1. MECHANICAL MOVEMENT VS QUARTZ MOVEMENT?
Through hundreds of years and rich horological history, the watch industry has innovated, evolved, and pushed the boundaries of watchmaking. It was only relatively recently, though, that a watch movement could be categorized into two distinct groups.
WHY QUARTZ WATCHES ARE GOOD
A quartz watch movement uses an electronic oscillator synchronized by a quartz crystal to power it, allowing for extreme accuracy. It also allows for features just not possible with the more traditional, mechanical watch movement, especially in the area of digital displays, GPS position, temperature, and so forth.
It's relatively new to the game, first hitting the market in 1969, in the form of Seiko's Astron. The introduction led to a crisis for the Swiss watch industry, as the quartz far exceeded the accuracy of the traditional mechanical watches and could also be produced relatively cheaply.
Quartz watches of today are way ahead of what they were back in ‘69, and the Astron of today has capabilities far surpassing its predecessor, including solar power and GPS-linked time. The quartz movements have also evolved beyond their basic initial form to the point where some high-end quartz movements can be repaired similar to their mechanical counterparts rather than being trashed.