Some things you may not know about Automatic watches:

Firstly, why is Switzerland considered to be the best country of manufacture? Switzerland is considered the pioneer nation for quality watches, and its industry is renowned internationally as having superlative expertise in watchmaking. Most luxury watches are logically made in Switzerland. German movements are however also highly regarded.

What are the popular Automatic movements? For 3-hand movements (these are hours, minutes, and seconds) Ronda is a typical choice, for Chronographs (watches with extra timing functions) the ETA Valjoux 7750 is ubiquitous and for good reason, today these movements have 25 Jewels. Jewels are bearings used to increase the accuracy of operation. Originally actual Jewels, they are now usually synthetic.

Other Automatic variations include Tourbillion, this works against the effects of gravity to increase the accuracy of the movement. The regulating mechanism is housed in its own rotating cage. A Complication movement is one that has a literally complicated array of functionality typically displaying extra time measurements (such as day, month, year, leap year, moonphase). The term ‘Chronometer’ means that the watch has a movement which is certified as highly accurate by the ‘C.O.S.C.’ - Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres. This term is often misused to mean ‘Chronograph’ or a marketing term for a movement which is actually not certified at all. Rolex were originally famed for making precision timepieces, now most of their watches are officially certified (the C.O.S.C.’s most frequent customer!), and known as ‘Superlative Chronometers’.

Finally, what is the best watch? The best watch is the one that makes you feel good about yourself.

Thanks for reading, I would love to hear your comments.

All the best,
Mitch