Quartz watches contain a battery that provides energy to a tiny quartz crystal (shaped like a small tuning fork) to power it. The energy causes the quartz to vibrate at a high frequency (more than 32,000 times per second). This vibration results in extremely precise timekeeping, consistently moving the second, minute and hour hands. Not only does this provide extremely accurate timekeeping, but it’s also more cost-effective than building many tiny watch gears. Because the quartz loses very little energy upon vibrating, little power is used, allowing batteries to last a long time.