Quartz vs Automatic: Purpose Before Prestige

Few topics in watchmaking divide opinion quite like the quartz movement.

For many seasoned watch enthusiasts, the very word 'quartz' conjures up images of cheap fashion watches and soulless mass production. Mechanical movements, by contrast, are celebrated as miniature works of art, crafted with centuries of tradition and engineering excellence. Yet, from a purely practical standpoint, the argument is surprisingly straightforward. Quartz movements are more accurate, generally more reliable, less expensive to manufacture and, with far fewer moving parts, considerably more resistant to shock and wear. It is little wonder that the vast majority of wristwatches produced today are powered by quartz.

So why does the debate continue?
Perhaps because watches stopped being purely about telling the time a long time ago.
Almost everyone now carries a smartphone capable of displaying the exact time anywhere in the world, synchronised automatically with atomic clocks. If absolute accuracy were all that mattered, there would be little reason to wear a watch at all.
But we do.
We wear watches because they tell stories. They reflect our personalities, celebrate craftsmanship, commemorate achievements and connect us with history. In that context, the question is no longer which movement is better, but which movement is best suited to its purpose.

The Patek Philippe Aquanaut fitted with the E19C Quartz movement

Understanding the Difference
At first glance, both automatic and quartz watches perform exactly the same task. Beneath the dial, however, they could hardly be more different.
An automatic movement is entirely mechanical. As the wearer moves throughout the day, a weighted rotor turns inside the case, winding the mainspring. The stored energy is then released through an intricate series of gears and escapements, driving the hands around the dial.

It is an elegant solution that has evolved over centuries. Although self-winding wristwatches existed before the Second World War, advances in manufacturing during the post-war years transformed the automatic movement into the reliable, compact mechanism we know today.

Depending on the movement, an automatic watch can continue running for anything from around 40 to well over 90 hours once fully wound. To many enthusiasts, the beauty lies not simply in what the movement does, but in how it does it. Hundreds of precisely engineered components work together without electronics or batteries, powered only by springs, gears and physics.

Quartz movements take a very different approach.
Rather than relying on stored mechanical energy, they are powered by a small battery. An electrical current passes through a tiny quartz crystal, causing it to vibrate at an extraordinarily consistent frequency. These vibrations are converted into precise electrical pulses that drive the watch's motor and regulate the movement of the hands.
The result is remarkable accuracy. While even an excellent mechanical watch may gain or lose a few seconds each day, a quality quartz movement will often remain accurate to within seconds per month. Different technologies, but equally impressive engineering.

The Quartz Revolution
The arrival of quartz technology during the late 1960s fundamentally changed the watch industry. Manufacturers in Japan and the United States demonstrated that highly accurate watches could be produced faster, more consistently and at significantly lower cost than traditional mechanical timepieces.

The consequences for the Swiss watch industry were dramatic, triggering the period now remembered as the Quartz Crisis. Rather than standing still, many of Switzerland's leading manufacturers chose to innovate.

Twenty of the country's most respected watch companies collaborated to establish the Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH), whose groundbreaking Beta 21 movement became the first commercially successful Swiss quartz calibre.

Engineers of the Center Electronique Horloger in 1967 (from left to right) Charles-André Dubois, François Nikles, Jean Hermann, Richard Challandes and Charles Frossard

It found its way into watches from brands including Omega, Rolex, IWC Schaffhausen and Patek Philippe. These watches remain highly sought after today. Not despite their quartz movements, but because they represent one of the most important technological milestones in the history of horology.

Quartz Today
Far from disappearing, quartz technology continues to evolve.
Manufacturers such as Citizen, Bulova, Breitling, TAG Heuer and Cartier continue to invest heavily in developing ever more sophisticated quartz calibres.

Citizen's Eco-Drive Caliber 0100 remains one of the most accurate wristwatch movements ever produced, while Bulova's Precisionist family demonstrates that quartz can achieve a beautifully smooth sweeping seconds hand once thought to be the exclusive domain of mechanical watches.

Innovation did not stop with quartz. It simply took a different direction.

Rolex Datejust Oysterquartz. Incredibly beautiful and twice as valuable as a Datejust Automatic from a similar vintage

Purpose Before Prestige
At Enoksen, our perspective has gradually evolved through listening to the people who depend on their watches every day.

Professional soldiers. Police officers. Saturation divers. Emergency responders.
For these men and women, reliability is not a romantic concept. It is a practical necessity.
When absolute accuracy, shock resistance and dependable performance matter most, quartz is often the preferred choice. Not because it lacks character, but because it excels at the job it was designed to do.

That does not diminish our admiration for mechanical watches.
An automatic movement remains one of the great achievements of engineering. Watching hundreds of tiny components work together without electronics is endlessly fascinating, and there is undeniable satisfaction in wearing a machine powered entirely by your own movement.

But admiration should never become dogma. A beautifully made quartz movement deserves respect for precisely the same reason: it represents outstanding engineering, solving the same problem in a completely different way.

Conclusion
The debate between quartz and automatic movements will probably never disappear, and perhaps that is no bad thing. Both technologies have shaped modern watchmaking. Both have inspired innovation. Both have earned their place in history. Comparing them purely to decide which is "better" misses the point.

An automatic watch celebrates centuries of mechanical craftsmanship. A quartz watch represents one of the greatest technological breakthroughs the industry has ever witnessed.

They are not rivals. They are simply different answers to the same question.
At Enoksen, we choose movements for one reason above all else: purpose.
Sometimes that purpose calls for the beauty and tradition of a mechanical movement.
Sometimes it demands the uncompromising precision and dependability of quartz.

There is room for both, and we believe watchmaking is richer because of it.