Automatic vs Quartz: The Real-World Difference

Short answer: quartz is more accurate and needs less attention; an automatic is more engaging and never needs a battery. Most owners who own both reach for the automatic for enjoyment and the quartz for convenience.

Accuracy

A typical quartz watch is accurate to about ±15 seconds per month. Seiko rates the NH35 automatic at −20 to +40 seconds per day, and most examples run well inside that. In practice you will set an automatic every week or two and a quartz watch twice a year.

The seconds hand

An automatic's seconds hand sweeps smoothly at six beats per second. A quartz watch ticks once a second. Meca-quartz movements such as the Seiko VK63 sit in between: quartz timekeeping with a smooth, snap-back chronograph.

Living with it

• Automatic: winds as you wear it, about 41 hours of reserve, service every five to seven years.
• Quartz: grab-and-go, battery every two to three years, very little servicing.
• Meca-quartz chronograph: quartz convenience with a mechanical-feeling stopwatch.

Which suits you?

If you wear one watch every day and enjoy the mechanics, choose an automatic such as the Rosemariner. If you want something you can leave in a drawer and pick up already showing the right time, choose quartz such as the Lady Santorose (Seiko Y120). For a chronograph that is easy to own, the Rosetona's VK63 is a good middle ground.

Watch movements explained →