Mechanical Watches

A mechanical watch is the epitome of the watch making craft. This is the traditional watch movement and a mechanical watch can comprise of up to 600 parts. Inside the watch, a spring (the "mainspring") drives the watch movement by a slow release of power through a set of small cogs. This spring can be wound manually (a wind-up watch) although often these days you will find "automatic mechanical watches" where the spring is wound automatically by the movement of the wearer. Mechanical watches have risen in popularity again, with mechanical watches being viewed as works of skill and traditional craftsmanship. We have selected the very best of mechanical watches for men below, and our watch price checker is constantly updated so you can find all the best mechanical watches at the cheapest prices.

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About Traditional Mechanical Watches for Men

Wind up watches use age old methods and techniques to create a watch that keeps time in a way watches did 100s of years ago. Before the 1960s, when Quartz revolutionised the way watches worked, most watches and timekeeping devices were mechanical. That is, they required winding up in order to properly keep time. The mechanical watch grew from the advent of the spring-powered watch, which dated as far back as the 1400s. Very early designs of wind-up watches from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were often slow and imprecise, and would sometimes lose up to fifteen minutes over the space of a day. The precision of modern timekeeping was not met until 1760, when the marine chronometer was invented. From then, watches were more precise and lost just a few seconds per day. To put it simply, a wind-up watch measures time without the use of any electronic impulses, equipment, or mechanisms. They are powered by the use of a spring within the watch, which periodically requires winding. The winding makes energy to trigger what is known as a balance wheel inside the machine, which in turn oscillates and powers the gears. It is the gears that power the hour, minute, and second hands on the timepiece, and which make the classic ‘ticking’ sound.

Wind-up watches are not as popular today as they once were due to the explosion of the electronic and battery-powered versions in the mid-1900s. They are sometimes classed as old fashioned and out of date due to their occasional inaccuracy - if you don't wind it enough, you'll lose precision. But a wind-up watch is more that just an old style timekeeping device. Mechanical watches are a classic accessory. Nowadays, they can be worn and appreciated for their beauty and timeless qualities. Owning a wind-up watch can be seen as an investment: an ornament that can be passed down from generation to generation. If a normal watch breaks, the common tendency is to throw it away and purchase a new one. But the wind-up designs can be repaired by watchmakers using age old techniques and engineering. Also, finding a new battery for a favourite watch can be hassle. Some batteries are difficult to track down. Also, the back of the watch will need removing to replace it, and if not performed correctly, the process can damage the watch. However, the argument of battery-powered versus wind-up watches is more of a matter of opinion rather than pros and cons! If you are more concerned about surrounding yourself with well-made items of aesthetic value, the wind-up model may be the ideal choice. And there is also something terribly comforting and classic about the act of winding a watch! A wind-up watch is a perfect gift idea for a birthday, Christmas, retirement, or groomsman present. And you can buy them from many famous watch manufacturers, such as Timex, Casio, Swatch and Nixon, not to mention designer brands such as DKNY and Calvin Klein. Although they are often made on a production line, you'll still find the craftsmanship of a wind-up watch to be far superior to its battery-powered and electric counterparts.

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