Watch Movements

Manual Wind

Otherwise known as handwound Simply describes a watch with a mechanical movement which needs to be wound by the wearer using the winding crown. This winds the mainspring up which then releases its energy to power the watch.

The owner of this type of watch winds the watch regularly. Hand winding is what makes the watch run. When the watch runs out of energy produced by the hand winding, the watch stops. In some cases, some manual wind watches are more efficient then other manual wind watches and can have more then a week long power reserve. To accomplish this watch makers frequently need more then one main spring barrels or an extra long main spring. Efficiency of the mechanism (gear train) can also make the power reserve last longer. Some watch collectors prefer the interaction of the manual wind watches, as it enables them to have interaction with their piece.

Automatic/Self Winding

Automatic watches are watches that wind themselves by the motion of the wearer. As long as there is movement, the watch will remain wound. What is accomplished with a manual wind watch via hand-winding interaction is achieved autonomously a pivoting weight which winds the mainspring barrel as the watch wearer moves. The origins of the automatic watch lay in the French-Swiss watch making schoos. By all accounts it was invented by Abraham Louis Perrelet who was a contemporary of Breguet who also adopted a similar system in some of his spectacular watches. Some automatic watches are bi-direction winding watches and some are uni-directional winding watches. Bi-Direction allows winding to occurs in either clockwise or counter clock wise directions of rotation. Unidirectional winding mechanism, as its name implies will only wind is one direction. This could be clockwise or counterclockwise.

Quartz

Used to describe a watch powered by an oscillating quartz crystal which draws its power from a small battery. They are more simpler in their operation then a mechanical watch, so they do not need as much maintenance or attention as a mechanical watch does. The reason the quartz watch is more accurate then a mechanical watch is that a quartz crystal vibrates at a frequency of 32,768 vibrations per second. A mechanical watches balance wheel by contrast vibrates a frequency of 18,000 to 36,000 beats per hour. The faster the beat of the regulating organ, the more accurate the watch will be. The electronic circuit divides this oscillation into precise increments of 1 second or less. Used in both digital and analogue watches. Whilst derided by many purists as disposable and of little soul, the quartz watch is nonetheless extremely accurate. Watches have been made super-accurate by using a much higher frequency (e.g. 4.2 million cycles per second) or by using two oscillators and by using temperature compensation.

Decorated Movement

Some watch movements come highly decorated, for example with Guilloche, Geneva Stripes and blued screws. Whilst decoration may not improve function, it often indicates a degree of hand assembly/finishing and an attention to detail in the construction of a watch. Some watches show off the decorated movement through the use of a display back.