Welcome back dear friends of IWS. Today I am going to tell you about a moment in the history of watchmaking when a technological breakthrough occurred that revolutionized the market for timepieces, affecting for the most part the Swiss maisons, which produced mechanical movements.
We are talking about the infamous “quartz crisis,” which took hold in the early 1970s, following the adoption of the quartz oscillator (a mineral), which gives watches precision and extended autonomy.
But before we get to the introduction of the first quartz watch that shook up the watch industry, let’s jump back in time to the 1950s.
How the quartz movement works
A quartz clock operates through an electronic or electromagnetic circuit, usually powered by a battery; it uses a piezoelectric oscillator composed of a quartz resonator (crystal).
The electronic circuit vibrates the crystal which produces uniform oscillations resulting in a frequency of 32,768 Hz. This function in a hand-wound watch is fulfilled by the balance wheel and, to give you an idea, at that time it could count on a maximum frequency of 2Hz. This is a remarkable difference in terms of accuracy when you consider that a quartz watch loses as little as 0.5 seconds a day, while one of the most accurate hand-wound watches can lose as much as 6 seconds.
The race for innovation
It was the 1950s when people began experimenting with an alternative way to power the wristwatch, and the American brand Bulova, having a workshop in Biel (Switzerland) where it manufactured components, began working on technology to lengthen the autonomy of the timepiece, discovering that it also benefited accuracy.
It is watchmaking inventor Max Hetzel who pulls a rabbit out of the magic hat! After taking over the Accutron (short for Accuracy Through Electronic) program, he created the Bulova Accutron Spaceview, featuring a miniaturized tuning fork movement moved electronically, at a frequency of 360 Hz. This watch marked the time with an accuracy of plus or minus two seconds per day or one minute per month.
The Accutron, unlike any other watch, did not have the traditional balance spring and ticking escapement mechanism.
In the meantime, another American company, the Hamilton Watch Company, was developing a watch with an electromechanical movement, with the help of a small battery produced by the project partner company, namely the National Carbon Company (now Energizer).
Introduced to the market in 1957, it immediately won the hearts of customers thanks in part to singer Elvis Presley, marketing 11,500 examples within a few months. Thanks to its distinctive triangle-shaped case, designed by Richard Arbib in line with the “streamline” style in vogue in the U.S. at the time, it conveyed a certain sense of futurism, demolishing classic wristwatch styles.
It mounted an H500 electromechanical movement that, since its introduction, caused some failures during use, which were later solved in 1961 with the introduction of the H505 mechanism.
It is the late 1950s, when the Japanese watch company Seiko succeeds in establishing itself in the watch market and therefore, decides to put all its resources and energy into developing a timepiece that would excel in precision; of course, it is decided to put all its eggs in the new technology, quartz.
It developed the first prototype battery-powered watch, called “Project 59A,” the ancestor of all the Japanese brand’s quartz movements.
In Christmas 1969, the first quartz watch in history was marketed: the Seiko Quartz Astron 35SQ. Seiko’s president, Shoji Hattori, decided that the first quartz watch should have this name, namely Astron, since it was in line with the technological innovation that was taking place for the space race, which in those years, had reached its zenith.
On January 5, 1970, the Quartz Astron appeared in the New York Times with the headline, “Accuracy accentuated thanks to a crystal device in a Japanese watch.” Thus began the period known as the “Quartz Crisis,” which hit the watch industry especially the Swiss watch industry hard.
While Seiko grabs a substantial slice of the market with the introduction of its new quartz watch, in the West the Hamilton Watch Company is certainly not standing idly by. So it decided to respond by developing an innovative watch, taking the “futuristic” concept that inspired the Hamilton Ventura and taking it to the next level.
He stunned everyone by introducing the Hamilton Pulsar, created by the watchmaker’s technology section, Time Computer Inc. to the market. Such a watch, until the 1970s, had never been seen: sturdy, rectangular steel case, a bracelet also made of steel integrated with the case, and instead of a dial, a small screen. That’s right, a small screen that tells the time, not in an analog way, but digitally via an LED technology (dot led). In short, it looks like something out of a science fiction movie!
