# Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than others?



## ncmoto

*Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than others?*


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## South Pender

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

There is this thread currently running on the WUS Public Forum. I think you'll find that the various posts in it answer most of your questions. As for the question of whether Swiss quartz movements will last longer than others, my guess is that all quartz movements are prone to mortality for the same reasons, and that the country of origin is completely irrelevant.

It may, however, be the case that the _quality_ of the quartz movement has some bearing on its lifespan. Consider the fact that the Seiko 9F movements are advertised as not needing servicing for 50 years. These are extremely high-quality movements probably largely made by hand. Similarly, the Citizen A660 movement has a 10-year guarantee. Thus, I think it's probably safe to say that the top-end quartz movements likely have a longer expected lifespan than do cheap quartz movements.


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## John MS

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*



ncmoto said:


> *Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than others?*


For whatever it is worth I have a Seiko King Quartz (twin quartz movement) from 1979 that is still running strong and I see quartz watches for sale from the early 1970's that are running just fine. Many quartz watches are inexpensive to begin with and the owners forget to change seals regularly and moisture kills the movement. Additionally, if they are left unattended the batteries eventually leak. With proper care you should get decades of service from almost any decent quality quartz watch.


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## Don_Wallbaum

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

Does the quartz crystal ever "get tired" or "wear out" or "become less senstive" or whatever, basically get ragged out over time?


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## Eeeb

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*



Don_Wallbaum said:


> Does the quartz crystal ever "get tired" or "wear out" or "become less senstive" or whatever, basically get ragged out over time?


If the case does not remain intact the movement can get dirty... aside from that, no.


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## Bruce Reding

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

The crystal itself is in a hermetically sealed, evacuated can. Therefore, even if crud gets in the case, the crystal will be unaffected. (The _electronics_ may not like it, though.)

In the high performance literature (laboratory quartz oscillators good to seconds per century that are part of atomic clock systems) there is discussion about accumulation of lattice defects due to cosmic rays, etc.. As I remember, these are small effects even for these top shelf applications. For us mere seconds-per-year users, these effects are negligible. I believe it's safe to say that the crystal is basically forever. (Well, at least until some reasonable fraction of the protons in its atoms decay in a trillion or so years. :-d)


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## Fatpants

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

So its safe to say that, properly maintained, a quartz watch will quite easily last for a good long while;-)


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## Riehldeal

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*



Fatpants said:


> So its safe to say that, properly maintained, a quartz watch will quite easily last for a good long while;-)


I agree with fatpants but you folks should look out for "Tin Whisker" growth between Quartz Crystal leads when an old Quartz watch is opened.It grows with the presence of air and NASA is still researching how to combat it. It grows horizontally and has caused a satelite short not long ago that shut down alot of things.

I may have been naive on a QC being shaped into a tuning fork with the metal surface tricking me but i have done my home work on this.

Not long ago Wikipedia showed a photograph of the growth when i looked up "Tin Whiskers"

Btw the Synchronar has no air inside the sealed module and the multi purpose polymer gel inside cures hard enough to help prevent the possibility of the Whiskers piercing through and causing a short.


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## ronalddheld

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

I suppose the ICs and connecters will have problems before the quartz crystal does.


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## Eeeb

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*



ronalddheld said:


> I suppose the ICs and connecters will have problems before the quartz crystal does.


I suspect that is true.

So far all of my dead quartz have been due to acid rot from leaking batteries. (And all of those discovered upon arrival.) To the best of my knowledge, no other failure mode has been experienced in my collection.

I have one dead GP that has had resoldering done and it does not work... I can't say why it was done but suspect acid rot.

Now LED and LCD displays - that's another matter!


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## ronalddheld

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

LCD displays may not last more than maybe a decade without degrading. modern LEDs might last much longer.


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## petew

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

I've got a 1984 Mazda RX-7 with a quartz LCD clock in it that still has a bright and clear LCD display. Amazing when you consider that this car has consistently been exposed to an extremely high range of temperature extremes over it's lifetime.


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## Riehldeal

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

I can honestly say I'm not sure about the movement aspect of the original question but imagine it has to do with the quality/metals, wether the case has been opened and storage/weather conditions as mentioned by others.

Meanwhile here is a 1974 unit unpotted and stored in all kinds of termperature extremes.( room temperature for a decade then inside an Aluminum tractor trailer in Up State NY for two more decades) It has the Man1 LED display which was the first kind available for digital watch displays.Hooked up some power and... yeah that huge QC also survived.


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## ronalddheld

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

I think it is as important as to the continously working lifetime of an LCD display or LED display lifetime in hours of usage.


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## Riehldeal

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

Yes your right time in use is a factor.In my experience however and what i have read of other Vintage LED watches it is almost always one of these things that happen first: 
1. a wire bond breaking to a segment from a sudden shock.

2. a driver transistor failure or it's mounting connection as in the earliest LED watches.

3. the epoxy mounting the LED chip giving in from temperature changes,age and or shock in which case results in a dim digit.

4. A severe shock can also crack the LED chip.

Then of course all of the above can be facilitated from a leaky battery left in to long or moisture permitted to enter.

Modern LED'S have progressed in these areas and most importantly their effeciency is now to the point that we will in the near future be using them as our regular house lights.After all they are used in the best flashlights now because of their efficiency,long life and being much more shock resistent than a standard bulb.


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## Handy

*Re: Whats your opinions on how long Quartz movements will last? Swiss any better than othe*

As far as analogue movements are concearned, so long as they have jewels on the pivots of the stepper motor, they should last forever mechanically.
The electronics may be problematic but the crystal can be easily replaced and the IC can be removed from a donor watch.
Modern quartz crystals have better frequency stability than older ones. They are hermetically sealed and, apart from tin whiskers, should be totally reliable. The tiny slither of quartz has hardly any mass at all and so it is impervious to shocks.
Some watch ICs have a potting compund poured over them rather than using a sealed IC. I beleive that the former could well be less reliable than the latter.
Cheers,
Ian


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## Kurt Behm

*I was in Vietnam last January ...............*

and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) had tons of street vendors selling older quartz Watches some from as far back as the late sixties. They all seemed to be working and looked like all they ever had done was a battery change.

In the China Town section of Saigon there seemed to be a shop on every block selling old Seiko's and Citizens. Many of them were very cool !

Kurt


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