Watch Beat Rates compared - 3600, 18000, 21600, 28800, 36000 & 57600 BPH 

This is incredibly poetic. In some way you expect the smoother (higher beat) watches to 'get there quicker', but in reality they all take the same time to get there. For a race (no pun intended) so focused these days on achievement and success -at speed-, there's a lesson here. We all get there! Even if it's not as smoothly as the next person.

Honestly, if more quartz watches implemented the smooth sweep second-hand, I would happily buy them without question, despite my preference for automatics.

0:30 1 beat per second 01:03 5 beats per second 02:03 6 beats per second 03:03 8 beats per second 04:03 10 beats per second 05:03 16 beats per second 07:00 all watches compared on screen

Never was a fan of Quartz watches just because of their 3600 movements. Didn’t know that there are ones out there with higher frequencies. Thanks for that video! I just learned a lot from you! :)

I love that you mentioned benefit of longer service interval. Good job.

Just to think, pre quarts, "dead seconds" or 3600bph was considered one of the most difficult beat rates in nautical timekeeping.

Appreciate how you timed the seconds hand with all the watches at the end to be in the same location on the dial. I watch reviews where they always compare two watches or more and each watch is timed differently. Great job!

I turned this on to kill some time but it turned out to be really interesting! Nice video.

Spring drive!!!!

And for really high BPH, a Bulova Accutron is the pinnacle: 1296000 BPH, 360/second - directly driven by a tuning fork.

Grand Seiko has the smoothest sweeping movement. A good informative video.

Very educational video. Great job!

Hey man, I've been enjoying your videos and comments around WatchTube for some time. I really appreciated the extra effort you took to "pass the baton" between the second hands during the shot after shot comparison of these watches beat rates. You even sync'd the chrono to the face seconds on the Lunar Pilot! Great stuff, keep it up :)

Now I'm seeing some of you older videos. This one is incredible. And Precisionist movement is marvelous. Thanks a lot

Wow, just beautifully produced and written. I have the Bulova Moon Watch and always run the chrono, even though I know that it will tax the battery. However it's so much fun to look at. So smooth and accurate.

Very interesting to see those side by side. I also have an old Timex that runs at 4 BPS / 14,400 BPH.

All the Accutrons came with tuning fork technology that gave them a continuous sweep, accurate to within + or - 2 seconds per day.

Well explained & very well put together. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Thanks for this video ! I can finally see the difference between each movements

That moment when you look at your watch and the time is synced 😎

Loved the thumbnails work at the end. Very smooth. Thank you for the info.

Thanks for the comparison video. As a beginner to the watch world, it's very helpful.

Excellent video. It's very nice to understand a low beat nd a hi beat automatic watch. I love watches nd I have a collection, but now I'll keep it in my mind because beat rate tell us the worth nd quality of mechanical watch. Thank you. Very Respect from Pakistan 👍❤️

The last moments are very satisfying to watch! 😃

Cool video. I think 8bps would be a perfect combination for accuracy and maintainability.

Crisis that King Seiko is amazing, absolutely beautiful!

Nice video! Thank you so much. Zoom up on moving hands in each beats are really interesting and important info for me.

Interesting . Thank you . I have a Bulova automatic from 1949 . It looks like it is going like the Sieko . 6 beats per sec . It is 17 joules .

That is some nice editing there. Loved the part where you presented the different speeds one after another and the second hand continued to count from the last position of the previous watch!

Watch Geek:"If you want high beats, you gotta go back to quartz" Zenith Defy Inventor: "Let us introduce ourselves" *goes 18hz*

I personally like the 1beat per sec, i just like hearing each second when it's very silent.

"I will shut up for now, thank you for watching. Bye". 06:35

Who the hell gave this a thumbs down? This is a great video. Thanks!

great vid and info - thank you very much 👌

With modern materials and mechanisms, 18,000vph watches can be almost as accurate as 28,800vph or 36,000vph watches. Many of the world record-competing chronometers have balance frequencies lower than 4Hz. I really like 18,000vph, especially on a dress watch, or on a 30-minute chronograph. Measuring fifths of a second seems much neater than sixths or eighths.

Nice video and presentation! Thank you for doing this. The only movement speed that I think you missed is the Omega co-axial at 7 beats per second/25,200 bph, but I cannot see a difference with the naked eye between it and my 8 bps/ 28,800 bph movement pieces. I am sure there's a difference when it is slowed down.

I'm one of the rare few who actually prefer the movement of a quartz seconds hand. To me, nothing is better than a high quality quartz ticking perfectly in line with the markers, nailing every one. Something like The Citizen line is perfect.

