How To Choose A Quartz Wall Clock
Posted on February 22, 2019 | By clockde
How To Choose A Quartz Wall Clock
There are many types of wall clocks today from which to choose in all styles and price ranges.
We will cover the different types of Quartz clocks to help you understand how they are made and the differences in design.
Click the link if you wish to go ahead and shop our selection of wall clocks.
What is a Quartz Wall Clock?
Quartz wall clocks are the most accurate home wall clocks today where the time is regulated by a quartz crystal oscillator inside the movement. The quartz crystal oscillator creates a signal at a precise frequency of 32768 times each second making it very accurate. Quartz movements found in these clocks can be made in a wide variety of quality. These quartz movements can cost 5.00 – 30.00 if they are time-only.
The better movements use better plastics, higher precision of construction and heavier copper in the coil. An inexpensive movement might last a few years where a higher quality movement we have seen last over 20 years. Your better wall clock brands like Howard Miller, Bulova, Seiko, and Rhythm will use better movements than the off-brands.
How long do wall clock batteries last?
A new fresh Alkaline battery should last well over a year in a wall clock. It is always a good idea to check for battery leakage when you change the clock for Daylight Saving Time twice a year.
What is an Analog Wall Clock?
An Analog Wall Clock is simply a clock that has hands to indicate the time which is usually powered by a Quartz movement installed in the clock.
Large Wall Clocks
Oversized clocks are very popular today. When the popularity of very large wall clocks exploded about 10 years ago, a new movement had to be designed to be able to push the large, long hands up from 6:00 – 12:00 and keep them from falling down quickly from 12:00 – 6:00.
The High-Torque Movement was designed with this purpose. These movements look like an ordinary quartz movement, but inside they are different. Large wall clocks are non-chiming and most are made for indoor use.
Most are powered by a single AA battery which will power them for about a year at a time. These cost about 4 – 5 times more than traditional quartz movements.
There are some large wall clocks that use traditional movements instead of a high torque movement. These will usually last only a few months.
This is another reason to stay with your larger, better brands like Howard Miller, Bulova, Seiko, and Rhythm.
View all of the Large Wall Clocks here
Quiet-Sweep Wall Clocks
A silent sweep wall clock uses a movement with a special design to eliminate the ticking sound found in most wall clocks.
The ticking sound in traditional wall clocks is caused by the movement moving the second hand from one second to the next. You would be able to hear it across a room in a quiet room and sometimes the material of the wall can actually amplify the ticking.
The Quiet Sweep movement is designed to break up each second into several parts and move it forward fractions of seconds at a time to eliminate the ticking every second. When you look at the second hand moving after the clock is installed you will see it moving in a continuous motion which is also visually pleasing as well as quiet. The cost of the movement is usually about 3 – 4 times that of your traditional square box wall clock movement. The quiet sweep movements mean none of that annoying ticking!
If you place your ear to the clock you can hear a quiet whirring sound, but from any distance, at all, you probably will not hear it.
They can only be used on clocks under 15″ or so because they are not of a high torque design. These are usually powered by a single AA battery which will power the clock for about a year at a time. You may view all of the non-ticking clocks here.
Quartz Chiming Wall Clocks
These wall clocks are a great alternative to key wound, mechanical wall clocks. They do not need to be wound once a week like a key wound wall clock. A fresh set of batteries will power these clocks for over a year at a time. They also keep great time because of the quartz-controlled movement. The pendulum swings and is powered by an electromagnet so it doesn’t tick as it swings back and forth. They are not totally “tickless” because the movement does make a ticking sound, but it is so quiet most cannot hear it. These are far quieter than a standard round wall clock.
These wall clocks will use one of a few different movement choices inside. All of these movements are reliable and should power the clock for many, many years. The batteries should be changed about once a year. You can see the movements inside these clocks below and even listen to the chimes. Most of the chimes are digital recordings that are played through a speaker. The sound is quite good. You may also view all of the Quartz, pendulum wall clocks by clicking here.
Movements Used in Quartz Chiming Wall Clocks
Rhythm Harmonic Clocks (found on many Howard Miller, Rhythm, and Hermle Wall Clocks)
Quartz, battery-operated, triple-chime Harmonic wall clock movement plays a choice of full Westminster with strike on the hour with 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 chimes accordingly or Westminster or Ave Maria chime and strike on the hour only or Bim Bam chime on the hour only. Volume control and an automatic nighttime chime shut-off option will silence the chime automatically at night or you may play them 24 hours. You may also turn the chime completely off. Powered by two C sized batteries.
Click here to listen to the Westminster Chime
Click here to listen to the Ave Maria Chime
Click here to listen to the Bim Bam Chime
You may view all of the clocks that use this movement here
Bulova Harmonic Wall Clocks
Quartz, battery-operated, triple-chime Harmonic Wall Clock movement plays a choice of full Westminster with the strike on the hour with 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 chimes accordingly or Westminster or Ave Maria chime and strike on the hour only or Bim Bam chime on the hour only. Volume control and an automatic nighttime chime shut-off option will silence the chime automatically at night or you may play them 24 hours. You may also turn the chime completely off. Powered by two C sized batteries and one “AA ” battery..
Click here to listen to the Bulova Westminster Chime
Click here to listen to the Bulova Ave Maria Chime
Click here to listen to the Bulova Bim Bam Chime
You may view all of the clocks that use this or a variation of this movement here
Kieninger Dual-Chime Quartz Clocks (found on many Howard Miller Wall Clocks)
This is a Quartz, battery-operated, dual-chime Harmonic Wall Clock movement that can play your choice of full Westminster or Ave Maria with the strike on the hour with 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 chimes accordingly or Westminster or Ave Maria hourly only. You may also turn the chime completely off. Volume control and an automatic nighttime chime shut-off option will silence the chime automatically at night or you may play them 24 hours. Powered by two C sized batteries.
Click here to listen to the Westminster Chime
Click here to listen to the Ave Maria Chime
New WIFI or Network Wall Clocks
Most homes have a wireless internet connection today and we now have a special wall clock with hands that easily lock into that signal and automatically make corrections in time so you will not have to.
This will be the most accurate clock in your home and they do not have to pick up an AM signal to change the time like an atomic clock. Should your home WIFI stop because of a power failure, this clock will then use an accurate quartz system until the WIFI signal is restored.
This system is the newest technology in clocks and will soon be the standard for auto-setting wall clocks for the home as well as commercial settings.
These network clocks are battery operated and are as accurate as the NIST internet clock. Click here to see these new WIFI clocks.
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