# Quartz Clock - Sweeping Second Hand



## redcedar5000 (Jul 29, 2018)

I work in a hospital. I’m baffled about a cheap quartz wall clock that has a second hand sweeping across the dial with perfect smoothness. Does anyone know how this is possible?


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## 9029danny (Apr 4, 2020)

Big ass batteries and movements. The issue with sweeping seconds for quartz wristwatches if I understand correctly is that the battery life becomes too short for it to be worthwhile 


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## 0pticalillusi0n000 (Sep 12, 2019)

I've seen wall mounted clocks in buildings with sweeping seconds hands that where wired up to the building. Is that the case here? Or could you see that it had batteries for sure?

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## redcedar5000 (Jul 29, 2018)

0pticalillusi0n000 said:


> I've seen wall mounted clocks in buildings with sweeping seconds hands that where wired up to the building. Is that the case here? Or could you see that it had batteries for sure?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


some are but this one isn't. I've worked worked here for 3.5 years and this is the first time I saw this. No big deal, just perplexed.


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## Seabee1 (Apr 21, 2017)

They are electric, low voltage, otherwise the hospital would be full of either non-running clocks, or dead batteries and a custodian whose only job would be to remove and replace batteries, rinse and repeat. So can't be difficult to have an electric sweep second hand


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## kostependrhs (May 11, 2013)

There are very cheap sweeping hand movements. Plus they can be radio controlled. 
All for 12€ from ali. Their downside is that they are noisy too.


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## Flicker (Jul 5, 2017)

It seems straightforward to produce a smooth sweeping hand quartz. My barber has one in their shop, similar to the one you posted, and it's battery powered. They are easy to obtain. I have a desk clock that is battery powered and has a smooth sweeping second hand. Battery life is good on that. Haven't replaced them yet (2 x AA) and had it well over a year.

Some do make noise but the desk clock I have is very quiet and you can only hear it slightly at night when everything else is off and quiet.


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## Budman2k (Nov 19, 2019)

I noticed a quartz clock with a sweeping second hand at they gym I started going to. Once this pandemic slows down and I can get out again I'll take a picture. I know it had a brand name on it but I can't remember it.


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## StufflerMike (Mar 23, 2010)

Moved to our Clock World.


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## Mr.Jones82 (Jul 15, 2018)

9029danny said:


> Big ass batteries and movements. The issue with sweeping seconds for quartz wristwatches if I understand correctly is that the battery life becomes too short for it to be worthwhile
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sweeping second hand clock that has been running on a single, small battery for a year now


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## John MS (Mar 17, 2006)

> I work in a hospital. I'm baffled about a cheap quartz wall clock that has a second hand sweeping across the dial with perfect smoothness. Does anyone know how this is possible?


Instead of using a stepper motor with a small battery a regular motor with a larger battery is used to move the seconds hand continuously. Seiko and several other companies make inexpensive battery powered wall clocks with a smooth running center seconds hand. Be sure to check out the earlier thread on this topic in Clock World.
https://www.watchuseek.com/f385/sweeping-wall-clock-recomendations-835073.html


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## lookitzduncs (Jul 10, 2019)

Pretty sure someone has said it already but perfect sweep on quartz is easy as they can just use a battery to power a wheel that would spin the second hand at perfect timing. Think GS spring drive kind of. The reason why we don't see it in watches is that small watch batteries wont last very long if quartz is full sweep. It's fine on a clock cause we can use larger batteries!


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## omgitsspooky (Apr 19, 2020)

0pticalillusi0n000 said:


> I've seen wall mounted clocks in buildings with sweeping seconds hands that where wired up to the building. Is that the case here? Or could you see that it had batteries for sure?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


lol this reminds me of the clocks in my junior high school in the 90's... that sweep was smooooooth

but yes, I have a quartz wall clock with smooth sweeping hand, definitely better than the ticking.


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