Whether you’re a watch enthusiast or buying your first luxury watch, there’s lots to learn about what goes on behind the watch face, more specifically- what goes into the making of a watch. Watches are worn with pride. They can be fashion pieces, statement pieces, jewelry or accessories to match any outfit. But whatever watch you swap out, there are a lot of intricate details that work together to become the flashy piece on your wrist.
What Is a Watch Movement?
A watch movement is the mechanism that makes the watch run, much like an engine in a car. And just like there are many types of engines, there are different watch movements. But the two main watch movement types are Mechanical, and Quartz. The difference between the two is in how the watch ticks. A quartz movement will make individual ticks, where you can see the second hand making stops as it moves. And a mechanical watch movement moves in a sweeping motion as it counts time, without stopping.
Mechanical watches are much loved and favored by horologists, watch collectors and aficionados, because of how precise and intricate these watches are. Some complicated watches contain between 252 up to 1,728 individual parts! They can take from 9 months to two years to complete, and they are assembled entirely by hand. You can thus understand the high price tag.
Mechanical watches need to be wound in order to keep time accurately. There are two types of mechanical movements: manual, and automatic. Manual watches need to be self-wound at regular intervals, and if you forget to wind it- the watch will stop. While automatic watches work with the natural movement of your wrist to harness and store energy, so you don’t have to wind it very often.
The choice between the watch movements comes down to personal preference. Let’s discuss it further to help you decide.
Manual Movement
Manual movement is the original watch movement dating back to the 16th century. It is a hand wound watch. Manual wound watches work, in short, by turning the crown on the side of the watch, which winds the mainspring, which stores energy and then slowly releases that energy through a series of gears. The gears and parts regulate the energy into intervals of time- seconds, minutes and hours- and transfers the energy to turn the watch hands which displays the time.
- Crown: The crown on the side of the watch is used to set the time, and also to wind the watch. Turning the crown coils the mainspring.
- The mainspring is the power source of the movement, (as opposed to a battery used in quartz watches). The mainspring stores the energy by getting tighter and tighter. The crown will stop moving when it’s too tight, and any more turns could break the gears.
- The gear train is a series of gears or wheels that transfers the stored energy from the mainspring to the escapement.
- The escapement takes the energy from the mainspring that is pushed out through the gear train and distributes it in equal, regular parts.
- The balance wheel, which is the heart of the movement, takes the energy received from the escapement powered by the gear train and oscillates, or rotates back and forth, returning to its center position with the use of a hairspring.
- The dial train then transmits the equal beats, or ticks, that were metered out by the balance wheel to the hands of the watch, which allows them to move and display the time accurately.
The amazing thing is that all of these complicated parts have to fit together in the small watch that you wear on your wrist.
Manual watches will run anywhere between 24 hours up to 10 days, depending on the type of watch. Typically it will need to be wound every day. Hand winding takes time, but a manual movement watch can make you feel much closer to the passage of time, and the winding becomes almost a ritual. These watches are so well made, they can last many lifetimes- yours, and future generations.
Automatic Movement
An automatic watch uses the natural movement of a wearers wrist to automatically wind the watch, and it is considered self-winding. The first automatic watch movement is said to have been invented in the 1770’s in Switzerland, but they were only for use in pocket watches. Eventually the swiss automatic was developed to fit into the much smaller wrist watches in the early 1900’s and became popular around the time of WWI. The mechanics work the same way as a mechanical watch, but without the need of manually winding the watch.
Automatic watches have a rotor, a metal weight, that is connected to the mainspring. Moving your wrist turns the rotor, which winds the mainspring which stores energy. The automatic movement stores up energy so it will continue to run, even if you don't wear it overnight. But if you don’t wear it for a lengthy period of time, you will need to wind it manually to get it going. Or, you can invest in a watch winder, which will keep your watch moving when you are not wearing it, causing the rotor to move, winding the mainspring and storing energy.
The benefits of the automatic watch movement is that you get the intricate build of a manual watch without having to wind it every day, and they continue to function even without wear.
Quartz Movement
In 1969, Seiko, a major watch manufacturer, wanted to create a better way to keep time, which didn’t involve the time and attention it took to wind a mechanical watch. Seiko created the quartz watch movement, a battery powered watch, which uses a battery as the power source.
Quartz is one of the most common minerals found on earth. Quartz crystals produce electricity when placed under stress.
- In quartz watches, the battery sends electricity to the quartz crystal via an integrated circuit.
- The electricity causes the quartz crystal to vibrate at exactly 32,768 times per second. The circuit then converts the pulses into one beat per second.
- The quartz crystal generates the electricity to the stepping motor.
- The stepping motor transforms the electrical pulses into power and causes the dial train to run.
- The dial train acts the same as in the mechanical movement.
Quartz has many benefits over mechanical watches. For one, quartz watches are a great deal less expensive than mechanical watches. They are also much more precise at keeping time. Quartz watches lose 1 second per month, as opposed to mechanical watches which can lose 4 seconds per month. Quartz watches have less maintenance, as they don’t need to be serviced as often as mechanical watches which have very intricate gears that need constant care. And you spend a lot less time having to wind your watch as you would with a mechanical watch.
Today, the most common and affordable watches are quartz watches. The revolution in the 1970’s caused many watchmakers to follow Seiko’s example, and created affordable and stylish quartz watches. After the first quartz watches came the revolution in digital wristwatches that we have today.
The choice between mechanical or quartz movements, manual or automatic is really yours to choose from, but with the vast watch selection at Ashford, the choice is unlimited! So take your time, do your research and pick out a treasured timepiece that you, your son and your son’s son can wear for generations to come.
