A French company (SilMach) backed by Timex Group is claiming to have opened a new chapter in watchmaking with the creation of a silicon motor that matches the accuracy of quartz-based movements with the elegance of a mechanical watch’s sweeping hands.

  • MxM111@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I am confused by this article. The quartz is how electronics keeps track of time accurately. The silicon motor is how you move the arrows. Those are not related or comparable things.

        • uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          French innovator aims to consign ticking quartz watches to history

          The ‘ticking’ is what is being consigned to history. The article is about an alternative to ‘ticking quartz watches’, a non-ticking quartz watch

          • MxM111@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            But the ticking has nothing to do with quartz. One can use quartz oscillator with that silicon motor, for example.

            • uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              Thats exactly the proposition. Eliminate tifking quartz watches in favor of non-ticking quartz watches.

              Say goodbye to the quartz watches that do tick replace them with ones that do not tick

              • MxM111@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                a silicon motor that matches the accuracy of quartz-based movements

                How do you explain that? If it is still quartz based, then it is the same accuracy. No?

                • uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  1 year ago

                  Yes, it is still a quartz watch. The oscillator is still a quartz oscillator. However the mechanism which advances the second hand is replaced with onethat does not need to tick.

                  The kind of quartz watch is no longer a ticking quartz watch, it is a non-ticking quartz watch.

                  As for the specific wording of the article, I would assume the authoris not fully versed in partsof quartz watches, and does not know that the oscillator which keeps time is different from the stepping motor which moves the hands.

                  This invention targets only replacing the stepping motor, not the oscillator.