The 32,768 Hz frequency is not an inherent property of quartz. It’s a convenient frequency as it’s a power of 2 that can easily be divided electronically to 1 Hz or one tick per second. The quartz crystal must be cut to vibrate at as near that frequency (or any other desired one) as precision allows. I keep seeing it implied if not stated online, in text and videos, that the particular frequency is part of the nature of quartz. It isn’t.

I remember when the future arrived. It was the day $10 digital watches and $6 calculators were sold at every corner dairy.

Swiss didn’t lose Japan just stepped their engineering game up majorly. I’ve owned a Volkswagen wagon and a Nissan and at 150k miles the VW was starting to die and the Nissan is still like new. Japanese are just great engineers.

I own like 50 watches and nothing is more reliable than a $20 Casio at the end of the day.

I'm a watch collector and student of watch history, and this is the best piece of its kind in any medium. In other words, a lot has been written on the quartz crisis and the Japanese watch industry in general, but yours is the clearest and best of those pieces. Thank you.

My father, an IBMer, told the story that IBM looked into manufacturing electronic watches, but concluded that there was no future in it, because they would saturate the market in a week (or month or year).

In the mid 1960s, Seiko introduced the Grand Seiko watches and entered them in competitions for watch accuracy where they eventually dominated to the point where Switzerland ended these competitions, and to this day Grand Seiko watches are perhaps the best made mechanical watches in existence (at least for the price). I'd take a Grand Seiko with a Spring Drive movement over a Rolex any day.

Fun Fact: Before pocket watches, Japanese carried cats and used them to tell time May sound like a weird joke, but there are diagrams of cat pupils that a lot of Asian cultures used to tell time based on how much natural light cat's eye receives These are known as Cat's Eye Sundial today and it's easy to find references to them in a lot of books Another fun fact: Most of us learned about it from a video game

Btw, the Swiss used to be the cheap upstarts in the world of watches once, too. Quality watches used to come out of Britain.

The story continues with Grand Seiko challenging the Swiss in the luxury space, and so on.

My Tissot Seastar was a gift from my wife that she bought after saving for it for more than a year. It is now 30 years old and it looks like a new watch. I wear it almost every day. I used it in the army and it took a beating, but it just kept on going. My 82-year-old hand-wind army Omega also works fine, but I wear it only on Sundays. It is a small watch for soldiers from the 1940s, around the time when my father was born. There is something about these Swiss watches that makes me feel good every time I put them on.

I'm so happy I got to witness the immense production of nearly everything in post war Japan. I remember back in the 80's that owning Japanese electronics was a status symbol. Digital watches are still my favorite kind, thanks to Japan.

The "dude looked fly as a young guy" was a nice touch lol.

A little known thing, is that there once was a term 'Swiss fake' watch. It didn't mean what most people think; It did not mean an American watch made to resemble a Swiss brand. American watches were then made very well, and cheaper Swiss versions were not, and it was a reference to a cheap Swiss watch made to resemble a quality U.S. made brand.

12:31 the frequency of 2^15 Hz is just a convenience because that makes counting seconds easy, the frequency depends on the size of the crystal

Watch/clock companies did not stop production during WWII. They made plenty of wristwatches for servicemen, airplane clocks, marine chronometers, timed fuses, and other things requiring timing and/or small geared mechanisms. The evolution of the global watch industry is interestingly complicated, interwoven with a lot of other industries, manufacturing practices, material science, fashion, etc. The treatment here is a bit shallow for a narrow focus on Japan.

My grandfather was a railroad man. He also served in WWI. I have a French pocket watch he brought back from WWI and the conductors watch he used in the 30's running steam trains for Illinois Central. My father in law is a jeweler and he as all of the precision tools and parts for the watch repair trade that no longer exists. When I want to know what time it is, I look at my Cell phone.

My CASIO with Tough Solar & Radio reception has so far lasted me more than TEN years. Never needs battery and time adjustment. It is accurate to the SECOND if you could believe it as it corrects itself FIVE times after midnight. Have dropped it multiple times, exposed to rain/heat/dust and you name it, as far as I'm concerned CASIO has indeed, achieved Watch Perfection. No Rolex nor any fancy watch can even hope to touch it. As good as it gets and absolutely incredible workmanship. It's as close as we come to a "perpetual machine."

