Whats the difference between a “manual” and an “automatic”?
An “automatic” wristwatch is a mechanical wristwatch with a self-winding mechanism. In other words, one does not have to wind the crown periodically to keep the watch running. A “manual” or “manual wind” watch must be wound by hand, using the crown, usually every day, to operate continuously. If one were going to own only a single watch, and wear it every day, an automatic would be a good choice, since the watch will be worn consistently enough to stay wound – the owner would never need to manually wind the watch, and would only need to adjust the time to compensate for drift and at changeover to daylight/summer time and back.
An “automatic” wristwatch is a mechanical wristwatch with a self-winding mechanism. In other words, one does not have to wind the crown periodically to keep the watch running. A “manual” or “manual wind” watch must be wound by hand, using the crown, usually every day, to operate continuously. If one were going to own only a single watch, and wear it every day, an automatic would be a good choice, since the watch will be worn consistently enough to stay wound – the owner would never need to manually wind the watch, and would only need to adjust the time to compensate for drift and at changeover to daylight/summer time and back. (In fact, several early automatic movements dispensed with the crown and moved the time-setting mechanism onto the back, under the theory that the mechanism would only be accessed infrequently. This turned out to be a marketing flop – people liked the look and easy accessibility of the crown.) For this reason, most commonly seen watches with more than a simple da
