How long can yoU expect a quartz watch to last with continuous use

Louisc

I've had an inexpensive casio watch (quartz with hands) for 10 years, use it everyday, one or 2 battery changes.
Keeps perfect time still, no service was done to the watch

was wondering, how long can quartz watches last for , are any 1970's quartz watches still working with continuous use without having been repaired or serviced ?

Does the circuitry tend to stop working after 20 or 30 years of continuous use ? Do they tend to lose ability to keep accurate time ?

I know the oldest quartz watches are about 40 years old, would it be uncommon for watches of this era to still work, and would it be possible to get a battery for them ? I'd love the idea of buying a working quartz watch from the early 1970's.

Wibbs

Yea there are still some out there still working. Indeed the very earliest ones were very well made and high quality, often from renowned makers. The early omega and rolex quartz movements are works of art and incredibly accurate with movements and innovations like temp control that would gain or lose less than 5 6 seconds a year. That's harrison chronometer time. You can still get equivalent batteries for them too. I gather some of the electric tuning fork watches can be hard enough to get batteries for.

There's a big collectors market in them too.

That said as the mass market cottoned on to how cheaply they could be rattled out and how most were just happy with a watch that was pretty accurate that quality has dropped. Massively. I would suspect in 50 years there will be few enough 80's and beyond quartz movements still going. Fast forward a 100 years and even less. Mechanicals will still be easier to keep going IMHO. That said there will likely still be drop in quartz movements to replace dead ones. As it is generic replacement quartz movements are very cheap wholesale anyway. I think the most expensive I ever saw was less than 40 quid. Hence I baulk at the idea of spending big figures on quartz watches. You're paying for the name and case.

I would however stump up good money for the early Omega megaquartz ones say. Especially the marine chronometer one. They go for many 1000's as it is. They're even being faked. http://www.chronomaddox.com/omega_megaquartz_2400.html