TicTac’s guide · Understand
Quartz, automatic, manual: understanding movements
4 min read 5 steps
The movement is the engine hidden in your watch. It decides its accuracy, its upkeep and a good part of its price.
The essentials in 30 seconds
Remember these three rules
- 1Quartz is the most accurateIt drifts about 15 seconds a month, a mechanical watch several seconds a day.
- 2A mechanical watch must moveWear it or wind it, or it stops when its power reserve runs out: one to three days.
- 3“Chronometer” means checkedThis word on the dial guarantees an independent lab has tested its accuracy.
Step 1 of 5
The quartz watch
It runs on a battery. The current makes a tiny quartz crystal vibrate 32,768 times a second; a circuit counts those vibrations and moves the hands.
The battery
It lasts a few years: about 3 years on a Grand Seiko quartz.
Accuracy
An everyday quartz watch drifts about 15 seconds a month (Seiko’s figure).
Very high accuracy
Some quartz watches correct for heat and cold: 10 seconds a year at most at Grand Seiko.
Upkeep
Change the battery in time and have the water resistance checked.
TicTac’s tip: never leave a dead battery in your watch: as it ages it can leak and damage the movement.
Step 2 of 5
The hand-wound mechanical watch
No battery: you wind a spring by turning the crown, and the movement turns that energy into a tick-tock.
How the energy flows
1
The barrelA small drum holding the mainspring. You wind it by turning the crown.
2
The gear trainA series of toothed wheels carrying the spring’s energy to the hands.
3
The escapementIt releases that energy in small regular bursts: it makes the tick-tock.
4
The balance and hairspringA ring oscillating 3 to 5 times a second, pulled back by a very fine spring, the hairspring. It regulates the watch.
Why choose one? It is thinner than an automatic, because it has no oscillating weight. And many love the little winding ritual.
Step 3 of 5
The automatic watch
It is a mechanical watch with one extra part: the oscillating weight (the rotor), which spins with every move of your wrist and winds the spring by itself.
Its strengths
No winding needed — if you wear it every day, your movements are enough.
A good power reserve — the time it runs once taken off: about 70 hours for the Rolex 3235 calibre.
Its limits
It stops if you don’t wear it — you then need to set it again.
It needs servicing — every 3 to 10 years depending on the brand.
What about Spring Drive? A Seiko invention: a spring wound like an automatic, but with its speed controlled by quartz. The result: about 1 second off per day.
Step 4 of 5
Accuracy in figures
Brands state how many seconds their watches may gain (+) or lose (−) per day, at most.
How far off it can be, at most
A good everyday automatic−15/+25 s/day
for example Seiko’s 6R calibres.
A chronometer−4/+6 s/day
an independent Swiss lab (COSC) tested the movement for 15 days.
A “Master Chronometer”0/+5 s/day
at Omega and Tudor, a Swiss institute tests the whole watch, even near strong magnets.
A Rolex chronometer−2/+2 s/day
Rolex retests each watch once assembled.
A high-accuracy quartz±10 s/year
for example at Grand Seiko.
Step 5 of 5
Which one to choose?
No movement beats the others: it all depends on how you wear a watch.
Quartz
For the right time without effort, a watch that can sleep in a drawer, or a small budget.
Manual
For the pleasure of winding and thin watches.
Automatic
For everyday mechanics without thinking, if you wear it often.
TicTac’s tip: price doesn’t tell accuracy: a good quartz is more precise than a luxury mechanical watch. You choose mechanical for the craft.
Now you know what beats in your watch
A question about a specific model? Forum members love talking about it.