Most (all?) clocks have some sort of pendulum built in, either a proper one, a balance wheel or an ‘electronic’ one (quartz crystal). However, regardless of those differences all the clocks/watches I own tick once a second.
What makes that sound? Also, is it a mechanical necessity (like in light switches, see e.g. [this video by Technology Connections](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrMiqEkSk48)) or could we do without and it is a design choice by now (people just expect clocks to tick)?
In: Engineering
So mechanical watches are controlled by a coiled spring, there area series is gears and oscillating escape movements..the ticking sound is the teeth hitting the gears on the escape wheel
It’s hard to explain text, so this 1949 video would help you visualize it
In quartz watches they sometimes simulate it by activating the motor once a second, and sometimes you can hear the gear and motor activate.
It’s mostly the large second hand snapping into place. I removed the second hand from a particularly loud watch and it made it nearly silent. The volume of the sound comes from the resonance of the watch/clock body as well as the mechanical interactions when the second ticks over.
For mechanical watches, they tick multiple times per second, ex 8x per second, and you’re hearing the escapement/balance wheel tick back and forth as well as the second hand.
Not all clocks tick, some use a sweeping second hand that beats too fast to hear the little clicks as it moves. Also digital watches of course don’t tick.
Basically the way a quartz watch/clock works is that a chip counts the beats a quartz oscillator makes, and when it gets to a certain number, it tells a small electromagnet to move the second hand. That movement is the tick.
It’s definitely not necessary, I have 2 watches that you need to put right up to your ear in a silent room to hear.
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