Choosing a new watch is a daunting task for anyone who isn't familiar with the various types of movements available and which one works best.
This piece intends to provide a high-level summary of the many various types of watch movements that exist and that you might come across.
To Be Powered by a Quartz Clock Movement
When it comes to keeping time, nothing beats the accuracy of a quartz watch box, which uses an electronic pendulum controlled by a quartz crystal. Quartz clocks are at least ten times more exact than their mechanical counterparts because of the crystal oscillator used to generate the signal. Cycles in this signal are often counted by digital circuitry, which then outputs a digital time display in the form of an hour, minute, and second. Quartz timekeepers are the most common type of timekeeping mechanism, found in nearly all clocks, watches, computers, and other devices that need to accurately record the passage of time.
Transitioning On Its Own
It is not necessary to manually wind an automatic or self-winding mechanical watch since its mainspring is wound by the motion of the wearer's arm.
The hands are wound by gears that are turned by the mainspring, which is a spiral spring housed inside the mechanism. In a manual watch mechanism, the spring loses energy as the watch runs, thus the owner must wind the spring daily by turning a little knob on the case to provide energy to power the watch.
In a self-winding watch, the mainspring is wound by an eccentric weight rather than manually. The watch's eccentric weight, represented by a semicircular rotor, rotates on a pivot within the watch case. The ratcheted winding mechanism is activated when the user moves their arm and wrist, causing the rotor to pivot back and forth on its staff. Through a system of reversers and reduction gears, the rotor's circular motion is converted into winding the mainspring when the wearer moves their arm. Today's self-winding mechanisms typically use two ratchets, one for each direction of the rotor's rotation, to ensure that the mainspring is wound at all times.
Chronometers
Quartz movements are used in chronometers because they are precise timepieces. Keeping the crystal at a consistent temperature is a common feature, as this prevents any changes in density that could throw off the timepiece's accuracy. Some are able to rate themselves, and some even have crystal farms built in, so that the clock can average out a series of measures to make sure it's keeping accurate time.
Powered by the Sun or other renewable energy sources
Numerous significant technical improvements over earlier solar-powered timepieces were presented with the Eco-Drive concept. When put together, these improvements finally allowed watchmakers to create light-powered timepieces without including obvious solar cells on the dial.
There is typically an amorphous silicon solar cell built into the back of most Eco-Drive watches, which powers a unique titanium lithium ion secondary battery. Before reaching the solar cell, light must penetrate the protective crystal and dial. In the event that the solar cell is not exposed to enough light, the watch will enter a dormant state and rely on the quartz movement (discussed above) to keep accurate time. While this is happening, the hands will freeze, but they will resume normal movement once the cell is exposed to light again.