What are automatic watches? Automatic wind watches or
simply automatic watches along with manual wind watches make up the broad type
of watches known as mechanical watches. As the term mechanical suggests,
mechanical watches are watches
consisting of only mechanical parts and no electronics as do with quartz
watches. Mechanical watches do not use batteries. Automatic watch got its name
because it does not require the manual winding of the crown/stem to wind the
main spring in the watch. The main spring is the source of energy for mechanical
watches. Automatic watches are wind by the motion generate by the wearer's
wrist. That is why when an automatic watch is not worn for an extensive period
of time the watch will stop running.
In an automatic watch, the main spring is wound by
the wearer's wrist motion. The energy is released from the main spring and is
transmitted through a series of gears before reaching the escapement. The
escapement is a mechanism that regulates how fast and how much energy from the
main spring is release, and hence determines the accuracy of a watch.
