In the 1960s, manufacturers raced to produce watches with an ever-increasing number of jewels, in the hope of attaining the bragging rights to the highest jewel count on the market. Often the number of jewels is simply correlated with the number of complications the watch has. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, jewels are not the reason that some watches cost a substantial amount of money.ĭespite what watchmakers and retailers may have you believe, the jewel count does not inherently mean the watch is better quality than other wristwatches. Typically, these synthetic jewels are available to purchase for as low as a couple of pence per unit. Unfortunately, as modern watch jewels are man-made gems, they are not as valuable as their naturally occurring counterparts present in other jewellery, such as expensive necklaces and bracelets.

Unlike with mechanical movements, jewels are not essential to make a quartz watch accurate. Many budget quartz movements feature no jewels, including those powering digital watches which require no hands. A jewelled quartz movement can have between 5 and 10 jewels, depending on the manufacturer and number of complications (chronograph watches, for example, will feature more jewels due to the faster moving parts). Jewels are placed within these gear bearings, to smooth their rotation and preserve accuracy and durability over time. These battery-powered watches primarily operate using an electrical circuit featuring a quartz crystal however, there remains some gearing to enable hand rotation. Surprisingly, some quartz movements do have jewels, despite featuring far fewer moving parts. If you are unsure of the number of jewels featured in your watch and it is not made clear on the watch dial, most automatic movements have the figure etched onto the rotor. Other watches, including those with more complications, may include even more though a higher jewel count does not necessarily indicate a higher quality watch. Approximately 17 jewels are used in basic mechanical watches, though modern watches with self-winding (automatic) capabilities will typically house 25-27 jewels.

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