Top 13 Facts About Automatic Watches – Interesting Things to Know
When it comes to wristwatches, quartz is the single most commonly used type of movement due to its affordable nature. But when it comes to watches with mechanical movements, automatic is the most popular option by far. Historically, before quartz, there was only hand-wound. Hand-wound means that you need to regularly wind the movement using the crown to supply it with energy so that it can continue to tick.
But in the early 1900s, in particular, around the 1920s and 1930s, the automatic movement came about and became more and more popular. Whilst all wristwatches were made with mechanical, hand-wound movements during most of history, automatic has taken over for mechanical watches and quartz has taken over the digital.
Simply put, automatic watches have mechanical movements which are equipped with rotors. The rotor rotates when the wearer moves the wrist, thus generating energy for the movement. As a result, an automatic watch will continue to tick as long as it is being worn. This eliminates the need for remembering to hand-wind the watch to prevent it from stopping – a much more convenient solution.
Whilst the automatic movement was popularized around the 1930s, it is a relatively young type of movement. Yet at the same time, there have been lots of innovations, inventions, and improvements related to the automatic watch. Today, it is the go-to mechanical watch movement for almost all mechanical watches.
Today, automatic watches are particularly popular amongst watch enthusiasts who appreciate the art of watchmaking yet still want something robust, reliable, and long-lasting. For that reason, automatic watches are perfect for everyday wear.
If you are looking to learn more about automatic watches, you have come to the right place. In this article, we are taking a closer look at the top most interesting facts about automatic watches.
Top most interesting facts about Automatic watches
1. Many automatic watches can be hand-wound – but not all
A manual movement is hand-wound via the crown to generate energy. As discussed earlier, the history of watchmaking begins with hand-wound movements. But did you know that many, if not most automatic watches today are also hand-wound
This means that they are equipped with a rotor but also have the possibility to be hand-wound via the crown as well. In general, the most affordable and basic automatic watches do not always have this feature, but most others do.
The hand-winding feature is particularly useful if your watch has stopped. Some people “shake” the watch to get it going again but this is not advised to not put unnecessary stress on the movement or damage it in the worst case. Plus, the movement will not be fully wound from this method either. The hand-winding feature is very useful to charge the movement with more energy to keep it from stopping, for example, if you plan on not wearing it for a while. It makes it easy to ensure that it is fully wounded so that it can last longer.
2. Automatic watches were first used in pocket watches
Did you know that the first automatic watches were not wristwatches, but rather pocket watches? During the early 1900s, wristwatches didn’t really exist. The ones that did exist were seen as feminine pieces and jewelry and no men wore wristwatches. Because women generally didn’t wear clothes with pockets, the solution for women was to make wristwatches.
Instead, they used pocket watches. But in the 1920s and 1930s, the wristwatch was popularized, and this was also a time when automatic movements sharply increased in popularity.
With that said, in the early days when automatic mechanical technology was being developed, it was incorporated into pocket watches. The catch, however, is that pocket watches are essentially still when they are in the jacket pocket. And a traditional automatic movement with a rotor needs movement to rotate and generate energy.
Various watch manufacturers developed different types of pocket watches with automatic movements, using various technologies to make it possible. Naturally, because it was in the early stages of automatic watches, they were not very developed and not as sophisticated as they would come to be in the decades to come.
3. Automatic watches are powered by kinetic energy
The concept behind automatic watches is rather simple. But manufacturing them and assembling them is not. Breaking down the function of an automatic watch, they need movement to work. The most important component of an automatic is the rotor. The rotor rotates when the watch is subject to movement, which winds the mainspring and thus generates energy for the movement.
To ensure that a watch doesn’t have to be moved every single second or else it stops, automatic watches have so-called power reserves (which consist of the mainspring and their ability to store energy). Different watches have different power reserves but most watches tend to have between 38 and 72 hours of power reserve. This is the amount of time that you can leave your watch without moving it, and it will continue to tick, assuming that the watch is fully wound.
