Electrical – Change a quartz clock timebase by changing the frequency of the quartz crystal oscillator

clockfrequencyhackingtime

I've been doing some research on rewiring clock circuits for a project, but I'm new to these types of pulse-counting circuits. My question at this point is:
If I replace the existing quartz crystal oscillator in a clock's timebase generator circuit with an oscillator of a different frequency, will the timebase change?
My goal is to make clock circuit with a shorter or longer space between pulses – making the clock's "second" shorter or longer. Is there a smart way to do this without use of arduino or additional stepper motors? Quartz clocks are fascinating so far- I look forward to learning more.
Thank you for any input!

Best Answer

In principle, yes. If you have a device that uses a crystal oscillator to generate its timebase then you can change the timebase simply by changing the crystal oscillator frequency.

In practice things get more complicated. A given device will only operate over a specific frequency range and you can't violate that limit. Furthermore, if the oscillator circuitry is built in to the device and a simple crystal is connected to it then you have to consider the electrical characteristics of the oscillator circuit. The manufacturer of the device should provide information on selecting a suitable crystal, as well as the associated capacitors.