Oh that’s interesting. So most mechanical watches don’t have smooth motion, just smoother motion? What about music box movements, are those the same?

This is a great list, thanks!

That’s fascinating about jeweled bearings! I had no idea, I definitely thought that watch descriptions of jewels was about incorporating additional luxury/expense.

As far as watch winding goes, I agree everybody gets to enjoy what they enjoy, and disposable batteries are kind of a drag. I’m not that interested in automatic or hand-wound movements because I like to be able to switch between a two or three watches, so I might go a week or two without wearing one, and I like it to still be running and on time when I put it on.

High end watches aren’t really in my budget, but it is gratifying to hear that there are very high end quartz movements. But jewels and precious metals aren’t really my jam. What I want is a reasonably accurate watch that will run without me having to wear it or wind it, with a second hand that moves nice and smooth. (And since I’m also kind of particular about how they look, I want a nice wide variety to choose from, but that’s kind of my own thing.) The Seiko Spring Drive is a cool idea and the second hand movement is very nice, but I’d want a battery in there to obviate the winding.

High end watches aren’t really in my budget, but it is gratifying to hear that there are very high end quartz movements. But jewels and precious metals aren’t really my jam. What I want is a reasonably accurate watch that will run without me having to wear it or wind it, with a second hand that moves nice and smooth. (And since I’m also kind of particular about how they look, I want a nice wide variety to choose from, but that’s kind of my own thing.) The Seiko Spring Drive is a cool idea and the second hand movement is very nice, but I’d want a battery in there to obviate the winding.

How crazy is it to watch hack? Like, buy a movement I want and drop it into a watch case I like?

Ok cool, that’s more like what I’m looking for! It would be even cooler if the second hand moved at 8 Hz instead of 4

Yeah, I mean, I’m not trying to move the goalposts or anything, I just like the watch to run even if I’m not winding it wearing it.

I just watched a spring drive movement video on Seiko’s website, and it seems very cool, but requires hand winding! Seems like a cool idea, but I want my watches to just run.

Fair enough. It’s very possible (even likely, I guess) that I just don’t understand the technical constraints. But it seems like it ought to be surmountable.

As I wrote in reply to another comment, most mechanical movements translate the stepwise movement of a governor through a series of interlocking gears to achieve a smooth motion, it seems like something like that could be applicable without draining too much additional power.

Idk, it seems like some people are willing to pay quite a bit for watches, including ones that have features that add complexity without clear timekeeping benefit

This is an excellent response! Thanks!

But isn’t a 16 Hz second hand achievable with a normal 32,768 Hz quartz oscillator? Or does the Precisionist movements somehow save power somewhere?

Also, are the 262 kHz high frequency movements only available in the Bulova Precisionist line?

I guess I just don’t find that answer very persuasive. I mean, I’m no engineer, but it seems like it wouldn’t be that hard to do. I mean, if it’s really only a factor of two, couldn’t you just fit a second battery in there?

But even setting that aside, mechanical movements translate the stepped movement of a governor through a series of interlocking gears to achieve a smooth motion, I don’t see why something similar can’t be added to a quartz movement.