For anyone that loves their watches there is an endless supply of information and stories about watches to research. On a very basic level there are three main types of wrist watches in the world today.
These three main types of watches were invented, in sequential order include the manual wind (invented around the 1600s), the automatic (or self-winding watch) and the quartz watches (which became very popular in the 1970s). We may know that these watches exist but do we really understand the differences between them?
The oldest watch invented was the manual wind watch. It was used as one of the first watches to measure time. A manual wind watch is a mechanical watch that uses a non-electrical mechanism to measure time. This watch works by the use of a spring inside the watch that has to be wound every couple of days. The spring and the manual winding assists the watch to work and it also explains the ticking noise you hear in these watches. On the manual watch you have to take the time to wind the watch once every couple of days. If you cease to wind the watch the watch will cease to work until it is manually wound again.
You should never over-wind a manual watch as this will cause tension and basically damages the watch. To wind a manual watch you need to turn the crown on the watch until you feel just the slightest bit of tension. When you feel this taking up of tension you stop winding.
The next watch invented was the automatic watch. These watches are often referred to as self-winding. Obviously, this means you do not have to wind the crown like you did with the manual watch. These watches turn on a pivot and a rotor swings which is attached to a winding mechanism. This is caused by natural movement of your arms and wrist while the watch is on your wrist. And, this is what causes the watch to automatically wind. If for some reason you have not been wearing these watches for a while they will stop working. To get them going again you need to give a slight manual wind and wear the watch to keep it going.
Finally, there is the quartz watch. This watch uses what is called an electronic oscillating regulator which operates with a quartz crystal. These watches became very popular around the 1970s. They became a most one of the most accurate time devices and were very popular with sailors and travelers. Of course these quartz watches are less often collected because they do not have the fascination that the older watches provide. You will find an example of this watch if you check out the Baume replica watch.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Travel Info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.