Bulova 262 khz runs at 16 beats per second from what I have read about the movement and seems to be accurate according to the UHF Bulovas I own. I have several that have yet to go out of synch with atomic time over the past 5 months. I think, in my opinion, that they’re superior to the higher end mechanicals I own and really enjoyable to watch. Of course Bulova does make some really unattractive train wrecks, but they’ve got great history and some real innovation under their belt.

There are also the Bulova Accutron with electronic tuning fork (300 Hz or 360 Hz), with a real sweeping second hand.

it's funny how quartz oscillates 32768 times each second, yet they traditionally limit that feature to annoying 1 bps.

When you're sat there watching that second hand revolve around, just remember, thats your life ticking away.

Beats per second was confusing for me, I counted 3 "ticks" a second when it claimed 5 beats per second. The beats count starting and stopping of the hand as separate beats. Start-stop-start-stop-start per each second

A piece of advice on old Accutron calibers. The 214 Spaceview is very voltage sensitive. It was designed for a 1.3 volt mercury battery which is no longer made. The 1.5 volt silver based battery makes them run fast. Esslinger, and no doubt others, sell a 1.5 v battery with a resistor on it that lowers the voltage to 1.3v. I'm sure it works but not in my Spaceview which needs a good servicing. Due to a change in the way the caliber 218 handles shock, mine runs well on a 1.5 volt battery. It is not as cool as the Spaceview but runs very well. Just some thoughts on the subject.

Beautiful video, It's very cool to see something like this, thanks.

I believe the Bulova on the video is a quartz watch (Bulova Moon watch), which means that regardless of the higher beat rate, it will probably need less servicing than other mechanical watches, probably even less than lower beat mechanical watches (I'm going on a limb here). Quartz are battery powered, which means that they have less moving parts (no balance spring or wheel) which means less maintenance needed. However, the rule mentioned in the video still remains true if we're talking solely about mechanical watches.

That Bulova Accutron II movement is so smooth...love it.

Excellent video, a nice comparison. It still would have been nice to see a spring drive.

That final shot is gorgeous.

Very cool, thanks taking the time to make this.

GS Spring Drive

What a great video. I am in love with mechanical watches in general, but also have an affection for Bulova, dunno why. So I kinda want a CURV.

Hello guys, This video has a major mistake, using beat rates for second hand movement and for mechanical balance wheel or quartz crystal beat rate at the same time and mix it regularly discussing one watch and an other. What is sure, that for mechanical watches the balance wheel beat rate has a direct relation to the second hand beat rate. But that is not true for quartz watches, because the ordenary quartz watch has a 32.768 beat rates for the quatz crystal. This rate is diveded down to one per sec, which moves the second hand. The main reason of this is battery energy saving. In case of Bulova high frequency quartz technology, they have choosen the second way of improve accuracy ( the first way is thermo compensation) namely inceasing the quartz crystal frequency ( beat rate) eight times compere to regular quartz watch. By this they give the signal rate forward to the second hand, that the reason, that the second hand of this wacht moves eight times per second, what is equal with the traditional 28.800 beat rates of a mechanical balance wheel watch. So, the movement of this Bulova's second hand is as smooth as a mechanical watch. The beat rates of the driving part of the watch ( balance wheel or quartz crystal) is relates to the accuracy of the watch, but the final accuracy depend on many other factors too. Anyhow, the eight times high frequency of the Bulova's precisionist watches still not the highest frequency of the industry, many many decades ago Omega produced the so called Marine Chronometer watch with 2,4Mz frequency what is about 75 times higher beat rate for the quartz crystal as the normal one. Enjoy your watch, and all the best to you. Miklós

A year after this video, and a cool $40,000 USD Breguet Classique Chronométrie 7727 The 7727 is remarkable for a number of reasons, not least because it is equipped with a 10Hz (72,000 bph) engine - twice as fast as a ‘typical’ 5Hz high-beat movement. This means it offers a 1/20th of a second accuracy. To reduce the wear and tear sustained by such a high-speed system, Breguet created a lubricant-free mechanism using silicon parts. Breguet also reworked the architecture of the balance, employing two endstones with powerful micro-magnets to keep the balance staff centred and self-adjusting.

Great video. Nicely done.

Wonderful video. I'm showing my age because all the beat rates made me think of modem baud rates.

Amazing. Thanks for doing this!

Kind of a Quartz geek here. Just unboxed my Bulova Precisionist 98B267 which is not so over the top lookswise. Could watch it run for hours.

Super interesting and informative video! Thank you very much! You presented the information very well!

Those beat rate numbers remind me of the old modems bit rates in the beginning of the home internet access.

The other option for a smooth sweeping hand is the Seiko Spring Drive. :) Thanks for mentioning it.

Spring drive ? Think you can add another comparison with the zenith defy lab!

