# Noisy Swatch?



## travisbicks

Having owned only a single digital watch (the same Timex thatâ€™s still working apart from the speaker) for the last 18 years, I recently decided it was time for it to retire to gym use and for me to buy another watch. I wished to try an analogue for a change and wanted something minimal, functional and (as you might guess) above all cheap. I settled on a standard gents Swatch (Red Sunday model).

Iâ€™m quite happy with the watch, though I do occasionally miss not having stop watch or count down functions. What surprised me most in using an analogue watch is the noise of the mechanism. The ticking sound is so audible that it was an annoyance to me at first, but Iâ€™ve since grown use to it. I can hear its ticking from my bedside table at night and can even locate my watch should I misplace it by careful listening.

What I'd like to know is whether all analogue watches are this noisy or is it a particular characteristic of Swatches?

My apologies if Iâ€™m posting in the wrong place.


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## accutron2182

hI Swatch movements are possibly the loudest ticking quartz watches out there, they use ETA movements. They are not as loud as the Omega Marine Chronometer though, the most accurate quartz watch ever made, and the loudest tick as well!


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## Koopa

hi,

the sound of ticking in watches is found in mechanical watches, wind up and so forth.... it is the sound of the pallet fork hitting the escapement wheel.

most swatch watches do have the distintive 'tick' sound even tho they are (majority) quartz. i believe this 'tick' is cause by two cogs rubbing together. as they are sealed units and cannot be repaired (mainly) i've yet to discover where the sound actually originates from. i believe swatch design them to have that 'tick' in them.

as a general rule quartz watches do not tick, but as with life there are the exception to the rules...

hope this helps

kate


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## msq

Trust me, if you ever run out or battery or something, you will miss that constant ticking. Something that originally annoyed you will be the thing you miss the most


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## travisbicks

Thank you for your replies :thumbsup:

I also found this on the Squiggly forum, posted by user Jeroen:-

"The Swatch watches are a little noisy. The

situation has been improved in comparison

with the first watches produced in 1983, but

according to the models the "tick & tack"

are more or less audible. The reason is due to

the design of the Swatch watch. The

movement is integrated (part) to the housing of

the watch and the origin of the noise is the

step motor with the watch housing as "sound

box". This is especially true for the Gent

models. Skin or Irony models are much less

noisy as the Plastic Gent or Lady models."

Seems Iâ€™ll have to learn to love the ticking


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## Andy the Squirrel

Yea swatch watches are quite loud for quartz watches


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## funtimefrankie

I have to say it's the tick I love most about the couple of Swatch's I have.

Frank


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