How do analog clocks/watches tick at exactly a second?
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But the answer is that there is a spring, called the balance spring. It spins back and forth. They pick a material and a spring tightness that is going to spring back and forth at a pretty predictable rate (perhaps 4 times per second). They build it with little adjustable weights that they can push back and forth a bit to slightly speed up or slow down the spring, and they test and adjust it before it leaves the manufacturer so that it’s as close to perfect as possible.
The spring’s attached to a balance wheel, which hits a pallet fork repeatedly, which causes a gear to tick forwards some nearly exact number of times per second.
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