My father introduced my to watches when I was a kid. I still remember him loving high end watches but specially from Japan. I have some watches of my own but my favorite for day to day activities are a couple of Eco-drives from Citizen and an Automatic Orient that I have owned for twelve years and are still running smoothly

I’m not sure it is fair to characterize U.S. watches of the 19th and early-mid 20th centuries as “cheap.” Hamilton and Illinois watches were quite fine and Elgin and Waltham had high grade watches in their catalogs - particularly the railroad watches. The American School of Watchmaking was notable for standardization, interchangeability and use of machines (rather than hand fabrication) for production of parts. American watches of that era may have been more affordable than Swiss; however, they were still an expensive purchase in their era.

From EUV to watches...bro your channel is sooooo good. I've learned so much from you that I've never even seen any other channels touch... Also, your dad is a badass, he's done so much. What an incredible man. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree apparently.

When I went to study in Australia in 70s, a fellow scholarship student bought Seiko LCD watch costing hundreds of dollars that could only display accurate time and date, nothing else. It was heavy as hell. The battery lasted only 3 years. 10 years later I bought Casio LCD watch costing less than $100, very light as the band is made of rubber and the battery lasted 8 years. Early taker of tech product paid more with less features! The same is still true of PC, and mobile phone as well as carbon bicycle.

Completely random fact, but if you played Zelda: Majora's Mask as a kid, you remember that the central town is called "Clock Town" (for everyone else: it's an apocalyptic and surreal game, where the world is invariably destroyed in 72 hours, via the Moon (which has a face of terror) crashing. Time is the main theme). In German, the town is called "Unruhstadt", as "Unruh" means central spring of a watch, but also "unease", as in disquiet. There couldn't have been a better name.

I was glad to see you cover this topic -thank you! I am one of those who wears a watch daily, and my watches of choice for the last forty years or so have been Seikos. I look forward to someday owning one of their brilliant Spring Drive watches that took them at least thirty years to develop.

Quartz resonant frequency is not fixed, it can be manufactured to any Hz you want, watches use a precise frequency of 2 to the power of 15 (2^15=32768 Hz), you can't just round it up to a meaningless 33kHz lol

Wow, super excited to see this video pop up in my feed! A total collision of my subscriptions, as my feed is virtually all watches, science, and electronics. I never expected Asianometry to make a watch video though 😁. The funny thing is, reading the comments I'm apparently not the only one with this mix of interests. In fact I even see some watch channels I subscribe to commenting on the video in here -- love that! KZfaq never ceases to amaze me heh. Really terrific video, thanks for making this one!

Awesome video about watches, which is a big contrast compared to your usual content. Five years ago, I bought my first watch, and I went with a Citizen Eco-Drive. As long as the Eco-Drive gets enough light, it runs fine, and I don't have to worry about replacing a battery. The watch has survived through several jobs, where I moved around a lot, and has the battle scars to prove it. I think the world benefited a lot from Japan commercializing watches for everyone compared to the Swiss enjoying their duopoly with the U.S.A.

The video is interesting but does not mention something important. In the sixties a watch that was guaranteed to work out of the box, keep working for years wihout a problem, was shock proof, and waterproof, was also very expensive. Except for Seiko which had all of those properties but for a moderate price. Their main advantage was massive production volumes with reliable electronic quality control testing. Their automatics were beautiful watches that anyone could afford. They sold by the millions before quartz watches were even invented.

I have always bought Seiko watches. Very well made and reliable. And affordable. Swiss quality watches are ridiculously overpriced.

What a great collision of interests! Thanks for a very informative and fun video. One thing to note is that in the middle of the 19th century, the Swiss were actually well-known for producing cheap watches, with a well-developed division of labour that allowed for low average costs despite the lack of mechanization. At that time English watches were generally considered better quality. The Americans' innovation - applying factory methods to build affordable timepieces of consistent quality - was imported to Switzerland in the late 19th century. Longines, which you mention at the beginning of the video, was one of the Swiss companies that reorganized itself on these lines. As the American industry was in terminal decline, the Swiss started supplying mechanisms to the companies they had once taken inspiration from. So at 5:35, where you show a vintage Swiss pocket watch, it is a Swiss Unitas 6497 movement. But the watch itself is a Hamilton, an American brand that made some of that country's greatest timepieces. A nice irony! Thanks again and keep up the great work.

