With mechanical watches, on the of the things that makes people believe they are more luxurious and classy is because of the jewels in the movement.
A lot of people are actually surprised when they find out that their mechanical watch probably has a handful of jewels (likely rubies) in the movement.
However, these jewels are most likely made in a lab (synthetic rubies), and don’t add much value but have a much more important purpose: reducing friction.
The sole reason that any watch will have jewels in their movement is only to reduce friction as bearings made with jewels produce much less friction than if they used rubbing metals for the bearings.
Another misconception about watch jewels is that they only exist in mechanical movements when that is far from the truth.
Believe it or not, there are quartz watches out there that have the same amount of jewels as any mechanical one you can find.
While you probably won’t find jewels in the more budget-friendly watches such as some of the lower-end pieces of Skagen, Timex, and Fossil, more premium Quartz watches may have some jewels to reduce friction which results in smoother and more accurate time readings.
An example of a Quartz watch with these jewels in them would be the Omega Seamaster Quartz, which on its own is a beautifully designed watch, which is nothing but expected from Omega.
The incredible accuracy of the watch is also to be expected, however, the watch also has 6 jewels in the movement reducing friction, for much more accurate timekeeping.
Misconceptions are common, and in the watch world, finding out something you’ve believed about watches for years isn’t true can happen almost every day.
Watch jewels are very interesting, however, they aren’t just for the fancy mechanical watches, nor do they dictate a watch’s value, so remember that the next time you go watch shopping!
