Automatic Watches: The Self-Winding Wonders You Wear On Your Wrist

Ordinarily, a watch must be wound every once in a while to prevent the fine mechanisms within them from going off-base and messing up your morning schedule. But innovations in the watch engineering world in the past few decades have led to a generation of self-winding watches that automatically calibrate from your body’s motion.

Learn about the workings of your automatic watch and marvel at the complexity and brilliance of human invention.

Once Upon a Watch

Watch technology has its beginnings as early as the 16th century, when the word ‘watch’ evolved from the old English word ‘woecce,’ meaning watchman, to describe the first spring-powered timepieces. The wristwatch, meanwhile, came into play when worn by military men in the late 19th century to help synchronize their maneuvering. Since then, the wristwatch has been a wardrobe staple, a status symbol, and a style statement for all walks of life.

How Watches Work

An ordinary manual watch is powered by a spiral mainspring located inside the watch, propelled by energy from a quartz battery. With extended wear, a watch’s internal spring loses energy, causing a need for the watch to be rewound periodically in order to continue telling the time correctly. If a manual watch is not wound properly and often, it simply stops, leaving you lost and confused without the time of day.

Winding Up

An automatic watch, meanwhile, works a little differently. The watch still operates with an internal mainspring, but rather than relying on regular windings, an automatic watch self-winds with the help of your body’s natural motion. The addition of a weighted rotor, which pivots with your arm’s twists and lifts, contributes to a circular motion about a ratcheted winding system, effectively winding the watch simply through daily wear and giving your watch a lasting legacy.

Which Watch?

Now that we’ve explained the benefits of a self-winding watch, all you have to do is choose the one that fits your style. From leather bands to chain links, automatic watches comprise every style under the sun. To show off the complexity of your time piece’s mechanism, go for one with multiple dials showing different time zones or the day’s date. Or, go minimal with a blank face that simply tells you the hour.

Watches have come a long way since their first forms. Simplify your watch wardrobe with a self-winding automatic that won’t let you down.

Bring your watch game into the modern era with a self-winding automatic option.

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