[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by manasecret

"Self-winding watch" made me think, how in the hell? I figured maybe it was actually using some fancy bit of electronics available these days that harnesses the energy from vibrations.

But alas, no. It really is a self-winding mechanism, that harnesses the energy from your moving arm and gravity. Observe:

http://static.howstuffworks.com/mpeg/q285.mpg

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question285.htm

mechanical watches are as old as time...hehe

As someone who admires technology, I think there is a beauty in mechanical watches that is not present in a battery powered quartz watch.

There are all sorts of watch technologies these days...there are battery powered quartz watches, fully automatic mechanical watches, kinetic watches that store energy in a capacitor generated from your arm movement, solar powered watches that get all their power from light, and mechanical watches that use quartz to regulate the time.

Typically, mechanical watches are much more pricey than quartz watches. That's why your Rolex or Omega costs so much.