Seiko & Citizen Watch Forum Message Archive

...but more importantly, the second hand on both quartz and mechanical movements is subjected to impulse loading, where the hand actually accelerates rapidly, decelerates rapidly to rest, accelerates rapidly again, and so on. The minute and hour hands on the other hand (sorry! ) progress much more smoothly and sedately, at 1/60 and 1/3600 the speed of the second hand respectively. (There seems to be an awful lot of hands here.)

So the greater size and mass of the hour and minute hands doesn't come into play because they move very slowly, relative to the second hand.

A minor (but practical) consideration affecting the design of the second hand is the ability to instal and remove it using a proper hand removal tool. I would surmise a counterbalanced hand might be easier to work with. Perhaps someone like Randall, who does this sort of thing in his sleep, might like to comment here.

LesZ