The Seiko That Changed Time Forever: How Quartz Started a Watch Revolution
On Christmas Day, 1969, Seiko released the Quartz Astron 35SQ: a gold watch almost nobody could afford. Inside was a technology that would make accurate time available to nearly everyone — and force Switzerland’s watch industry to find a new reason to matter.
This is the story of the Seiko Astron, Project 59A, the Swiss Beta 21, and the quartz crisis that changed what a watch could mean.
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Chapters
- 0:00The paradox: a gold watch for a new era
- 0:49The price of mechanical precision
- 2:12Shrinking quartz from clock to wrist
- 3:17Switzerland’s parallel quartz race
- 3:37Beta 21 watches: Omega and Rolex
- 3:52Seiko Astron 35SQ: the first commercial quartz wristwatch
- 5:45Precision reaches the mass market
- 6:57The human cost of the quartz crisis
- 8:17Why mechanical watches survived
- 9:05What the Astron really changed
- 10:18Before and after
TIME & POWER is made by Tokai Vintage, a small shop for vintage Japanese and Swiss watches.
