How a quartz watch works is easier to explain than a mechanical watch in some ways and more difficult in others. A quartz watch has fewer moving parts than a mechanical watch but an in-depth explanation of some of the electronic components would be lengthy at best. Like the mechanical watch, time keeping is accomplished by attaching hands to a set of wheels called the motion works located under the dial.

Motion works

The motion works are driven by the gear train. The gear train is driven by the stepping motor. If the watch has a second hand the stepping motor will turn once per second.

Gear train

If the watch does not have a second hand the stepping motor can move once every second, every five, ten, twenty, or thirty seconds depending on the design. The motor is told when to turn by the integrated circuit.

integrated circuit

The integrated circuit is powered usually by a battery and is the “brain”. It measures only a millimeter or two in width but has thousands of microscopic connections inside. It sends energy to a piece of quartz crystal. The quartz is what makes the watch very accurate. It is formed with a laser beam into the shape of a tuning fork and is designed to vibrate or oscillate exactly 32768 times per second. The circuit knows one second has passed each time the quartz has vibrated that number and knows when to send power to the stepping motor to turn.

Quartz crystal outside its tube

The quartz is contained in a vacuum sealed tube. This is to prevent contact with air which would cause enough friction to slow its vibration

That is the basic idea of how a quartz watch operates.