source

Why do I gain more love for automatic movement watches instead of quartz movement watches?

When you buy a watch the last thing you want to look is the external beauty of the watch, it may look fancy but on the inside it can be a cheap movement with no real value. To be honest, three years ago I couldn't even stand putting a wrist watch on my hand, now I can't get it off, it's a part of me.

My first bought watch was an automatic movement watch that I've purchased online, I purchased a watch from the Japanese company called Orient and I was fascinated, it is a classical watch (my favorite ones) and I only bought that watch because it was assembled by a human hand, I saw a video of the company workers where they were assembling every watch parts without any robotic machines and I feel in love with the craftsmanship of those watches. More quartz watches are assembled by machines and I don't see any value in that.

Pros & Cons of Quartz watches:

- Pros:

1. Less maintenance,
2. More accuracy, they are very precise,
3. Less watchwinder costs,
4. They are very durable thanks to the battery.

- Cons:

1. No sentimental value (if they are assembled by robots)
2. Risk of total watch movement damage if you don't change the battery on time.

Pros & Cons of an Automatic watch

- Pros:

1. They are very durable, much more durable than the quartz watches,
2. They have sentimental value
3. They can have same maintenance as quartz watches if you wear them all the time,
4. No risk at total damage since there is no battery that can hurt the inside movement of the watch.

- Cons:

• They are less accurate than quartz watches, cheap ones can loss more seconds of accuracy daily
• More watchwinder costs (which is not case with my watch, its working perfectly)
• If you don't wear them for 3-4 days they stop working so you have to wind them so they can show the correct time.

How can you tell the difference between an automatic watch or quartz watch?

This is the fun part, it's a very easy process and it can take you only few seconds to see which one is quartz and witch one is automatic. Lets set this in to two methods.

• First method is to take a look at the insight of the watch (this is the harder part), you need to open the watch and examine the parts. Once you open a quartz watch the first thing you will see is a battery hole and once you see that you can immediately solve the case - the watch is quartz.
• Second method it only takes two seconds and do not require any watch opening. Just take a look at the watch arrows if it has individual ticks than the watch is quartz, mystery solved, but if the watch has sweeping motion than the watch is automatic.

To make it more easier for understanding, I found this lovely example from google, on the left side is an automatic watch while on the right side is an quartz watch. Take a look:

Source

Hope you understand the real value of an automatic watch, for me it has a greater value, here is my lovely watch that I currently wear, it's a Japanese Silver automatic watch with open heart, you can see the mechanism of the watch thanks to the cut section on the left, we call that cut open heart, its lovely.

Sorry for the bad quality, I cannot find my camera so I took this photo with my mobile phone. Hope you can see the inside movement a little bit.

Hope you enjoyed my post, if you have more questions feel free to drop a comment I will give my best to give the most satisfying response for you, till next time. Lost108

Comments

[alexdory]

Interesting. I have never considered buying an automatic watch, and I only own one Quartz watch. After I have changed the original battery which held on for 4 years, the new one needed changing every 6 months. So I have ditched the watch altogether in favor of a fitness band and then of an EKG smartband.
Perhaps I am just not a watch person.

[lost108]

Yes, original fabric batteries do last much longer then the cheap ones, if its expensive watch you may want to take to watchwinder so he can put a nice quality battery and revive your watch, or maybe try an automatic with an open heart, I am pretty sure that you will love that watch :)

[tibe]

Thank you for the nice thread. I love mechanical watches! Quartz watches are pieces of electronic and mechanical watches are pieces of engineering and arts. However, for most people quartz watches are more appropriate. Some additions to your post:

1. Regularly Quartz watches are not only a bit but much more accurate. You have to spent some time with your mechanical watch, even if you have a watch winder
2. Mechanical watches require much more maintenance as quartz watches. For most quartz watches it does not apply that you wreck them if you leave empty batteries in. I have a 13 year old Festina quartz that i only bring to the jeweler if the battery is completely empts. costs me a few bucks.
   A mechanical watch however should undergo revision every few years to guarantee a long lifetime.
3. Although a watchwinder helps, it is not necessary. A mechanical watch does not die if it stops for some time. However, you should wear or at least wind them regularly.
4. Mechanical watches can have any kind of second handle motion. This can in theroy be once a second (as quartz watches do). It can also be close to continous motion for very pricey mechanical watches as well. There are hybrid technologies on the market, such as from Seiko. Thy have implemented continous motion of the second handle. In theory it is also possible to built quartz watches with sweeping motion. However, i am not aware about a model that implements this.
5. You should never drop a watch, but it is worse for a mechanical one. repair costs are usually very high! And so are maintenance costs.

[lost108]

Thank you, I really enjoyed your tips about mechanical watches and I do agree, mechanical watches are pure art of craftsmanship :)

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[lost108]

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