The functions of the module are simply the time display on the main screen (hours, minutes) and the seconds display (which appeared by holding down the only button on the case).
In all this challenging each other with the creation of technologically advanced timepieces, Swiss maisons are left to watch helplessly, the success that watch companies from the East and West were enjoying.
In short, Swiss manufacturing was in crisis, and it is estimated that between 1970 and 1983, the number of watch companies in Switzerland dropped from 1,600 to 600, while the number of workers in the industry dropped from 90,000 to 28,000.
A few years after the launch of the Hamilton Pulsar, precisely in 1976, Bulova didn’t go for it, and decided to launch its “wrist computer” with the dual time zone complication, the Bulova Computron.
We can certainly say that it is an unusually designed watch, which gives off an air of mystery when it is turned off, and just like a computer, it does not like water (it is not waterproof in the least).
“Swiss Made” against the quartz crisis
During the early 1970s in Europe, the Swiss watchmaker Rolex did not stand idly by, and aware of its worldwide prestige, it presented its first quartz watch, Date model (ref.5100), famous by the nickname “Texan,” does not have an Oyster case this time; with the new Beta 21 movement, the Swiss movement not belonging to Rolex, the Geneva-based company will sell only a thousand units.
In 1977 finally, Rolex introduced its first manufacture quartz movements called Oysterquartz, namely, the 5035 for the Datejust and the 5055 for the Day-Date.
Meanwhile, Universal Genève displaces everyone by introducing the first watch with the world’s thinnest quartz movement, making the Japanese gasp. It’s pretty clear, “Swiss Made” is coming back, stronger than before!
This timepiece, uses the same quartz movement as the Rolex “Texan,” namely the legendary Beta 21, the result of a collaboration between Patek Philippe, Rolex, Omega and precisely Universal Genève.
It is now the early 1980s and an air of renewal is beginning to breathe in Switzerland, thanks to the genius intuition of Ernst Thomke and Nicolas Hayek who decide to bring suppliers together, founding ETA S.A. and breaking the record achieved by Universal Genève by creating an even thinner watch, the Délirium.
A few months have passed since the launch of the Délirium and Ernst Thomke, persists in his idea of wanting to create a quartz watch, with low production costs and quick to produce. He decides to bet everything on this new concept, so, lacking the necessary funds, he presents the new project to Nicolas Hayek, who finances it.
In 1983, the Swatch brand saw the light of day, and on March 1 of that year, they presented a collection of 12 models in Zurich, priced at around 50 Swiss francs.
The focus of the Helvetic company, is to revive the fortunes of “swiss made,” after the advent of quartz and the inordinate growth of Japanese and American watch companies; the advertising campaign is aggressive, the price of the watches offered is low, so everything plays into sales.
Indeed, in the first three years there were more than 20 million pieces sold, but it was in 1991 that the record of records was set, namely 100 million Swatches sold. It’s Swatch mania right away!
To this day, Swatch continues to produce low-cost watches, still keeping sales numbers high and boasting collaborations with numerous brands and artists such as Keith Haring, Omega, and Blancpain.
Final Thoughts
The Swiss watch industry experienced its golden years during World War II, because thanks to its neutrality in the world conflict, it was able to monopolize the entire timepiece market, but times change and technology advances.
In time, almost all watch manufacturers had to adapt to this innovation, which the market demanded, in fact, even the most emblazoned maisons such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and many others, introduced in their catalogs, watches with quartz movement, turning the crisis into an opportunity.
As cold, and detached as it may seem, it must be admitted that a quartz movement is accurate and reliable, as opposed to mechanical movements that sin a bit on both characteristics, although, we can consider them mechanisms that live with the wearer.
The world of watch enthusiasts has always been divided into two factions: the mechanical team and the quartz team. And you, which team do you belong to?
Visit our YouTube channel to experience the best of the watchmaking world firsthand.
For real-time updates, follow us on Instagram.
