There were also electronic watches such as the Citizen Cosmotron and the Seiko EL series (EL370, etc.). These electronic watches had a balance wheel like a mechanical and used different electronic methods. For instance the Swiss ESA dynotrons used a transistorised circuit. The beat rate of many of these watches was around 28800 bph. These watches were not quartz watches though.

To my mind, that says it all about the silliness of automatic watch aficionados.

May I remind everyone that the primary purpose of a watch is to tell time accurately? If it doesn’t do that, it’s merely a wrist-toy. And there is no question a quartz movement will tell time more accurately than even the most refined mechanical movement.

And the rationale that quartz movements should be shunned because they’re found in some “tacky cheap” watches is equally silly. I have some old automatic movement-driven Timexes and other plastic watches that defined low-quality. So, should automatic movements be considered “tacky cheap” as well. And, when it comes to “Disney characters,” exactly what kind of movement did the original, low-quality Mickey Mouse watches contain? Hint: it wasn’t quartz.

To me, the scandal is not that some expensive watches may contain “tacky cheap” quartz movements, it’s that mechanical watches — including $20,000 Rolexes as well as $100 Orients — simply don’t tell time anywhere near as accurately as the cheapest quartz movement. Now, THAT’S “tacky cheap,” if you ask me…no matter what the pricetag.

My grandfather left me his Accutron, very cool watch! It was given to him when he retired. The tuning fork hum and swiss-like sweep of the second hand is about as distinctive as you can get with a battery-powered watch IMO. I need to bring it in for new battery/maintenance.