Quartz is Cool
We may not want to admit it, but quartz is here to stay — and that’s a good thing.
When we talk about watch enthusiasts, what we usually mean is mechanical watch enthusiasts. And why shouldn’t we? Mechanical watches are awesome. The wonder we take in their anachronism is the anchor for this community and, frankly, for this industry. After all, who really needs mechanical watches? We can all tell the time off of our phones, and drug store quartz watches will keep better time than the vast majority of their luxurious mechanically powered brethren.
So, the question then becomes why do we want mechanical watches? To me, the answer is pretty simple, they’re wickedly cool. That there are these devices which, through no electrical intervention, can express the time nearly perfectly is reason enough to continue making, appreciating and collecting mechanical watches. Add to that their beauty and historical appeal and it’s no wonder more and more people are finding themselves drawn to this (increasingly less) niche hobby.
That said, most of us didn’t start our collecting journeys wearing mechanical watches, we started with quartz. Quartz has become a bit of a naughty word over the years in enthusiast circles. This comes down to a few things. After their introduction on Christmas Day 1969, quartz watches came very, very close to wiping out mechanical watchmaking forever.
What has become known as the Quartz Crisis was an existential crisis for the watch industry (although enough digital ink has been spilled over the topic that I will not cover it here) and the ensuing foul taste that it left in enthusiasts’ mouths has certainly contributed to a general disdain for quartz. Quartz movements have also become intrinsically associated with the dreaded “mall watch,” as well as cheap watches in general in a way that makes the idea of high-end quartz potentially difficult to stomach.
But that’s only part of the story. In the same way that mechanical watchmaking has continued to evolve in recent decades, so has quartz watchmaking. And there is a lot worth paying attention to.
Watches I Don’t Care are Quartz
Okay, I know I basically just said that you should care about quartz watches but honestly, sometimes a watch is just so good that the movement which powers it simply doesn’t matter. Sometimes the experience of wearing a watch just doesn’t hinge on whether you have to wind and set it when you put it on in the morning.
When I look at the BVLGARI Serpenti or the Cartier Panthere, do I care that they are quartz? No, not at all. What I care about is that they are beautiful. They make an aesthetic choice and deliver on that choice perfectly. If anything, trying to cram an oftentimes larger mechanical movement into watches like these would only compromise them.
Cartier in particular is really good at sensing that line, with certain watches, like the Santos Dumont, being available with mechanical movements at some sizes, and quartz at others, always in service of the wearing experience of the watch.
Watches That Make Quartz a Feature
Let’s be honest, quartz watches have some huge advantages over their mechanical counterparts. They are more accurate, easier to use, have fewer parts to break and can sit for days or months at a time without needing to be reset. Brands like F.P. Journe recognized the benefits of quartz movements and produced some incredible watches which take advantage of this unique feature set.
In the Élégante, F.P. Journe has shown just how good high-end quartz can be by blending the best of independent watchmaking, with the quality-of-life improvements that come thanks to quartz movements. With a battery cover finished with Geneva stripes and a hand-finished case, this watch is totally Journe and has become one of the hardest-to-get pieces on the market.
Quartz watches are also, by virtue of basically being very simple and small computers, capable of fitting a lot more into a small package. Watches like the Breitling Aerospace or the Omega Speedmaster X-33 pack incredible digital complications into what are, for the most part, fairly traditional-looking watches, and are undeniably capable, having been worn by pilots, astronauts, America’s Cup sailors and adventurers of all kinds.
In Praise of the Beater
I love setting my watches in the morning. It’s a ritual that I have really come to look forward to and enjoy. Having a moment to slow down at the start of my day and engage with a mechanical thing in a tactile way has almost become a meditative moment for me. That said, there are some days where I really don’t want to think about what’s on my wrist and, on those days, I reach for a beater watch.
These watches are almost all quartz, ancient and covered in scratches and dents. I have poured concrete in them, visited colleges in them, taken them on vacation, gotten them wet when I shouldn’t have, and none of them have missed a step. They are stalwart companions, never getting the most wrist time, but always ready to go when I need them. In my book, that makes them cool as hell.