What is the quartz in a quartz watch? Quartz watches have batteries which send electricity
to a small piece of quartz in a watch. The quartz then vibrates and this vibration is what allows
the watch to keep accurate time. What is the quartz and where does it come from? The quartz
in watches is also known as silica and chemically it is silicon dioxide. Silica is abundant in the
earth's crust and it is mined. The largest mining area is in Arkansas, USA. Brazil is in second
place. Like most minerals, quartz is not pure when it comes out of the mine. Once mined, quartz is
purified with heating chemicals in a factory. The result is 99.9999% pure silicon dioxide
known as synthetic quartz. Seiko, a Japanese watch brand, developed the first quartz watches
and much of the synthetic quartz industry is in Japan to this day. Russia and China also have
large synthetic quartz industries. The quartz in your watch may have been mined in Arkansas
put to Japan to be synthesized, and then shipped to the watch factory