A watch movement is the engine inside the case, and there are four you will meet. A mechanical watch runs on a spring you wind by hand. An automatic watch is mechanical too, but winds itself as you wear it. A quartz watch runs on a battery and a tiny vibrating crystal. A solar watch is a quartz watch that draws its power from light. Choose by what you would like the watch to ask of you: a mechanical watch asks for a moment of attention, an automatic asks to be worn, and quartz and solar ask for almost nothing at all.
A Short History of the Watch
For centuries the portable watch lived in a pocket, on a chain. It was a mechanical object from end to end: a coiled spring, a train of tiny gears and a regulating wheel, all made and adjusted by hand. In the early twentieth century the watch moved to the wrist, where it was easier to read at a glance, and within a generation the wristwatch had become the everyday form.
The next great change came later in the twentieth century with quartz, which replaced the spring with a battery and a crystal and made precise timekeeping available to almost everyone. Light-powered watches followed, using a small solar cell to keep a quartz movement running. Most recently came the smart watch, less a watch than a small computer for the wrist. Every kind is still made today, so the choice is yours.
How Does an Automatic Watch Work?
Every mechanical watch stores its energy in a mainspring, a thin coil of metal. As the spring slowly unwinds, it turns a series of gears, and a small balance wheel swinging back and forth lets that energy out in even steps. That steady release is what you see in the seconds hand, which moves in a smooth sweep rather than a single tick.
An automatic, sometimes called self-winding, adds a weighted rotor that swings as your wrist moves and winds the mainspring for you. Wear it most days and it keeps itself running. Leave it in a drawer for a day or two and it will stop; give the crown a few turns, set the time, and it starts again. A mechanical watch keeps time a little less exactly than quartz, gaining or losing a few seconds over a day, and watchmakers generally suggest a service every few years. What you have in return is a small machine that runs on your own movement.
Bulova's Automatic Dress Watch keeps the look classic, with Roman numerals on a 34 mm stainless steel case. Fossil's Automatic Movement Dress Watch shows its mechanism through a skeleton dial, framed by a crystal-studded bezel in silver and rose gold tones. Maurice Lacroix's Stainless Steel Automatic sets a pink-accented silver dial on an interchangeable rubber strap. Frederique Constant's Stainless Steel Automatic pairs a Swiss automatic movement with diamond hour markers under sapphire crystal.
- Automatic Dress Watch
- Automatic Movement Dress Watch
- Stainless Steel Automatic
- Stainless Steel Automatic
Hand-Wound Watches: A Daily Ritual
A hand-wound watch, also called a manual watch, is the mechanical watch in its original form, without the rotor. You wind it yourself by turning the crown, usually once a day, until you feel gentle resistance; then you stop. For many people that small, unhurried moment is the point.
Gagà Milano's two hand-wound pieces are large at 48 mm and both on leather straps. The Stainless Steel Dress Watch has a white and silver dial with large numerals and its crown at 12 o'clock. The Stainless Steel Wristwatch brings a multicoloured dial over a silver-white base.
How Does a Quartz Watch Work?
Inside a quartz watch, a battery sends a small current through a sliver of quartz crystal, which vibrates at a very high and very steady rate. A circuit counts those vibrations and moves the seconds hand forward once each second, which is why a quartz watch ticks rather than sweeps. It is the most accurate of the traditional movements, and the least demanding: the battery typically lasts for years, and when it runs down, a jeweller or watchmaker replaces it.
Quartz also allows a slimmer case, which is why it suits dress watches and small, jewellery-like shapes. Bulova's Silver Rectangular Dress Watch is a slender 21 mm rectangle set with crystals and touched with blue. Frederique Constant's Stainless Steel Classic pairs a blue dial and Roman numerals with a calfskin strap. Mondaine's Gold-tone Minimalist Watch keeps a Swiss quartz movement in a 38 mm case on a fine mesh strap, and Rosefield's Rose Gold Minimalist Watch is round, quiet and finished in rose gold on mesh.
- Silver Rectangular Dress Watch
- Stainless Steel Classic
- Gold-tone Minimalist Watch
- Rose Gold Minimalist Watch
Solar Watches: Powered by Light
A solar, or light-powered, watch is a quartz watch with a different source of energy. A small solar cell, usually hidden beneath the dial, turns daylight and indoor light into power and stores it in a rechargeable cell, so there is no routine battery to change. It asks only that you let it see the light. If it is kept in a dark drawer for long enough it will stop; leave it by a window and it will gather itself again.
Citizen calls its light-powered movement Eco-Drive, and two of its dress watches show how different the same movement can look: one round, with a mother-of-pearl dial, a crystal bezel and a blue cabochon crown; the other a slim rectangle with a mother-of-pearl background on a mesh bracelet. Fossil's Solar Powered Fashion Watch adds a crystal-studded bezel and a mother-of-pearl dial in a rose gold finish.
What About a Smart Watch?
A smart watch has no traditional movement at all. It is a digital device with a screen, sensors and a rechargeable battery, and it usually needs charging every day or every few days. It can show messages and track activity, which is its purpose. If you want your watch to keep you connected, a smart watch is the tool; if you want it simply to keep time, choose one of the four movements above.
How to Choose a Watch Movement
Start with how you live with a watch, not with the specification.
If you wear one watch every day and like the idea of a small machine at work, choose an automatic. If you enjoy a ritual and do not mind a moment each morning, a hand-wound watch is the most traditional choice. If you rotate between several watches, or want one that is simply ready whenever you reach for it, choose quartz. If you would rather not think about batteries at all and your watch spends its days in the light, choose solar.
Then look at the case. A mechanical movement is often a little thicker, so an automatic tends to sit higher on the wrist, while quartz and solar allow the slimmest and smallest shapes. And whichever you choose, check the manufacturer's water resistance before you wear it near water, as that rating, not the movement, decides what the watch can take.
If you are choosing your first good watch, we would begin with an automatic you can wear every day; it is the movement that teaches you most about what you value in a watch.
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