Do you know how your watch works?

How does your watch work? There are many different ways that watches can work. The following are the most common types, they are Quartz, Mechanical, Automatic, Kinetic, Solar and Tuning fork. Each of these internals are referred to as movements. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of different movement types but they have all evolved from a simpler version. Each time a movement is made more complex it is referred to as adding a complication.

Below will give you a brief explanation of how the different movements work.

Quartz watches are battery powered. The battery sends power through a circuit to a quartz crystal. The crystal oscillates at a set frequency. The power is transferred through a set of gears to the hands.

Mechanical wind watches are manually powered by the user through winding a crown/winder. When the user winds the crown it applies tension to a mainspring. The mainspring stores kinetic energy and can release the stored energy through a set of gears to the balance. The balance has a wheel the oscillates back and forth at a constant rate. The balance is connected to an escapement which limits the output allowed. Working together these stop the mainspring from releasing all the stored energy in one go. The hands are attached to gears which turn at a constant rate when the mainspring has plenty of tension.

Automatic watches work in a very similar way to the mechanical watches. The main difference is that the automatic watch does not rely on the user to wind the watch. The watch has an oscillating weight in the back connected to a set of gears and this winds the mainspring when the watch is worn. They can also be topped up with a manual wind if necessary.

Kinetic watches are a hybrid of automatic and quartz. They are patented by SEIKO. They use a quartz style movement but instead of a replaceable battery the have and integrated rechargeable cell. The cell is charged by an oscillating weight similar to the automatic watch.

Solar powered watches use a base quartz movement that has a rechargeable cell integrated into the movement. The cell is recharged by a very powerful panel in the dial that can transfer light into storage energy. Some manufacturers like CITIZEN have their own patented version of the technology.

Tuning fork watches are highly complex in design and were seen to be the bridge between the mechanical and the quartz eras. They use an tuning fork to regulate the time instead of a quartz crystal. Power, from a battery, is sent through a circuit to two very small motors that oscillate the tuning fork at a set frequency. The power is sent through a set of gears to the hands

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