Watch Movements Glossary

There are several types of watch movements that have been invented over the last century or two. The advances have also been fine-tuned to give customers even more than their expectations. If you’re new to the world of watches, here are some of the terms you may come across when it comes to the movement.

Before defining each however, the movement basically refers to the inner assemblies of the watch.

One of the most conventional watch movements are mechanical movement watches. In the past, these were commonplace, and in order to make the watch functional, wearers would have to wind the watch, and this action would then release the time as the day went on. In the present day however, these watches still exist, however an automated rotor winds the watches. These are known as automatic watches.

Another common watch variety is Quartz movement, which uses the fine engineering of crystal quartz movement to power the watch. These are known to give some of the most precise times.

The solar movement watch is another innovation, and it’s essentially powered by a renewable source of energy – the sunlight. A solar panel is installed on the exterior which then transmits collected energy to the interior battery.

If you study kinetics, you may have also observed that energy can be aggregated from peoples’ movement. This is how kinetic watches work in general terms. The interior also carries oscillating weights to promote this energy production.

Other key facts in watch making history include the term “horology” which is the study of watches and how time is measured.