Traditional mechanical watches had their origins in the 14th century. The mechanical watch is powered by a wound spring and the balance wheel regulates the time. The invention of the quartz watch in the 70's has however dominated the watch market . Today , 90% of all watches manufactured are quartz watches. Quartz watches are cheaper, more accurate, reliable and require less maintenance. Quartz watches are 60 times more accurate than mechanical watches. A quartz watch loses or gains 1 second a week while a mechanical watch may lose 1 minute a week. This translates to bigger inaccuracies for longer periods of time. In a month you would lose 4 seconds for a quartz watch while a mechanical watch loses up to 4 minutes in a month. The quartz crystal is accurate because of its extremely high oscillations of up to 32,768 cycles per second.

Quartz watches have few moving parts. Moving parts cause friction and wear and tear and as a result they are more prone to breakdown. By having less moving parts quartz watches do not have breakdown as often as mechanical watches. Also , the gear train of a mechanical watch is under constant load from the mainspring whereas the gear train in a quartz watch is not under any load.

Mechanical watches also require servicing every three years to keep the watch working in good condition and tell the time accurately.

Mechanical watches require winding up which provide reserve power of 40 hours. An automatic watch relies on the movement of the wrist to power itself. But still, if you do not wear it all the time and just wear occasionally, you will find the time on the watch has stopped and you need to adjust the time . A quartz watch powered by a battery is constantly powered and tells accurate time all the time and do not need time adjustment. Of course you do need the change the battery after two to three years.

Mechanical watches have longer lifespans than that of quartz watches. A mechanical watch can last indefinitely with proper care and servicing. Should it break down , parts are always available for repair. A mechanical watch can become a collectible and it can fetch high resale value due to its rarity. A quartz watch on the other hand features electronic circuitry that has a limited lifespan. You cannot repair it because the electronic components for it would be obsolete by then.

Lastly, a mechanical watch is not as sensitive to extreme cold temperature as quartz watches. In extreme cold, the mechanical watch still keeps working while the cold will temporarily shut down the battery of the quartz watch.

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