A watch that has a quartz movement is powered by a battery. The battery passes an electric current through the crystal to keep it oscillating at over 32,000 vibrations per second. This vibrating crystal drives a step motor that moves the watch hands at a constant rate to keep time accurately. A good quartz movement is accurate to within 0.5-2 seconds per day. On average, the battery needs to be changed every one and a half years.

Modern quartz watches now use a low-frequency bar or tuning-fork-shaped watch crystal. Often, these watch crystals are made from thin sheets of quartz plated like an integrated circuit and etched chemically to shape. The major difference between good and indifferent time keeping is the initial frequency accuracy and the precision of the angle of cut of the quartz sheet with respect to the crystalline axis. The single major advantage of the quartz watch is its affordability. Another advantage is that it needs no winding to keep it working.