Stunning Concepts
How do Automatic Watches Work?
HOW DO AUTOMATIC WATCHES WORK?
Of course automatic watches have been immaculately designed and are FAR more complicated than this but just to give you the general gist… Inside an automatic watch is something called a rotor. This is the metal weight you can often see if the watch has a glass back (as many automatic watches do). You can see the semi circular shaped rotor swing freely around if you move the watch in different directions.
When an automatic watch wearer moves around going about their daily routine, the rotor moves as they do and this kinetic power is transferred to the mainspring. When the mainspring is fully wound, a clutch attached to the rotor is engaged to stop the rotor winding the mainspring further. To make the watch hands and other parts of a watch face move, the energy stored in the mainspring is passed through a small series of internal gears which in turn make everything move.
BENEFITS OF WEARING AN AUTOMATIC WATCH
1. NO BATTERY
As automatic watches are powered by movement, there is never any need to worry about getting a dead battery. Your watch will always work so long as there is power in the mainspring which is achieved by simply wearing the watch or winding it up by the crown.
2. THEY LAST
The longevity of an automatic watch is unmatched. Unlike a battery powered or quartz watch, with incredible craftsmanship, an automatic watch can simply keep going. If you wear your watch everyday, you’ll always have power in your watch and when the moment comes that you decide to put your watch down it has an incredibly high power reserve giving you 40-50 hours of power before it stops. Even if it stops, all you have to do is give it a wind or put it back on your wrist and it’s good to go (just remember to reset the date and time!).
3. SMOOTH AND SILENT
Unlike a quartz or battery powered watch, there’s no ticking! The movement of an automatic watch is a clean, soundless continuing sweep. The second hand smoothly glides around the watch rather than making an abrupt tick.
“Is it bad to let automatic watches stop?”
Nope, it’s not bad at all. When your watch stops, all that has happened is the mainspring has been fully unwound and there is no power in the watch anymore. You can fix this by simply wearing your watch again or by winding it up manually. No damage will come to your watch by leaving it unwound in fact many people leave their watches to sit unwound in safes for years. We do advise however that you try to wear or wind your watch at least once a year just to give it some attention.
“How often does an automatic watch need to be serviced”
As a general rule automatic watches should be serviced once every 3-5 years depending on the manufacturers recommendation. Impressively-and proof of Rolex’s outstanding craftsmanship-Rolex recommend returning a watch for service every 10 years depending on the model and real life usage of the watch.
“Is it possible to over-wind an automatic watch?”
Impossible. Automatic watches are designed to stop powering the mainspring when it can’t be powered anymore. This being said, you don’t want to keep winding your watch excessively. Most watches will reach maximum power by winding the crown 30-40 times but this can vary. The trick is to keep winding until you feel resistance, as soon as you feel it STOP! The watch is fully wound, there’s no need to keep winding it.