7:33 and at that moment i realized that the voice behind the info was coming from a source that I knew I would enjoy having a beer with in real life ... serious commentary from a commentator that doesnt take themselves to seriously, SUBBED!

Great video, very well researched as always. I didn't expect you to make a video on one of my other interests. I know this treads outside of "asian" territory but it would have been cool to see a deeper explanation about how Swiss watches transitioned from regular consumer products to Veblen goods. The same thing is happening now to all traditional watches (even the cheaper japanese ones), with most people wearing smartwatches or using their phone for the time, so it could be worth exploring.

I love how you sound and present a very professional video and mature way of speaking and then throw in one liners or funny pictures.

another great video. well researched and presented. thank you for all the work, and then sharing.

Surprisingly, you didn't elaborate on Swatch's success story, which continues to this day. However, the trend toward the smart watch seems to have been missed by the Swiss industry.

Great video as usual! Could you do a video on Sea-Gull? Their history seems pretty interesting, fan of their watches as well.

I remember some 40 yrs ago a friend o mine learned to be watch technician and to the pass certificate he had to machine axle for balancing wheel out of dentist drill. The precision behind mechanical watches is ... quite something else, what a beautiful things they're.

As a watch enthusiast I really appreciate this video and other videos you’ve produced.

Thank you very much for this very educational and historical information, now I will be looking at clocks and watches with a different eye. Great show thank you.

Just recently got into watches about a year ago after being a computer nerd for many years 🤣 its like you are reading my mind. 🔥 ty for the content

I still remember my uncle coming to visit us back in the 1970s, when I was about 7 years old. He had gotten me a gift of a quartz watch with a red digital readout. I don’t remember which brand it was, but it was beautiful and became my companion everywhere I went.

I am surprised Hamilton did not get more of a mention. They used to be a big deal in the US, or I think they were. When you reached retirement or an important career/personal milestone I believe it was customary for a Hamilton watch to be given to designate the event. My great-aunt would say, "You knew you were someone when you had a Hamilton." They also have a fairly significant military following/usage with the Khaki line. Paradoxically, today the brand lives on but typically they have quartz movement on the low end and Swiss movement on the their mid to upper-mid product lines. I have a Hamilton Khaki automatic with Swiss movement (I think 17 jewels) just because of the history behind the brand, ecen though I believe they are now a subsidiary based out of Switzerland at this point.

Excellent video! Really enjoyed this one.

The Extremely Vita Information On The Watches Making History & The Watches Manufactures Profiles. Keep It Up.

Brilliant presintation. I have tried for forty years to discover what you have presented here.

From a big fan of vintage mechanical watches (Omega 1952-1968 mostly) that was a most enjoyable and educational video. Thank you.

Absolutely fascinating. Your videos always turn a somewhat dry story into something you want to know more about

Quartz isn't special because of a specific frequency; the resonant frequency of a quartz crystal depends on the size of the crystal. Piezoelectric materials are used because they vibrate at all.

There were no clocks in Japan until 1888? You are wrong. Of course there was. Japan used a yin-yang calendar, so they made more complicated clocks than simple solar calendar clocks. if you search for Wadokei (和時計), you can find images. It is a complicated clock with more than 10 gears alone. Since watchmaking technology had been around since before 1888, solar calendar clocks were probably easy to make and could be mass-produced quickly. A clock with hands that just turned in circles at a fixed speed would have been too easy and fun. In the yin-yang calendar, each month has a different length of an hour. I have no idea what the corresponding clock structure is, even though I read the explanation. Japan made that, before 1888.

I have about 60 watches(automatic and quartz) and find there is much to like in each. The quartz with the accuracy and some with additional features as well. The automatics are more a thing from the past(not as accurate usually and the history and design). Watches face a challenge today from phones as one check the time on them.

