One of the best things about buying and collecting watches is that there are many choices. One place to begin is to follow your heart. Another may be your budget. Still another is to seek one that interests you among the three main types of watches: manual, automatic or quartz.
Mechanical watch movements, which are either automatic or manual, are powered by a mainspring that stores and releases energy when it's wound. Automatic watches contain a rotor that spins and automatically tightens the mainspring to wind the watch. Manual, or hand-wound, watches have no rotor and are entirely dependent on hand winding. There's always something to appreciate about both. Purists prefer a rotor's absence when looking through a hand-wound watch's exhibition case, while the idea of an automatic anything is always attractive.
Hand-wound watches are known for accuracy, often rivaling
even the most advanced quartz and automatic watches. If you are beset by
precise timekeeping, a hand-wound watch is the way to go. The accuracy of a Grand Seiko Spring Drive watch, for example, depending on the caliber, is ±1 second per day. COSC, the official Swiss chronometer testing institute, requires that a certified chronograph movement stays within an average rate of -4/+6 seconds per day. This Grand Seiko certainly is an overachiever.
Another benefit is the simple, everyday pleasure of winding a watch. It's a personal, hands-on experience you will do with care. Quietly turning the crown with your fingertips to begin or end your day is a pleasureful ritual, won't you agree?
Many mechanical hand-wound watches are dress watches because, without a rotor,
they
tend to be thinner. Watches used by soldiers were also hand wound. A
mechanical hand-wound watch was the first wristwatch to be used on the
battlefield because they are easy to use and cost effective to
manufacture during wartime. Perhaps the smaller case size was also an advantage for soldiers. Simplicity can be a powerful thing.
Today, there is a larger selection of automatic watches than
hand-wind watches, while in days past hand-wind watches were a lot more prevalent. Generally speaking, consumers are drawn to a watch that automatically winds itself. Some view hand-wind watches as having less prestige and reliability. But this isn't true. For centuries they have inspired watchmakers and designers to create timekeeping marvels and luxuriously imaginative artworks. In fact, many of the most popular hand-wind watches today, especially in the collecting category, have deep roots in history. The watch brand Bulgari, of Greek origin in the late Eighteenth Century and a famed Italian fashion house in the early Twentieth Century, produces one of the most provocative manual-wind watches in the market today: the magnificent Octo Finissimo Skeleton with a record-thin tourbillon. It's retail price is $27,500. See the title image above.
Whether you seek an automatic, quartz or manual watch, the caliber it contains will be manufactured either in-house or by third parties. Sometimes what is cited or perceived to be in-house is actually an exclusive caliber made by a third party for a particular watch. True in-house calibers are vertically manufactured by the brand to enable complete quality control, considerably boosting desirability. Think OMEGA, Panerai, IWC and Rolex, to name a few. But, it isn't true that all watches with in-house calibers are expensive. Christopher Ward, the up-and-coming British micro brand, equips its popular C63 Sealander diver with its own in-house Calibre SH21. Its retail price is $800. Even more affordable, at $595, is the Hamilton Khaki Field watch, which employ's Hamilton's own H-50 movement.
More often manual watches contain a third-party movement. One of the more exciting hand-wind releases of late is the Hanhart 417 ES 1954, which contains the Swiss-made caliber from Sellita, Number AMT5100 M. It's a flyback chronograph movement produced by Manufacture AMT SA, a division of Sellita that handles custom, higher-end movements. So, while the Hanhart 417 ES may not have an in-house movement, Sellita designed and manufactured one exclusively for it.
Here are some of the calibers you will find inside manual-wind watches today:
In-house - Bulgari, Grand Seiko, Hamilton, IWC, Nomos, Panerai, Patek Phillippe
Sellita (Switzerland) - Caliber Number AMT5100 M
ETA (Switzerland) - Caliber Number 1260, 2390, 2804-2 and 2851
Miyota (Citizen, Japan) - Caliber Number 6T33
Seagull
(China) - Caliber Number TY3600, 3600K, ST1902m and ST3621
Seiko (Japan) - Caliber Number 11A, 5740C and 6810
Citizen (Japan) - See Miyota
Even in our complicated, technologically obsessed modern world, there are many wonderful mechanical hand-wind watches that capture
a pure, timeless essence for the budding connoisseur. Set the time and wind once a day, and revel in its glory as a true original, and the most loyal companion you may forever have. This is precisely why hand-wind watches should have a place in every collection.
Here are a few other noteworthy manual watches to boost your appetite.
OMEGA SPEEDMASTER ANNIVERSARY SERIES
The OMEGA Speedmaster, designed for racing and made famous by space exploration, is one of the most iconic watch collections in the
world. This particular timepiece
introduces a Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861 manual-wound movement, the
latest evolution of the brand's Calibre 321 featured in the original.
Penerai Radiomir Officine
In 1936, the Royal Italian Navy commissioned Panerai to create a
luminous watch for divers, which resulted in the Radiomir. The 45-millimeter timepiece is powered by
the hand-wound manufacture caliber P.6000 with a power reserve of three
days.
IWC Portofino
The IWC Schaffhausen Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days features an IWC-manufactured
59210-calibre movement and will run precisely and reliably for a full 192
hours, or 8 days, before it automatically stops. There is an extra day in reserve to ensure that the movement
continues to run
precisely.
