« The Quartz Crisis and a Turning Point: Mechanical Watches Through the Ages »
For centuries, the mechanical watch has been a source of fascination, its delicate mechanics capable of inspiring awe as technology has advanced. Originally conceived as large clocks in churches and chapels, the ever-evolving know-how of watchmakers eventually made it possible to build movements no bigger than a coin. To this day, the mechanical watch embodies the essence of true watchmaking – and, especially in our smart age, it is something special.
Mechanical Watches Through the Ages
No one knows exactly when mechanical clocks replaced the hourglasses and water clocks that had been in use until then. What is known is that in 1269 the term "clockmaker" appeared on an invoice of the English abbey of Beaulieu. The first timepieces were enormous and intended to tell people in monasteries and churches when it was time to pray. Well into the 14th century, hourglasses remained a reliable alternative for measuring time. As mechanical timepieces grew increasingly accurate over time, they also became steadily smaller – until they could finally be carried in a pocket. They owed this to the invention of the mainspring. Although the first pocket watch is attributed to Peter Henlein and can be seen at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, his watches were still the size of a hand. Since around 1510, mechanical watches have been small enough to carry in a breast pocket or purse. It was seafarers who placed the greatest value on watches that kept time as accurately as possible, because they allowed them to determine longitude even when no landmarks were in sight.
Clockmaker John Harrison in particular developed mechanical timepieces known as marine chronometers, which were as accurate as was possible at the time. The centers of watchmaking back then were Augsburg and Nuremberg, Geneva, London and Paris. Mass production only began in the 19th century with the onset of industrialization: regulators, wall clocks and table clocks were made in ever larger numbers. Movements kept getting smaller until, at the beginning of the 20th century, they could finally be worn on the wrist as wristwatches. Automatic watches, incidentally, have existed since 1923, when John Harwood developed the first self-winding watch.
Mechanical Watches and Their Components
In principle, every mechanical watch can be divided into three main groups: the energy store, consisting of the mainspring and various auxiliary parts; the motion work, with the hands and the setting mechanism; and a regulating mechanism that ensures the even transmission of the motion passed from the energy store to the motion work. This regulating mechanism consists of the oscillating system and the escapement.
How Do Mechanical Models Work?
The energy, stored by winding or by a weight, has to be released in a precisely even and controlled manner, setting the hands in rotation. The individual components are:
- Energy store: the drive with its corresponding winding system, either a weight drive or a spring drive
- A gear train made of wheels, known as the wheel train
- The display, with hands or jumping numerals
- The escapement, which transmits the energy evenly; there are detached, deadbeat and recoil escapements
- Regulation of the rate by a pendulum, torsion pendulum, rolling ball or balance wheel.
The lower the friction between the individual components, the more evenly the power can be transmitted from the energy store to the display. That is why precious stones such as rubies are used as jewel bearings, especially in high-end movements: friction between stone and steel is considerably lower than between steel and steel. Mechanical watches with a simple movement show the time with an hour hand and a minute hand. If the movement is more elaborate, small complications are added: a seconds hand, date, day of the week, moon phases, a stopwatch function or an alarm. Besides the usual two hands, there are also single-hand watches that have only an hour hand, and disc watches that display the time using rotating discs. Some mechanisms have to be wound regularly using a key, a crown, an electric motor or a weight chain. To prevent a spring drive from being overwound, a stopwork limits the number of possible turns. Automatic watches, on the other hand, are able to store the kinetic energy supplied by the wearer (the movement of the wrist). The driving force here is the Earth's gravity, which moves an oscillating weight. A small train of gears then transmits the energy to the barrel.
The Era of Quartz Watches
At Christmas 1969, the Japanese company Seiko presented the world's first quartz watch that could be worn on the wrist. Although this watch still cost as much as a small car, it was more accurate than mechanical watches. Well into the 1980s, makers of mechanical wristwatches saw no threat in quartz watches; they simply did not believe these would conquer the mass market at rock-bottom prices. As would become clear shortly afterward, this was a momentous mistake. Thanks to automated manufacturing, quartz watches could not only be produced far more cheaply, but also sold at lower prices.
The Quartz Crisis
This ultimately led to the so-called quartz crisis, which, according to more recent findings, hit hardest those brands that made rather inexpensive timepieces. With quartz watches on the market, these brands no longer had buyers, especially since quartz models kept far more accurate time than the mechanical watches of the inexpensive segment (bas de gamme). Although the luxury brands were to some extent forced to develop quartz movements and collections themselves, the quartz crisis affected them less because their target group and market were different. They were, however, hit hard by the collapse of exchange rates: while the price of gold rose enormously, the Swiss franc also appreciated against the US dollar. This period lasted until the early 1980s, and many manufacturers had to file for bankruptcy and lay off their workforce. Only a few mechanical models were still being bought. Battery-powered quartz watches almost completely displaced mechanical wristwatches. To this day, watches with quartz movements are the most widespread wristwatches. They tell the time reliably and precisely. Yet mechanical timepieces also survived the crisis and found their niche.
Mechanical Watches and Their Strong Comeback
From around the 1990s, sales of mechanical watches began to recover. All over the world, watch lovers rediscovered the beauty and sophistication of genuine craftsmanship. Compared with the quartz watch, produced in huge numbers on fully automated lines, handcrafted masterpieces were something exclusive. High-quality watches, the masterpieces of horology, require a great deal of time and expertise to develop and produce. The mechanical watch thus becomes a statement piece and a luxury object. It is not intended for the mass market; instead, with its often complicated movement, it is made in manufactures.
Automatic and Manual Winding
Winding a watch can become a cherished ritual in which the luxury watch is practically caressed. While many enthusiasts prefer hand-wound mechanical watches and rave about the charisma of the winding crown, most mechanical watches made today are able to supply their own energy automatically. Automatic watches are reliable and precise everyday companions. If you wear an automatic watch, the movements of your wrist keep it running.
Luxury Watches Are More Than Timekeepers
An entire market benefits from the horological craftsmanship found in the top watches of the manufactures. Whether Rolex, A. Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, Breitling, Omega, Tag Heuer or Chopard: the mere mention of a renowned maker inspires reverent admiration. Machines simply cannot build these delicate movements, which consist of at least 100 to 120 parts. If small complications are incorporated, such a movement can be made up of as many as 600 parts. A minute repeater can sound the passing minutes, quarter hours and hours with different tones, a tourbillon ensures an even more precise rate, and a perpetual calendar is simply always correct. Mechanical watches bring a bit of deceleration into our hectic times and create lasting value. Elegant, sporty and classic: for every occasion there are models from Breitling, Rolex and Omega that suit jet-setters, explorers and adventurers alike.
