Movement
The mechanisms that power a watch: automatic, quartz, Eco-Drive and related concepts.
- Automatic Watch
- An automatic watch is a mechanical watch that winds itself from the motion of your wrist. A rotor inside swings as you move and tightens the mainspring, so no battery is needed. Worn regularly it runs nonstop; left off for a few days it stops and needs rewinding.
- Eco-Drive
- Eco-Drive is Citizen's light-powered quartz technology. A cell beneath the dial turns any light into energy, so the watch never needs a battery change and, fully charged, keeps running for months in the dark.
- Hacking (Second Stop)
- Hacking is the feature where the second hand stops when you pull the crown out. It lets you sync the watch to another timepiece down to the exact second. Not every mechanical movement has it.
- Power Reserve
- Power reserve is how long a fully wound mechanical watch keeps running off the wrist. On most automatics it is around 40 hours; some models reach 70 hours and beyond.
- Quartz Watch
- A quartz watch keeps time using a quartz crystal that a battery makes vibrate. It is far more accurate than a mechanical watch and needs almost no maintenance, drifting only a few seconds a year and running for years on a battery or on light.