9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

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Vista
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9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Vista »

I am new to the forum and know very little about the workings of a watch as you will realise from my question.

I have a 40th birthday approaching and my present will be a CW watch but I cannot decide between the C4SKK and the C7SKK. The price difference is minimal but the C7 has a 22 jewel quartz movement and the C4 a 9 jewel.
Does this make a huge difference and what is the difference?

Mark
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Kip »

Welcome to the "Asylum" Vista. Generally speaking the more jewels the better when it comes to mechanicals, but there is a point of diminishing returns. Relative to quartz I must defer to the movement Guru's who perhaps can offer a better explanation in the quartz area.

Trust me...they will be along with an answer.
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Yoda »

The jewels are friction free bearings for shafts to rotate in. Depending on the movement design there will be five or more bearings. Sometimes extra jewels are located on a movement either as a spare bearing or to enhance the movement for other reasons.

Quartz movements have fewer jewels because they have fewer moving spindles to hold. Auto and manual wind movements will have as many as needed and the more complications, the more jewels.

The number of jewels is no indicator of a watches quality.
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Vista »

Yoda

Thankyou for the explanation, just out of interest, why do watch makers tell us how many jewels there are if it has no relevance to the quality of the watch?
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Yoda »

Most watches, years ago were made without jeweled bearings and just relied on oil to keep them going. Then they were fitted with natural jewels which then cost a lot more so pushed the prices up. Now watches kept time for longer and they required less servicing. That's how the jewel thing came about, better quality watches.

Now they use real and artificial jewels depending on the manufacturer on about 99.9% of watch movements. Watchmaking quality is down to how well the components are made, assembled and finished. If you buy a watch with a good movement, it will last you a lifetime without trouble.
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Randall Harris »

With all due respect to CWL and other quartz watch makers, watch manufacturers hype the number of jewels because there was a time when the marketing of watches was based upon the perception that many jewels equals higher quality. Never mind the fact that watch jewels are dirt cheap - pennies in fact.
Cynically speaking, watch manufacturers for decades have decorated their movements with unnecessary jewels. A perfect demonstration of this is a quartz watch that advertises 22 jewels. IMHO, that's just silly. If you look at a high quality quartz movement, even those with complicated chrono modules, you would be hard pressed to find more than half a dozen or so places to actually use the jewels. But they do look impressive through the display back of a watch. And 22 jewels sounds a lot better than 9, right?
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Lamps »

So whats in CWL, real or artificial jewels, and what are artificial made from?
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Vista »

Randall

You're right, 22 sounds alot better than 9 and that's why I asked because there is only £20 difference in the 2 models I'm considering so I suspected it could be a form of watch marketing lingo.

I guess my decision will have to come down to the finer points of appearance as they are the same diameter and weight and I like both models.
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Yoda »

lamppo_the_GasFitter wrote:So whats in CWL, real or artificial jewels, and what are artificial made from?
Doesn't matter, they both do the same job. I suppose artificial ones would be better as they do not have flaws in them. Most of then could be rubies.
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Daz »

8)
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Uncle Bill »

For watch bearings,rubies are produced by the fusion of alumina with a trace of chromium oxide in an electric furnace. Artificial sapphire for watch crystals is produced in a somewhat similar way, but the material is produced in large 'globs' which are sliced and polished. A factory making sapphire crystals has the electricity consumption of a small town. The artificial stones have a similar hardness to the natural gems, so an articial sapphire can only be scratched by a diamond or abrasive/coating with similar hardness properties, which are not common. The sapphire watch crystals may, however, crack through with a sharp blow by something hard. A fascinating story worth a Google, if you're interested....UB
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Vista »

Thanks UB

So which watch should I choose?

Only joking, I only joined this afternoon and it's been a fascinating read already.
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Daz »

8)
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by Uncle Bill »

I've got a C3SKK, which perfoms faultlessly and has had no adverse posts, as far as I know... I'm just about to restrap it with a dark brown heavily stitched strap and the original buckle (is the plan) and I'll post a photo if it works out. Those are worth a look if you want a chrono...UB
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Re: 9 Jewel versus 22 jewel

Post by chomrich »

I agree. I have a C3SKS, a C3SWKR, and a C6SWS. All are performing well with no problems. I know that many will extol the virtues of an automatic, and I freely admit they have a certain charm, but I am beginning to prefer quartz for it's much greater accuracy and much lower maintenance costs.
Carl