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  • How does an Automatic Movement Work in Watches?
    News 2021. 9. 23. 18:38

    If you want to buy an automatic watch, you should know how it works and the differences between the automatic drives. The most important principle is: For something to move in mechanical clockworks, it takes power. This saves the mainspring packed in the barrel. And that in a more or less strongly wound condition.

    What is an automatic movement?
    In principle, the “automatic” in an automatic watch is a completely normal mechanical movement with an additional mechanism that converts kinetic energy into potential energy. In other words: when the wearer moves his wrist and thus the wristwatch, this movement is used to tension the mainspring. The vehicle is the force of gravity, this allows a flywheel, whether designed as a central, three-quarter or microrotor , to strive towards the center of the earth. A small gear chain transfers the kinetic energy that arises to the barrel.
     
    The automatic watch with two-sided winding
    Depending on the construction of the automatic assembly, the latter consists of two components: Automatic watches with a double-acting winding initially have a change gear. It is up to him to rectify the rotor movements. The energy is generated regardless of the direction of rotation. Over the decades, technicians and watchmakers have come up with various polarization systems that work with the help of gears, ratchets or eccentrics.


    The rectifier pioneer in automatic watches was the raw works manufacturer Felsa, founded in 1918. In 1942, the company based in Lengnau, Switzerland, canceled the Rolex automatic patents with a clever move. In the case of the “Bidynator” caliber 692 (diameter 112 lines, height 5.8 mm), the rotor was wound for the first time in both directions of movement of the wrist and wristwatch, i.e. both sides. The trick: A small rocker that made the connection to the reduction gear and spring barrel via one or two gears, depending on the direction of rotation of the rotor.

    Three years later, Longines also made its debut with a rotor movement. With regard to the legal situation, the manufactory had also come up with something new, worthy of a patent: With its 13-line, 6.5 mm high “22 A”, the oscillating weight of the automatic watch also worked on both sides. The polarization was done by a so-called eccentric changer and a sophisticated system of pawls and ratchets.

    Three years later, in the meantime it was 1948, it was Eterna's turn. The engineer Heinrich Stamm, internally known as Daniel Düsentrieb, turned the rotor around a miniature ball bearing. This reduces bearing friction and the risk of breakage. In addition, the automatic movements 1198 and 1199 had a likewise patented change gearbox with springless pawls. This efficient system was characterized by minimal losses when the pawl declined. Not least because of this, other automatic manufacturers also embarked on this future-oriented path in the following decades.

    Gear changer
    “Bidynator” automatic gear changer
     
    Journalists praised the "Eterna-Matic" at that time as "the most scientifically modern watch preferred by experts". The fact that, for the first time in the history of the self-winding system, Eterna had succeeded in uniting the automatic system in a module made up of a total of twelve parts also contributed to this judgment. After loosening three, in newer calibers only two screws, it could be lifted off the base movement in less than a minute. Of course, the Rohwerk sister company Eta also benefited from this pioneering spirit. Because Eterna wanted to withhold the technological lead from its competitors, the Eta automatic calibers 1216 and 1256 launched in 1950 had to be content with the ratchet wheels, while the flywheel rotated around a conical plain bearing.

    1944: IWC enters the business with the Pellaton elevator
    Watchmaker Albert Pellaton joined IWC in 1944 . As technical boss, he led the Schaffhausen manufactory into the age of the automatic watch. On June 7, 1950, the company applied for a patent for an invention that should also make history. The power transmission from the rotor to the barrel took place in both directions of rotation in the automatic caliber 81 and in the subsequent "85 series". With the help of a cam and a sophisticated ratchet system. In the so-called “Pellaton” elevator, the latter alternately performs the tasks of elevator and backstop.


    Patent for the automatic: IWC Pellaton winding
     
    A trend emerged: the future of the automatic watch belonged to the double-sided winding, because every movement of the support arm and thus of the rotor, regardless of the direction, should be used to generate energy for the automatic watch. The construction of the gearbox for polarizing the same offered a lot of creative freedom. Gear, pawl and eccentric changers vied and vied to this day for the favor of buyers of automatic watches.

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