Watch Glossary - Q

Q

Quarter Repeater - A repeater which indicates the last completed quarter-hour by striking the hour itself on one gong followed by one, two or three blows, each representing fifteen minutes, on a second.

Quatre - (French) Four. Old Swiss watches are often stamped quatre rubis (four jewels); this is the absolute minimum number in a respectable watch, indicating that only the balance-staff is jewelled.

Quartz - Used to describe a watch powered by an oscillating quartz crystal which draws its power from a small battery. Oscillating 32,768 times per second, an electronic circuit divides this oscillation into precise increments of 1 second or less. Used in both digital and analogue watches. Whilst derided by many purists as disposable and of little soul, the quartz watch is nonetheless extremely accurate. Watches have been made super-accurate by using a much higher frequency (e.g. 4.2 million cycles per second) or by using two oscillators and by using temperature compensation.