References for Quartz Movements ...

[Bruce Reding]

This is a temporary repository for useful references for quartz movements. If, when it's decided whether the current threads in the forum will stay (as opposed to being overwritten by the recovered disc), and, frankly, when I have more time, it will be spruced up a bit. Pls. note that there are many useful references at the end of the "Thermocompensation: Methods and Movements" article that is also a sticky in this forum. Also, if anyone runs into other useful references, pls. flag them and I will add them here. Thanks.

ETA movement technical info

(Thanks to watch_observer for finding this link. Note that the Thermoline series is not called out separately, so choose the "All Product Ranges" option in the Product Range column.)


Here is a list of ETA Thermoline movements:

Description: Three-hand calibres with date:
7 ¾''' ETA 956.152
8 ¾''' ETA 956.652
10 ½''' ETA 955.452
11 ½''' ETA 955.652

Analogue chronograph:
13 ¼''' ETA 251.232

Multifunctional analogue/digital chronographs:
9 ¾''' x 11 ½''' ETA 988.352
13 ¼''' ETA E20.341

Three-hand calibres with perpetual date:
11 ½''' ETA 252.511
11 ½''' ETA 252.611

Note that there is a bit more info on each of these movements at the end of the "Thermocompensation: Methods and Movements" article. (Thanks to panosd for recovering this info from the old forum.)

Here is a link to an official Seiko site that has technical info on their movements:

Seiko Information

(Thanks to Roba for this link.)

Here is a link to another site that lists high accuracy quartz movements:

http://80calcs.web.ool.fr/Navigation...ronometer.html

(Thanks again to panosd.)

[Bruce Reding]

Another excellent reference that covers the history of quartz watches:

http://invention.smithsonian.org/cen...tz/technology/

It also has an excellent bibliography.

[Bruce Reding]

One more very good reference:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~doensen/contents.html

This has much of the contents of the book "WATCH -- History of the modern wrist watch", by Pieter Doensen. It does not (appear) to include all of the material of the book, though, so I will note that the book is still well worth getting if you're an enthusiast.

[Cat91]

http://service.seiko.com.au/Service2/tg/data/0634A.pdf

Seiko technical manual for Cal. 0634A, Seiko's 1970s temperature-regulated quartz LCD module.

Miao, Cat

[Bruce Reding]

Here is an excellent reference to the COSC standards for both quartz and mechanical:

http://www.cosc.ch/chronometre3.php?lang=en

Here is some added info from HEQ savant and former moderator ppaulusz:

The current COSC standards for quartz watches were introduced in the year 2001. Prior to this the COSC standards for quartz were still more stringent than those for mechanicals but were far from the strict current standards for quartz. Accuracy had to be within the +/-0.2 second per day mark. Now compare that to the current +/-0.07 second per day! It's +/-73 seconds per year vs +/-25 seconds per year... That must have been the main reason why Rolex finished with the OysterQuartz. Rolex could not market it as COSC certified anymore.
In our lost old forum we had a "sticky" where we compared the old and new COSC standards for quartz. I don't know any link right now but my numbers (regarding to the accuracy standards) are correct.

[northerner]

Here is an excellent reference to the COSC standards for both quartz and mechanical:

http://www.cosc.ch/chronometre3.php?lang=en

Here is some added info from HEQ savant and former moderator ppaulusz:

The current COSC standards for quartz watches were introduced in the year 2001. Prior to this the COSC standards for quartz were still more stringent than those for mechanicals but were far from the strict current standards for quartz. Accuracy had to be within the +/-0.2 second per day mark. Now compare that to the current +/-0.07 second per day! It's +/-73 seconds per year vs +/-25 seconds per year... That must have been the main reason why Rolex finished with the OysterQuartz. Rolex could not market it as COSC certified anymore.
In our lost old forum we had a "sticky" where we compared the old and new COSC standards for quartz. I don't know any link right now but my numbers (regarding to the accuracy standards) are correct.

So by these guidelines, is the Seiko Alpinist perpetual quartz considered COSC certified, being that it's +/-20 sec/yr (+/-0.05 sec/day) ?

thnx

[ppaulusz]

So by these guidelines, is the Seiko Alpinist perpetual quartz considered COSC certified, being that it's +/-20 sec/yr (+/-0.05 sec/day)?

No, it is not! First of all, it was not subjected to the COSC test. Secondly, it would not pass the COSC test. The Seiko 8F can perform to its +/-20 seconds per year specification only when certain conditions are met. It is an excellent movement but it is not thermocompensated nor the frequency of its oscillator (192kHz) high enough (mega-hertz range) to result COSC level of performance.

[roba]

I've come across some nice history articles whilst chasing up information on quartz timekeeping.

Carlene Stevens and Maggie Dennis (National Museum of American History, Division of the History of Technology) wrote an article for the British Journal for the History of Science outlining the history of the development of quartz watches. This has been made generally available through the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society (UFFC) and a PDF is available at:

http://www.ieee-uffc.org/history/step.pdf

Christian Piguet, a researcher at CSEM (CEH's successor) wrote a history from a Swiss perspective for the 2002 Power And Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation workshop (PATMOS) workshop. The proceedings are in Springer's lecture notes series but Piguet's article can be downloaded from:
http://patmos.vlsi.ee.upatras.gr/mar...artz-Watch.pdf

There's another of Piguet's articles (in French) at:
http://patmos.vlsi.ee.upatras.gr/mar...ef-CEC2000.pdf

[Bruce Reding]

Here is a link to an outstanding tutorial by CFR on how to convert a first generation x-33 to a second generation x-33:

http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthr...787#post368787

[Bruce Reding]

Here is a link to an outstanding compilation of info on ETA autoquartzes from fellow forumner Eeeb, some of which were COSC certified prior to the tightening of the standard for quartz.

ETA Autoquartz