17:12 that "Timeon" is actually a rebranded Seiko watch, which it was gifted to me in 1979 as a fifth grade graduation present. It was very expensive and probably the first solar watch ever produced (it was sold in jewelry shops). The solar battery was different and had a bluish tint but the watch is the same. I still own it, but the capacitor is out of production and the solar battery does not work anymore.

These days the cellphone has made watches unnecessary.

Aaah this video bring soo many memories back...my late father was a watchmaker...I still keep all of his books, instruments and watch parts in his honor, as well as one Omega Seamster (1961526) from early 90's...I was facintates by this watch as a kid

Nice video, but you really messed up the end: The restructuring into the Swatch group didn't work because of the luxury watch nieche. It was by creating trendy cheap quartz watches with a traditional dial (essentially making watches a cheap fashion commodity) that allowed them to cash in and only in a second step revive their expensive brands with that money... Look into how Hayek saved the Swiss watch industry - quite a feat!

Where do you even find all the sources for such amazingly detailed research in such a short time?

"Someday, all watches will be made this way." ... why do I find that simple statement so epic...

My Casio has been with me for 12 years now and got it as a gift. By the time I started working I bought my first watch which was a Revue Thommen 3 years ago. I still wear my Casio for everyday use and the Revue for special occasions.

"classical quartz" now seem to be beleaguered by smart watches

Watches, as an instrument to tell time, is dead thanks to the smart phones. On the other hand, Swiss mechanical watches survived as a jewelry or works of art.

I must say that Seiko is only watch brand in the world with maybe 30 iconic watch models.Just sheer catalogue of legendary Seiko divers will dwarf any other brand!!

I was looking forward to hearing more about Seiko in the time period where you left off and the present. Seiko continues to make sought after mechanical self winding watches and, in fact, supplies movements to lesser Swiss watch companies while also selling quartz watches. Then there is the next big revolution in watches, those that set themselves from national atomic clocks and those that are light powered, and the combination. I have a Casio that doesn't need the battery changed every couple of years and always has the correct time and date. I prefer to wear it to my Rolex. I value function over form.

Dude, it's Sir Roger Moore who starred in Live and Let Die; Sean Connery was already retired from that Bond franchise at the time of the watch's release in 1973

Very precise historical description. Thank you very much.

As everyone else is commenting on, fascinating subject. Well presented. A deep dive into Swiss watch making tooling would be cool, but that's a whole other subject. There was a Seiko lcd featured in another Moore Bond film. I still have one in my dresser drawer. Guess which movie and the name of the watch, anyone? Cost a bloody fortune back in `79, '80.

Thank you for posting your excellent videos.

No mention of the spring drive grand seiko? Combination of both mechanical and quartz.

Great video. Very detailed and informative. Thanks!

Fantastic episode! I have a dress watch (mechanical made in Swiss) which I wear now and then. When I go outdoor and need a 100% dependable watch, I would wear my $14 Casio which is rugged, accurate, functional, can do stopwatch, and 5 independent alarms which I sometime needed. By the way, perhaps an episode about Japanese camera industry catching up to German would be splendid.

As a watch enthusiast I absolutely love this video!

I look forward to my first Seiko watch, but my family have a Seiko wall watch that still works today, 30 years of service. No maintenance (they recommended maintenance every few years but we kinda forgot)

Bro 😂I honestly LOL when you said “Nice” regarding the 69 reference … great video by the way, Thanks!

Your stories are really top notch. Adore your channel man.

Unexpected, but very cool and interesting subject! I've been wearing an automatic Invicta (Swiss) watch with Japanese movement for about 18 years now, and still works as well as the day I got it. 😀

When I was young I had an Ingersoll mechanical watch. I kept busting the winding as I over wind it - alas I was young. Then digital watches came along and I could only afford LED version (timez?) on my meagre schoolkid saving. One lucky friend his father brought him a LCD watch. We was all jealous as his watch battery lasted 6 months(maybe a year) whereas my and other friends LED lasted a month. The more you press and display the time the more it goes thru the battery . Ah those was the days..