With that said, the only thing you need to ensure that an automatic watch continues to tick is to wear it. Wearing the watch and subjecting it to everyday movement is sufficient to keep it going.
This is in contrast to a quartz watch that needs to have its battery replaced when it has run out of energy, or a hand-wound movement that you constantly have to remember to wind.
4. A modern automatic watch can never be overwound from too much motion
Whilst this was the case back in the day, it is not the case anymore. It is a much more common issue for hand-wound movements. With that said, if you have an older hand-wound movement or automatic movement, it may be overwound. What could happen is that the mainspring snaps because it has been wound too much which eliminates the watch’s ability to store energy and thus function.
But as watchmakers saw this issue and they resolved it. Today, you cannot overwind an automatic watch due to too much movement. Even if the watch is fully wound and you are very active whilst wearing it, the watch will “disconnect” from the mainspring so that it doesn’t continue winding it, which protects the movement from breaking.
5. Automatic watches are a type of mechanical watch
There are many different terms in the watch world. Quartz, automatic, mechanical, hand-wound, and so on…
A lot of people use the term “mechanical” to describe a hand-wound movement and whilst that is correct, an automatic movement is also a mechanical movement. Mechanical simply means that the watch consists of mechanical components and doesn’t have a battery but rather a mainspring, hairspring, etc.
The key difference between quartz and mechanical movements is the way the energy is generated. Technically, hand-wound and automatic are the same things, with the only difference being that automatic watches eliminate one step, which is to manually wind the watch by hand, by letting a rotor do that task for you.
Hand-wound movements were first, so in a sense, automatic movements are an advancement of the traditional hand-wound movement.
6. Automatic movements need regular servicing
Just like all mechanical devices, automatic movements need regular servicing. All things mechanical need lubrication and consist of a large number of components that are constantly subject to friction and moving parts. Think of a car’s engine, which is also a mechanical object. When it operates, the parts are subject to a lot of stress and friction and the oils run dry over time. The same happens with an automatic movement for the same reason.
With this said, an automatic movement will need regular servicing. The recommended service intervals vary depending on the type of movement and the quality. Some brands have recommended service intervals of 2 years whilst other brands like Rolex recommend a service interval of 10 years. Unsurprisingly, higher-quality automatic watches have longer recommended service intervals than lower-quality movements.
7. Automatic watches can last for a long time
Automatic watches, with the proper care and maintenance, can last for a long time, and that is part of the charm. As long as you take care of it and regularly service it when needed, your automatic watch can continue to tick many decades or even generations from now. All that really needs to be done is that the movement needs to be cleaned and lubricated and worn-out parts that are subject to a lot of friction and wear and tear occasionally need to be changed.
This is similar to servicing a car. If something is worn-out, you change it. And if you take good care of a car, it can last for a long time. Although, an automatic watch will likely last longer than a car and will not experience more and more problems the older it gets, assuming that you regularly service it.
8. Automatic watches can lose accuracy over time
This relates to the service and maintenance of the watch. But unsurprisingly, the longer the time goes, the poorer the watch will perform. The most important part of an automatic watch’s performance is its accuracy. As the watch gets older and the lubricants get older, the watch will lose its accuracy.
Service and maintenance is the most important part to get the watch to maintain its accuracy and function the way it should. Again, a similar parallel can be drawn to the engine of a car. Over time, you may experience that it is not functioning as effectively as it used to, although you can still continue to drive it. And if you leave it unserviced longer, you may experience greater issues.
If you service the watch regularly, you can maintain the proper function of the watch, its performance, and its accuracy. And most importantly, you can avoid having a more expensive service bill in the future by being counteractive rather than waiting for something to break.
9. Automatic watches require great craftsmanship and expertise to manufacture
Automatic movements can consist of hundreds of components. Bear in mind that many of these components are extremely tiny. All of these components are then assembled to create a perfectly functioning movement where all parts work in harmony.
But obviously, assembling hundreds of small movement parts to create a fully functioning automatic movement is not an easy feat. Now, there are of course more basic and simple automatic movements that are easier to build, but in general, they are extremely complex. With that said, they require great expertise and know-how from experienced and professional watchmakers to assemble.
