[balla]

I ask this question as I have Just received three modern Quartz watches in a row an seiko epson powered kinetic pulsar a miyota powered rotary aquaspeed and today a christopher ward c2 lido powered by an ETA 955.122. not of the watches second hands hit there markers with any consistency and on each watch the position the second hand hits varies from one minute to the next.

Now I have just spent a good 20 minutes digging my vintage Quartz watches out. An Omega seamaster cal 1345 a Tissot seastar cal 2030 a Seiko SQ 4004 and my prized Seiko chrono running a 6m25 and all of these watches hit there markers spot on 100% of the time.

So what has happened in the last 30 years or so with the design of quartz watches that has effected the accuracy of the second hand so much.

I admit my sample may be flawed but my quick results show a definite trend towards a sloppy second hand in modern quartz watches. I was Just wondering why.

 

[hari317]

I believe it is a matter of careful assembly. Perhaps the older ones had hands fitted manually with the worker pressing the hands on with reasonable alignment.

ETA: I had misread your post. I think you are describing backlash(position of the second hand varying from minute to minute, i.e. not consistent). I have no idea why the newer ones have more backlash.

 

[balla]

I can see alignment being an issue however I don't think its always an alignment issue as on the modern watches I have observed the second hand is not consistent in where it lands with each passing second and minute some times the second hand is just a bit off and some times it lands half way in-between markers on all three modern watches I have observed. Its almost as if the gear train of some modern quartz watches has a lot of slop in it that was just not present or at least not acceptable from a QC point of view with vintage quartz movements.

 

[jtstav]

I guess they just dont make them like they used to. Mine all do this too. I have a PRC200 chronograph that I'll set the time on and after a full minute the minute hand wont mske it to the next marker and then sometimes it'll overshoot it. I really think its due to less human input during the production process. Maybe I'm wrong but thats my 0.02.

 

[TicTocTach]

My Mil-Style Citizen Eco-Drive also does this - a bit more consistent as I think it's close to the same place, but always about mid-way between markers. Annoys the snot out of me. So much so that I use that as an excuse to swap the hands out on that watch. Try as I might, I could not get the second hand to stay on the markers even if I lined it up well. I don't know why this is, but it's a pain. I've decided to live with it, but I still don't like it. Agreed on the old Seiko SQ's, they have a nice solid "tick" and the second hand hits the mark as it should.

Clair

 

[balla]

My Mil-Style Citizen Eco-Drive also does this - a bit more consistent as I think it's close to the same place, but always about mid-way between markers. Annoys the snot out of me. So much so that I use that as an excuse to swap the hands out on that watch. Try as I might, I could not get the second hand to stay on the markers even if I lined it up well. I don't know why this is, but it's a pain. I've decided to live with it, but I still don't like it. Agreed on the old Seiko SQ's, they have a nice solid "tick" and the second hand hits the mark as it should.

Clair

I have three quartz citizens an e2100 pro master and a pilot style ecodrive both have sub second dials and they appear to always hit there markers however my citizen wing master ana-digital with a central second hands also misses its markers by random amounts. There must be a technical reason for this something that now happens in modern movements that did not in vintage ones or the other way round if you see what I mean. Was making the second hand so precise and regular a costly process with in the manufacturing process of quartz watches that with the prevalence of the technology and the need to make it cheaper was just seen as not important any more. Thinking about it I also have four 60's Times electric watches with German made movements with dead seconds complication the second hands on these watches also hits the markers spot on as well, Maybe watches just are not made like they used to be.