Omega Electroquartz
The Omega Electroquartz was introduced in 1969 as the first production Swiss quartz watch. It was the collaboration of 20 Swiss watch companies and the movement was utilised by Rolex, Patek Phillipe and Omega amongst others. The Beta 21 movement used in the Electroquartz was accurate to 5 seconds per month, far better than any automatic or manual wind movement of the day. Introduction The Omega Electroquartz was the first Swiss quartz watch produced as part of a range called beta 21 watches, the beta 21 was developed at CEH research laboratory by twenty Swiss watch manufacturers. The first production watches were introduced to the market in 1970 very shortly after the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch, the Seiko-Quartz Astron 35SQ in December 1969. The beta 21 is noteworthy and significantly important to the history of watch making as well as the Astron as it marked the first quartz watch produced on an industrial level and began the quartz crisis Numerous Swiss manufacturers released beta 21 watches, the first Rolex quartz model Texano used the beta 21 movement, Patek Philippe also produce a range of beta 21 models as did the International Watch Company including it in their first Davinci