We are precise and make a clear distinction between the horological important and innovative Beta21 and the later appearing (July 1972 ff.) horological irrelevant salesman-product Beta22. And not without pride we take note that this distinction is finding its way into the discussion, and esp Markus Siems wrote up a strong article about the first Swiss quartz-movement (here: *klikk). The article is great and a informative collection about the topic and well presented. Just, there is one misunderstanding about this difference between Beta21 and Beta22 in this article and within this post I will clarify that issue.

Sure, the 6'000 Beta21 made, were for many of the participating brands the most disruptive and important innovation in their 20th century history. And it was in any case a limited edition: for example Patek knew in advance they will get 400 movements, according to their 6,7%-funding-share of the C.E.H. project. And so they could a) name it a limited edition, which was a selling argument for this super-high priced watch and b) could in advance order the exact number of dials with Stern Cadran and the exact number of cases with the casemaker Atelier Reunis.

Now, after these 400 Patek-pieces sold in a flash (with Patek, other brands had issues selling their Beta21 at all) and their production and delivery was finished in mid 1972, many more customers asked for such a watch but simply couldnt be satisfied as there were no more movements, no more cases and no more dials. And so Patek ordered a) further movements which were produced by Omega and b) further cases (ref3597 and ref3604) and c) further dials.

The new Omega-made movements all came with a different / improved electronic module as the old one. The old / original one had an approx 3cm-long quartz-bar vibrating at 8'192Hz (audible!) was not simple and especially not cheap to produce (hand-cut and -adjusted quartz-bar!). Basically this was the main limiting factor and bottleneck for the production of the initial 6'000 Beta21-movements: a 3cm-bar of natural quartz hand-cut and -adjusted to hum at the more or less constant rate of 8'192Hz when current was applied. And if the bar had the necessary shape then to seal it in an aluminium-tube under vacuum. It is easy to understand that this was not only a time consuming task that needed the hands of an artist / expert but also that such a large swinging bar is more power-consuming and more prone to damage than a much smaller tuningfork-shaped quartz-crystal, that was around already in 1971 and found its use in the updated electronic-module. Another update was the integrated circuit which was doing the 5 divisions by 2 to transform the 8'192Hz to 256Hz, useable to move the hands, to a more reliable, smaller and less power-consuming one. A cheaper trimmer (the original being a golden hexagonal one) came along with this update, also.

Now, quite sure all original 6'000 Beta21 were initially delivered with the "old" electronic-module (hexagonal trimmer, 3cm-quartz) and all Beta22 produced by Omega after 1972 were for sure delivered with one or another "new" / updated electronic-module. But -- and this is the important point here: the old electronic-module was changed to the new / updated by the manufacture (Patek, Rolex, Piaget, IWC etc) whenever the watch was sent in for servicing, simply because this updated module was superior to the old one in any aspect: reliability, precision, power-consumption and cheaper to produce, as well. And so even a Patek ref3587 original Beta21 might come around today with a later / updated electronic-module and I would not call it a "Frankenwatch" if this is the only change.

Think about it: when a 1970s Patek ref3700 Jumbo Nautilus is send to the manufacture for servicing and they switch the balance or the hairspring to a new one, which is more precise as it consists of less temperature- & magnetism-reacting materials: would you mind or would you call it a Frankenwatch? And before you answer, it should be outlined that if the answer is "Yes" then many (if not most) of horologys finest artefacts have to be revalued under this new light.

And so just looking at the trimmer as the article of Mr Siems implies is not enough -- and even worse, could be very misleading. Instead the watch as an object has to be taken into perspective and analyzed. Here are in short some more refined ways to distinguish the important Beta21 from the horological irrelevant Beta22:

• Patek made all of its Beta21 as ref3587 and all other are Beta22 (ref3597 & ref3604);
• Piaget made all of its limited edition Beta21 as ref14101 or 15101 in a 3-stepped case and all later Beta22 that were made to feed the hunger of the customers (most important is the hungry Andrew Warhol who was fed a 5-stepped Beta22 as all original 3-stepped Beta21 were already sold), came in a 5-stepped case ref14102 or ref15102;
• Rolex, IWC etc

Photo: Markus Siems

Ad 20250314: The change of the trimmer and the updated IC is easily visible on the visible side of the movement. The quartz-tube is hidden on the bottom of the electronic-module right below the dial and its original length is the reason for the monstrous size and shape of the Beta21-movement.

Also, it is obvious the manufacturers didnt have any electronic-modules of the old type as spare parts in their stock to put them in any Beta21 that came in for service: the quartz-bar and the IC were simply too expensive and each single one made, was necessary to make one of the 6'000 agreed movements -- and it took until mid 1972, anyway. Then of course the technological progress was so already so far away from the old type and its specifications and the 8kHz-bar-quartz was so outdated already with Girard Perregaux and Seiko making miniature, power-saving 32kHz tuningfork-crystals already (not audible anymore!), that no one ever thought of stocking old-type electronic modules.

*IMPORTANT: * A supposed Beta21-watch with a later electronic-module is an indication that it was "serviced" -- eventually professionally or by the manufacture replacing the electronic-module for a good reason (keyword hairspring- or balancewheel-replacement) working with all original parts but eventually it is a "Frankenwatch" consisting of different parts sourced from different watches by amateurs. This could not be judged by the trimmer but has to be analyzed in full. If you are in doubt: just ask me.