"Each one is a miniature world unto itself, a tiny functioning mechanism, a congeries of minute and mysterious moving parts. Moving parts! And consequently these watches are, in a sense, alive. They have heartbeats. They seem to respond, Tamagotchi-like, to "love," in the form, usually, of the expensive ministrations of specialist technicians. They're pointless in a peculiarly needful way; they're comforting precisely because they require tending. Like ancient steam-tractors or Vincent motorcycles, they can be painstakingly restored from virtually any stage of ruin. " - William Gibson (Futurist Author)
Mechanical vs Quartz
There is a world of difference that is filled with jewels, gears, and words like "Rattrapante" and "ebauche" between a quartz watch and a mechanical watch. Mechanical watches are meticulously crafted to keep time, unlike quartz watches that leech their life force from a battery. They must be wound by hand or powered through the movement of the human body. In fact, as Gibson says, they are among the very finest fossils of the pre-digital age. Understanding how complicated mechanical watches are will likely turn into a passion for horology.
Quartz watches are affordable, averaging between $10 to $50. In contrast, mechanical watches are very expensive, ranging from couple thousand dollars to millions of dollars. Also, quartz watches are very precise to the point that it gain or lose less than one second of time in a day. On the other hand, mechanical watches, which are vastly more complex and labor intensive to produce and maintain than quartz watches, often gain or lose up to three seconds per day. That being said, if quartz watches are so cheap and convenient, why should we even bother using mechanical watches?
In every mechanical watch,,there is beauty and artistry in imperfection, tradition in the history of mechanical watchmaking, and fascinating engineering at work. Mechanical watches store energy in a spring, wound automatically or by hand, which feeds its energy into a series of gears. Those gears are responsible for converting energy into movement, with each gear turning one of the watch's hands. Most mechanical watches have a "power reserve" of about 40 hours and must be regularly wound, while automatic watches are able to convert sudden movement into energy. On the other hand, quartz movement works by using a small piece of the vibrating mineral that is powered by the battery that converts those vibrations into time. In fact, quartz watches are functional, and they can still be visually striking from without. However, they will never have that balance of aesthetic and engineering of mechanical watches, and it's the engineering that proves addicting.
Reference: Fenlon, Wesley. "Precision Gear." Tested. N.p., 10 MAY 2012. Web. 6 Dec 2013.
Reference: Fenlon, Wesley. "Precision Gear." Tested. N.p., 10 MAY 2012. Web. 6 Dec 2013.