Bulova began seeking new technology for watches in the 1960s and replaced the oscillating balance wheel with a transistor oscillator replacing the wind-up spring with a battery. This new technology used a tuning fork, but the search was on for an even more accurate method of keeping time. Integrated circuits were being developed now and becoming less expensive and the LED technology was being introduced as well but the problem watchmakers faced was to find a new timing element and creating a circuit that would be able to run on a battery small enough to place in a watch.

The electronics inside a watch amplify the internal noise at the frequency of the crystal which creates oscillation and makes the crystal ring. In digital watches this is converted into pulses for the digital circuits. In the quartz watches most of us wear today that have a face with hands, one second pulses drive a small electric motor connected to gears which move the hands. This is what gives the movement we see in most quartz watches with the exception of the Rolex and its perpetual movement innovation.