Super interesting topic. Great video

Superb documentary on the Watch Industry. Particularly on The Japanese Industry's Supremacy. Being a huge watch Fan i really enjoyed this. Having said that i am a Big Seiko Fan and use a Seiko 5 Sports Automatic. 👌

Great content, I'm really happy to see that you clearly read Pierre-Yves Donzé's book 👌 the best source possible on the topic ! Good job 👏👏

We can really learn a lot about cycles of technology from this video. We're seeing the same thing being played out today with US banning certain tech to and from China. Just like Japan and Seiko, one day Chinese companies will figure it out.

Would have been nice to mention Nicolas Hayek, the guy that created Swatch and the Swatch group, and thus saved the whole Swiss watch industry.

Very informative. Thank you Sir.

These documentaries are so detailed and presented so seriously, the nice at 7:39 threw me off 😂

IN those days, the clock factories are like the modern day high tech industry! LOL

Your denouement was on point, watches changes from an everyday appliance, which is now taken up by phones, etc., to a display of luxury, which is why the Swiss and European brands now have that market, the Asian manufacturers, other than the Apple watch, not really a market anymore.

arrgh. Damned endcards :( they flipping take over the screen real estate before the vid is even finished :'( please add 30 seconds of 'ust black screen and audio only' to the end of your vids Jon. So that the end cards get displayed at the right time. Thanks again. Even if the audio outro is sound-bytes of classic comedy movies. Love ya man. you are a legend.

Really interesting to watch your video content. Sean Connery was the template for James Bond franchise.

No, Quartz vibrates at whatever frequency you need. Depends on how you cut it. And the 32786 frequency is simply by 2^15, so you can use simply dividers to get to 1Hz.

This video was amazing. Very educational. I love it 🍻

Hey, do you have a list of sources? I would like to do further reading if you have a list. Thanks!

I’ve been a big fan of your channel, and as a watch fan I’m delighted to see this video! And decades after the quartz revolution, Seiko for sure upped the game another level with their amazing Spring Drive movement, which is also virtually “uncopyable”.

Another interesting thing is the language used to describe the widespread adoption of quartz watches. In Switzerland, the period is known as the Quartz Crisis. For the rest of the world, it's the Quartz Revolution.

The Swiss started to invest in their own electronic watches with MEM facility from 1975 onwards. Then they fought back with the lowest cost Swatch watch that is highly successfull on the market. The Seiko brand was possibly having equal quality mechanical watches, but you cannot fight against the brand image of Rolex, Cartier, Omega, etc etc.

5:29 Technically that pocket watch isn't Swiss. While the movement is sourced from Switzerland as it's evident by the engraving on it, the manufacturer, Hamilton, was an American company back in the time of pocket watches (albeit now they're based in Switzerland).

I'm saving up for a Seiko spring drive. The continuous motion is fascinating and such a beautiful blend of new and modern. Costs a few thousand but who cares!

Amazing video, thanks!

Excellent content. This is what I’m on KZfaq for.

Really enjoyed your clip. Most of my free time is dedicated to Japanese HiFi, cameras & watches of which I have a few. My favorite is a Seiko which I bought in Tokyo a few years back, nothing extremely fancy, but I love it: the Prospex Shogun Titanium. I prefer it to my Omega Seamaster (bought it when my son was born & gave it to him for his 18th birthday) or my Tag Heuer. There is something about Japanese engineering which I find sublime.

I remember in the 1980s having a conversation with a young Swiss watch maker, who came to study at the language school where I worked. He showed me, with pride, his Swiss watch and said that it cost something like 450 GBP. I showed him my Casio watch with pride, and said cost something like 12 GBP. Mine was waterproof, had dual-time, a stop-watch, a countdown timer, an alarm, which his didn't. And it turned-out mine was more accurate than his. And yet neither of us could persuade the other that our watch had the greater value. For him, watches had no business doing the things mine did: "It's a watch". And yet they had every justification in commanding tens of times the cost because of the workmanship, even though "it's a watch". I don't suppose he ever changed his opinion, and probably endures to this day in resentment for the fall of his industry. _Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis._

Asionometry has uploaded, and it's about watches. It's a good day.

It’s interesting how the film Live and Let Die marks the start of the consumer age with the first throwaway watch

what in the world is that black and white graph at 20:28? literally impossible to tell any labels apart