A Basic Guide to Watch Movements
Watches are some of the oldest and most intricate machines created by humans, and their popularity has obviously not faded with time. Even with all of our electronic devices that display the time, people still make, wear, and even collect watches. Copeland Jewelers offers the best selection of watches in the area, and we also offer the finest services for watch repair in Austin, Texas. While we don't want to overwhelm you with all the details of how watches work, it's important to understand the basics of watch movements if you're looking for a new watch or have one that needs to be worked on. Read on for a handy guide to the basics of watch movements! A watch movement (also known as a “calibre”) is the internal mechanism that provides power to the timepiece and any of its other functions, such as a chronograph or annual calendar. The movement is the most important component of a watch, because without it the watch would not keep accurate time or do anything else. Different manufacturers incorporate countless different features into their watch movements, but they all fall into one of two major categories: quartz or mechanical. It's easy to distinguish a quartz movement from a mechanical one by looking at the watch's second hand: a quartz movement will cause the hand to move forward with individual “ticks,” while a mechanical movement will move the hand around the watch face in an even, continuous manner. Quartz movements are more accurate and generally require less maintenance than mechanical movements, but mechanical movements are usually more desirable and more expensive because of their technical craftsmanship and level of engineering. A quartz movement gets its power from a battery and doesn't need to be wound. The battery sends an electrical charge to a quartz crystal, causing the crystal to vibrate over 30,000 times per second. Those
pulses are sent to a small motor, which passes one pulse per second to the drive train that moves the hands of the watch. The battery will generally last one to two years, and it should be replaced as soon as possible once it stops, because any acid that leaks out could damage the rest of the watch. Rather than using a battery, a mechanical movement gets its power from a spring that is tightly wound and stores energy. The potential energy becomes kinetic as it transfers through a series of gears and springs that ultimately move the hands of the watch. Mechanical movements can be either manual or automatic. If they are manual, they must be wound at particular intervals (ranging from twenty-four hours to several days) by turning a little knob called a crown on the side of the watch. Automatic movements have an additional piece called a rotor that spins as the person wearing their watch moves their wrist, and this causes the mainspring to wind during the course of normal wear. Automatic movements still have to be occasionally wound by the crown; if the watch is worn every day, it will most likely be able to stay wound and keep time all by itself, but the more infrequently the watch is worn, the more often it will have to be wound by hand. To learn more about the incredible machines that we call watches, stay tuned to this blog, and visit Copeland Jewelers​ for all your ​Austin, Texas watches​!