And this is the most important reason why mechanical wristwatches are so immensely popular in the first place. Humans have always been impressed by craftsmanship and complex creations, and when you understand just the level of complexity, craftsmanship, and expertise that goes into manufacturing and assembling an automatic watch, you’ll get a much greater appreciation that you are actually wearing on your wrist.
10. Automatic watches don’t tick – or do they?
Everyone knows that quartz watches tick. The seconds hand ticks 1 time per second which makes them instantly recognizable. You may have heard the saying that a Rolex doesn’t tick, it sweeps, and that is because Rolex only makes automatic watches.
And visually, the second hand on an automatic watch doesn’t tick, it sweeps. But if we break it down, automatic watches do actually tick, just at a much faster rate than a quartz watch.
If you look at the second hand of an automatic watch or look closer using a slow-motion video, you can see that it takes small, small ticks, which gives the visual effect that it is sweeping. This has to do with the frequency rate of the movement, which varies depending on the type of automatic movement. The most common rate at which automatic movements beats is 28800 beats per hour which translate to about 8 ticks a second.
With that said, the seconds hand on an automatic watch that operates at this rate will tick 8 times per second, which causes a sweeping effect. There are also watches that beat at a higher frequency, like the El Primero, operating at 10 beats per second. The higher the frequency, the less pronounced the tick of the seconds hand is, and the smoother the seconds hand will sweep.
11. Automatic watches were popularized after World War 1
As discussed earlier, hand-wound movements dominated the market for the most part of history. And the early wristwatches were small, female watches developed so that women, who generally didn’t have pockets in their garments, could also keep track of the time in a convenient way.
It wasn’t until after World War I that automatic wristwatches became more and more popular. During WW1, soldiers began wearing wristwatches (Albeit hand-wound) in war and saw the benefits of instantly knowing the time by glancing at the wrist and not having to pull out a pocket watch from the jacket pocket. More and more people realized just how convenient wristwatches were over pocket watches.
As the popularity of the wristwatch increased, manufacturers started to incorporate automatic movement into these wristwatches, making them even more convenient to use.
12. Rolex was a firm believer in the pocket watch
Whilst Rolex did not create the first wristwatch, it was a driving force in the early years of the wristwatch and helped popularize it. The company is also responsible for making the world’s first waterproof and dustproof wristwatch known as the “Oyster”:
Rolex says the following:
“The history of Rolex is inextricably linked to the visionary spirit of Hans Wilsdorf, its founder. In 1905, at the age of 24, Hans Wilsdorf founded a company in London specialising in the distribution of timepieces. He began to dream of a watch worn on the wrist. Wristwatches were not very precise at the time, but Hans Wilsdorf foresaw that they could become not only elegant, but also reliable.”
Moreover, Rolex writes:
“Too complicated, too fragile, ill-adapted – the wristwatch was met with skepticism in Edwardian England, then the sporting country par excellence. Yet, relying on his intuition, firmly-held beliefs and determination to push boundaries, Hans Wilsdorf managed to achieve his bold objective of establishing the Rolex watch”.
And they continue:
“Although some watchmakers were experimenting with wristwatches, they were mostly regarded as women’s jewellery: no one believed it possible to make a wristwatch rugged enough for a man’s use. Yet, a more active, outdoor future was beckoning, for both men and women, and Hans Wilsdorf saw it. Aged just 24, already fascinated by watch movements and their accuracy, he understood precisely where he could make a difference. Ignoring the incredulity of his peers, he decided to take a risk and began his campaign to deliver a truly modern timepiece, fit for the 20th century.”
13. The world’s first automatic movement
Whilst there is some debate about who actually invented the automatic watch, Abraham-Louis Perrelet is said to have been the inventor of the automatic movement.
He developed what ultimately became the first version of the automatic movement, which had a power reserve of around eight hours a day. These early versions of the automatic watch were not very sophisticated, but they were a start. The concept and technology behind them were similar to today, but they were not as efficient.
