Different Types of Watch Movements

types of watch movements

Buying a watch is not an impulsive decision. Their are many factors to consider. Apart from the brand, design, type, strap, one of the most crucial choices is the type of movement. If you are not familiar with this term, type of movement refers to mechanism behind how it works. There are different types of watch movements like Swiss movement, Japanese quartz movement but the three primary ones are Manual or Mechanical, Automatic and Quartz.  

All watches, no matter what style or brand they are, are powered by a movement. Just like the different types of watches, there are different types of watch movements. The movement is essentially what makes the watch tick, the mechanism that makes the hands move to show time and power functions that a watch may have such as calendars, time zones, chronographs etc.   

Let’s take a look at different types of watch movements and how it functions.  

1. Mechanical Watch Movement 

mechanical watch movements

Mechanical watch movement also known as the manual movement gets its name from the fact that the wearer must manually put in the effort to make the watch function. This is done by winding the watch by hand. This is the oldest watch movement and has been in use for centuries.  

This watch movement requires you to wind up the watch nearly every day for it to function. This movement has obviously fallen out of fashion with the people who don’t prefer it due to how inconvenient it is compared to other movements.  

2. Quartz Watch Movement 

quartz watch movement

Quartz movement is one of the simple, convenient, and popular watch movement mechanisms. Ever since its advent, it has been used to keep the watches ticking. A quartz movement is powered by a battery which eliminates the need to manually wind up the watch to make it work.  

The battery in a quartz watch generates an electric current that powers the piece of quartz inside the watch. This causes the quartz to vibrate which powers the watch to function.   

3. Japanese Watch Movement  

japanese watch movement

This is also a quartz movement. While quartz itself is not of Japanese origin, the Japanese movement denotes that these movements were made in Japan.  

If you are experiencing any watch movement errors!

4. Swiss Movement Watch

swiss watch movement

For a movement to be denoted as a Swiss movement, the movement must be assembled in a Swiss-based factory. It should also have been inspected and passed its quality test in Switzerland.  

5. Automatic Watch Movement 

automatic watch movement

Watches with automatic movement function pretty much like manual watches, except they don’t need to be winded. The mechanism in automatic watches is created to wind itself as the wearer moves.   

Automatic movement harnesses kinetic energy from the motion of the wearer’s wrist. This makes it possible to function without manual winding, although if the need arises it can be manually wound too.  

Movement repair 

Movement of a watch is what keeps it alive and functioning. So, what happens if there is an issue with movement? There are many things that can go wrong with the watch movement. To keep the mechanism functioning well and error-free, the movement of the watch needs to be serviced or repaired from time to time. 

The timeframe of such repair or maintenance depends on the watch and varies from movement to movement.  

In Conclusion

At My Watch Merchant, we deal with all types of watch movements. No matter what kind of watch movement or type of wrist watch it is, we can help you. To keep your watch movements working without a pause, visit our website.

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