Quartz crisis

Remember when you were learning how to tell time and you had a cool watch on your wrist that had a ticking sound? That ticking sound comes from a tiny piece inside the watch called a "balance wheel," which helps keep the time accurate.

For a long time, watches used a balance wheel to keep time. But in the 1960s and 70s, a new technology called "quartz" became popular. Quartz watches use a different kind of oscillator, called a "quartz crystal," to keep time.

At first, these new quartz watches were expensive and not very popular. But as technology got better, companies were able to make them cheaper and more accurate.

This was a big problem for traditional watchmakers, who were still making balance wheel watches. They couldn't compete with the low prices and high accuracy of quartz watches.

This was called the "quartz crisis," because it threatened the entire watchmaking industry. Many companies had to shut down or switch to making quartz watches themselves.

But some traditional watchmakers survived by focusing on making high-end luxury watches that used both the new quartz technology and the old-fashioned balance wheel.

Today, both kinds of watches are still popular, but most people just use their phones to tell time anyway!