A manual winding watch is a type of mechanical timepiece that must be physically wound up by turning the crown on the side of the case.
What is the difference between an automatic and manual winding watch?
All mechanical watches, both automatic and manual winding, are powered by a variety of components hidden within the case. One of these components is called the mainspring which must be first wound up before any of the functions on the dial can work.
On self-winding or automatic watches, an oscillating rotor is attached to the movement so that when you move your wrist, the rotor spins and winds the mainspring.
On a hand winding or manual winding watch, there is no rotor. This means that in order to wind the mainspring, it must be done manually by twisting the crown usually found on the right hand side of the case.
How does a manual winding watch work?
Inside a manual winding watch, there are several components that power the functions and it is important to know about these in order to understand how winding your watch works.
Step 1 – As your turn the crown on the watch’s case, this begins to wind something called the mainspring.
Step 2 – The energy collected into the mainspring is then passed through a set of gears into the escapement
Step 3 – The escapement is the component which provides energy at regularly intervals to the balance wheel
Step 4 – The balance wheel oscillates at a set pace which then allows the hands begin to move around the dial.
How often do I need to wind my manual winding watch?
Now that you know how a manual winding watch works, it is easier to explain how often you need wind it. The answer to this question is fairly simple, but it does depend largely on the type of watch you have and how often you wear it.
Every mechanical watch has a set power reserve which is usually between 38 and 240 hours. This gives you an idea of how often you need to power your watch. To wind your manual winding watch to full power, you simply need to turn the crown around 30-40 times. Some manual winding watches are also equipped with power reserve indicators so you can see how much power you have left through a handy feature on the dial.
You can find a stunning collection of manual winding watches here.
