A battery-powered watch whose rate is set by a quartz crystal vibrating 32,768 times a second, counted down electronically to drive the hands.
A quartz watch is electronic. A battery supplies the energy, and a quartz crystal, kept vibrating by the circuit, is the oscillator that sets the rate, as the balance and balance spring do in a mechanical watch. Nearly all quartz watches use a crystal vibrating at 32,768 Hz; a frequency divider counts the vibrations down into pulses that drive a stepping motor, which turns the hands.
Quartz is usually the more accurate. Michael Lombardi of NIST notes that, with very few exceptions, quartz watches keep time considerably better than mechanical ones: one maker of low-priced quartz watches specifies ±15 seconds a month, while a COSC-certified mechanical chronometer is typically allowed −4 to +6 seconds a day. An automatic watch is mechanical, not quartz.
Servicing is simpler: mainly a new battery and gasket and a water-resistance test, since the wheel train, under no constant spring tension, is very often not lubricated. A battery typically lasts two to five years.
In job listings
Quartz appears in after-sales roles: service-center watchmakers repair mechanical and quartz watches alike, and workshop and boutique technicians replace quartz batteries and gaskets, alongside polishing or sales. Research and development listings may name quartz movements too. See current quartz roles.
