Using flipflop sandals to demonstrate what's happening electrically at the circuit level, Steve Mould digs into the science behind quartz oscillators, why quartz crystals are tuned to oscillate 32,768 times per second, and how they ultimately drive the display of both analog and digital quartz timepieces.

He also touches on the way pendulums, balance wheels, and tuning forks—as used in the Bulova Accutron—keep time.