A watch is an essential accessory for most people. Although its basic function is to tell time, it is also used as a luxury item. Over the years, there have been many developments in the mechanics of telling time. Early time pieces used falling weights in order to keep track of time. The invention of the pendulum provided a more accurate method of time keeping, but even this technology could not be well adapted for portable watches. In addition, these watches had to be winded after regular intervals, or else they would stop working.

The solution to all these problems was given by the quartz watch. It was introduced in the market in the year 1969, and was a revolution in itself. The mechanics of the quartz watch involves crystals for the accuracy of time. Quartz is found in sand, to be more precise it is crystalline mineral, silicon dioxide. Synthetic quartz is also used by many of the manufacturers because it is thought to have more consistent properties.

When an electric charge is supplied to the watch, it causes vibrations at a fixed frequency, which help a lot in keeping track of the time. As quartz does not lose energy when it vibrates, it is a very useful material for steady vibrations. Quartz is also a piezoelectric mineral, because it generates energy when an electric charge is supplied to it.

Quartz uses electricity from the replaceable batteries. In some of the watches, a kinetic generator produces energy, which comes by the movement of the wrist of the wearer. Many watches are based on solar panels, and they use solar energy for running the watch. Some of the examples of solar powered watches are Citizen Eco Drive watches and Seiko Pulsar Solar.

When the electricity passes through quartz crystals, it causes oscillations at a fixed frequency. These crystals have natural oscillation rate of 32,000Hz. The internal circuit breaks down this small electric current, which is produced by the vibrations, into required frequency. For the analogue watches, the mechanical gears are moved by these pulses. In a digital watch, these pulses are generated by the integrated circuit, which adds up to minute, hours and days.

Compared to the mechanical watches, a quartz watch has many benefits. Because of its steady oscillations, it gives more accurate time than the mechanical ones. Therefore, because of this specific quality, they can tell very short period of time very accurately. There are some watches that have sub-dials in them that tell even the one 10th of a second.

They also save the time and inconvenience of winding up the watch again and again. Quartz watches also have a sleek and slim look as their elements are less and more slim than the ones used in the mechanical watches. They also do not need any maintenance; they only need batteries that can be easily replaced when they lose energy.

The quartz watches offer many other function, along with telling the time, such as making calculations and storing phone numbers. All such innovations are made because of quartz.