The Quartz Crisis

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Reality: The Astron launched at 450,000 yen, roughly US$1,250 in 1969 — a luxury object in a gold case. Quartz became the cheap technology only after the manufacturing scaled.

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Reality: They do not. The Astron held ±5 seconds a month in 1969, about a minute a year, which no mechanical wristwatch could approach. Mechanical watches are bought for other reasons.

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Reality: It was about price and accuracy at volume. Quartz was both cheaper to make and more accurate, and the Swiss industry that had dominated watchmaking lost the volume market over the following two decades.