A mechanical watch uses a clockwork mechanism to measure time, and works by winding a mainspring, which powers the watch's gears and hands. That sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? The purpose is simple but that doesn’t make creating a watch easy. Wind the mainspring to power the gears and hands. That’s how time is measured and displayed. This simple purpose is clear. In fact, anything a watch might do other than show the time is referred to as a complication. Complications include (among other things) displaying the date, the day of the week, or other time zones.
Powering the watch
The mainspring is wound by hand or automatically, and stores energy as it coils. In a hand-wound watch, you turn the crown back and forth to wind the spring. In an automatic watch, the wearer's wrist motion spins a rotor that winds the spring. The spring winds up. It’s that simple.
Transmitting power
The power of a spring is all based on being wound up and then unwinding. The mainspring's power is transmitted through a series of gears to the balance wheel, which oscillates back and forth at a constant rate.
Releasing power
The escapement releases the watch's wheels to move forward a small amount with each swing of the balance wheel. This moves the watch's hands forward at a constant rate. The escapement also makes the ticking sound that's sometimes audible in mechanical watches.
Keeping time
The balance wheel's oscillations, or beats, are adjusted to ensure the watch runs accurately. The number of times the balance wheel oscillates per hour is called the beat rate. Most mechanical watches have a beat rate of 18,000, 21,600, 28,800, or 36,000 beats per hour.
There you go. That’s a very simplistic way to describe a watch mechanism. The main spring is wound, causing the gears to turn and the escapement regulates the turning. If you’re in the market for a fine mechanical watch, give me a call. If you want a pre-owned Rolex in San Diego, send a message or pick up the phone. You can also just drop by the La Jolla showroom. You’ll be glad you did.
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