Automatic vs quartz vs mechanical
Quartz watches run on a battery and are more accurate and cheaper; mechanical watches, automatic or hand-wound, run on a mainspring and are prized for their craftsmanship.
The difference
Mechanical is the umbrella term for any watch powered by a mainspring. An automatic is a mechanical watch that winds itself with a rotor; a manual, or hand-wound, mechanical watch is wound with the crown. A quartz watch is electronic, powered by a battery or light and regulated by a quartz crystal.
Quartz wins on accuracy, about 15 seconds a month against several seconds a day, on price, and on maintenance, needing a battery every few years instead of a service every five to ten. Mechanical watches win on longevity and craft: a serviced mechanical movement can run for generations, and you can watch it work through a display back.
Which should you buy?
Buy quartz for a grab-and-go watch you want to be right whenever you pick it up, or a watch you'll wear only occasionally. Buy automatic if you enjoy the engineering and will wear it most days. Buy hand-wound if you want the thinnest mechanical watch and like a daily winding ritual.
What's inside, by price
| Price | Automatic | Hand-wound | Quartz | Solar | Watches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500 | 40% | 0% | 49% | 11% | 106 |
| $500 to $1,500 | 71% | 2% | 17% | 9% | 98 |
| $1,500 to $5,000 | 78% | 10% | 10% | 2% | 93 |
| $5,000 and up | 82% | 8% | 6% | 0% | 110 |
The median automatic we've measured runs 56 hours on a full wind. Browse every caliber on our movements page.
Current watches in our catalog, which is weighted to popular enthusiast models.
Questions
- Is an automatic watch mechanical?
- Yes. All automatics are mechanical; they're the self-winding kind. Hand-wound watches are the other kind.