How Does a Watch Know What Time It Is?? ⌚️
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Morning G-SHOCK!
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Wait!
What did you just do…
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Witchcraft!
How does a watch know what time it is?
Okay so imagine you’re wearing this Durd watch.
Now if we go inside:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310bd1f010eaf0327b93_5.webp)
Past the numbers and the battery and the motherboard:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310ceecfee9782ebc564_6.webp)
We find a tinyyy little tube.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310c30cf1eafbce9dff2_7.webp)
And if we crack that tube open, we see a…
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310d8fa4c9994b84693f_8.webp)
Quartz crystal!
But hang on.
No matter how hard you try, rocks can’t tell time.
So lucky for us, this quartz crystal isn’t just a rock.
It’s shaped like a little fork:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310de0dddd9a8598b6a7_9.webp)
And when you send power through it from the battery, its tiny fork arms start vibrating.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310cd6fa4f0388653066_10.webp)
And that vibration isn’t random at all.
The physical properties of quartz cause these fork crystals to vibrate 32,768 times per second.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310edb51ceedd8e02a7b_11.webp)
So your watch starts counting its quartz crystal’s vibrations.
And every time it counts 32,768 vibrations, it knows a second has passed!
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/659f310bbf62718b930b8ea6_1.gif)
Stay Cute,
Henry & Dylan 🌈
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