An excellent and Informative piece.

Nice video mate, I subscribed 👍

Bravo! This video is awesome! 🔥

There are cheap quartz clock movements that have true, stepless sweep seconds, essentially they are stepper motors with a flywheel. It should be possible to do the same with a quartz watch. There was also a prototype Hamilton movement with the Clifford magnetic escapement, almost a tuning fork which had a smooth sweep second hand. They only built two, of which only one is known to exist.

Great presentation!

Fantastic video!! Thank you for sharing!

Fantastic. Was looking for precisely something like this.

Great video, thank you!

Speaking of which, what's that piano melody name at the end of the video? It's beautiful.

Really? Of all things, an Omega Planet Ocean Homage by BULOVA?! That's both amazing and ridiculous. LOL Videos like this are special and should be cherished. :D EDIT: I think you made a typo for the Bulova's frequency in khz because everywhere I look says 262khz, not 242khz. In fact, I can't find 242khz at all. What model number is that Bulova anyway?

Super summary! I would love to see the spring drive in slo-mo.

Thank you! The slow-motion clips were interesting.

The Bulova Lunar Pilot and the Bulova Precisionist both run on the 262.144 Khz. You have the preciosionist listed as a lower KhZ movmenet which would mean less beats.

Auu brate kakav video.. Svaka cast uzivao sam 7 minuta, steta sto nisi imao i grand seiko.. Cudi mi samo da je 6000 dolara, a kakav mehanizam ima.

This is the video I was looking out for but couldn’t find it until now! Thanks very much! Much appreciated!

Seiko Is the King of all !!! with no disrespect to swiss brands...

The Frederique Constant Slimline Monolithic is mechanical silicon oscillator that's super high beat just like the Zenith defy lab/Zenith inventor, but its actually affordable.

Nice comparison! In the 1970s tuning fork movements produced by Bulova were not only very accurate, but also had nice sweeping action. Also, back in the 1990s Seiko produced a quartz movement (5s21) with a sweeping seconds hand. The sweeping movement had nothing to do with accuracy, but was rather purely esthetic.

There is one between 36000 and 57600...the Seiko 8L88/ND58 and the Citizen Cosmotron have a beat rate of 43200 bph. Both are mechanical, with the Cosmotron being a hybrid movement using a transistorized circuit to provide an impulse to the balance wheel.

Thanks, good information, right to the point

Those sword hands look very nice on the snk.

Very nice split screen showing them all in the end...ty

Comparing a Bulova Accutron or any other tuning fork watch could have been interesting too, although they also have a perfectly smooth second hand that you won't see any individual steps with.

I'm glad someone finally did a video on this. Too bad you didn't have the last one mentioned to top of the list.

The first watch, Casio Edifice is a classic quartz, which means it beats at 32,768Hz or 32,768 cycles/second. One cycle is 2 beats. The second hand motion has nothing to do with the time keeping ability. Every quartz watch has a one second sweep. Unless they they purposely give the second hand a smooth sweep. The Bulova at 262kHz means 262,000 cycles/second, so he's wrong again. So, a watch that is 21,600bph is 3Hz. 28,800bph is 4Hz. Just take the BPH and divide by 7,200 to get the frequency measured in Hz. 28,800bph divided by 60 minutes/hour divided by 60 seconds/minute divided by 2 beats/second.

great video dude thank you

been looking for a video showing this

My Omega Planet Ocean with the 8500 Coaxial movement beats at 25,200bph. Looks very similar to 28,800bph and apparently extends the service intervals.

The original Bulova Accutron, not quartz but tuning fork, oscillates at a rate of 360Hz, equivalent to a mechanical rate of 1.296.000 bph.

Excellent video. Thanks.

Fascinating video! Thanks!

Awesome video! Loved everything about it. Even the last bit of watching the sweeps. :) Anyway, can you tell me the exact model name for your Bulova Moon Watch in this video?

great sir. thanks for the video.

Hello, the Miyota 6S21 chronograph movement has a central chronograph second hand 4 bps

"Beautifully done."

wow i'm absolutely not into watches, but recently i got interest into them and im thinking about buying one, and that's how i got here. I learn really really interesting things in this video thanks that's really cool, but i want to know, what's the price range for the higher bph watches ? and do there is completely smooth watches ?

Theyre all pretty cool! I got the seiko 5!

Very educational! The pros and cons of beat speed were interesting! Better to beat slow than not to beat at all! The root of the best beat is the heartbeat of the jungle beat. Never in the history of watches has there been a braver, bolder, better beating beat to beat that!😉

Wow. I think a Grand Seiko Spring Drive might be my grail. In the meantime, I'd love to add a Lord Marvel or King Seiko Hi Beat to the collection.