What is an automatic movement?

An automatic movement is a mechanical watch movement that is wound by the motion of the wearer’s wrist. An oscillating weight (rotor) rotates freely and each movement winds the mainspring, building up the power reserve.

The watch’s regulator is a balance wheel with a hairspring that vibrates 6 to 8 times per second (up to 10 times in Calibre 36 and 100 times in the Mikrograph). An automatic movement consists of more than 70 components (up to 480 in the Mikrograph), some no thicker than a human hair (0.07 mm).

All these components work continuously together, creating the smooth motion of a sweeping seconds hand rather than a ticking one. Although slightly less accurate than a quartz movement, an automatic movement represents the highest level of traditional Swiss watchmaking expertise.