Guide 01
Automatic vs quartz.
Two very different ways of keeping time. Neither is wrong — but they lead to very different watches, and it's worth knowing which one you actually want.
What actually differs
An automatic watch is mechanical. A weighted rotor inside the movement spins as your wrist moves, winding a mainspring that drives the whole watch. There is no battery, and there never will be — worn regularly, it simply keeps running.
A quartz watch is electronic. A battery sends current through a small quartz crystal, which oscillates at a fixed, very stable frequency. That frequency is counted and turned into the movement of the hands.
Side by side
The differences that matter day to day:
Power source
- Automatic
- A mainspring wound by a rotor that responds to wrist motion. No battery.
- Quartz
- A battery driving a quartz crystal oscillator.
Accuracy
- Automatic
- Measured in seconds per day, and regulated by hand. Part of the craft rather than lab precision.
- Quartz
- More accurate day to day — typically seconds per month.
Maintenance
- Automatic
- Wear it or wind it regularly, and have it serviced every few years.
- Quartz
- Low-maintenance: a battery swap every year or two.
Motion
- Automatic
- A smooth, sweeping seconds hand.
- Quartz
- A single tick, once per second.
Character
- Automatic
- Visible, serviceable, often kept for decades and passed on.
- Quartz
- Simpler, cheaper to replace, and more often treated as disposable.
| Automatic | Quartz | |
|---|---|---|
| Power source | A mainspring wound by a rotor that responds to wrist motion. No battery. | A battery driving a quartz crystal oscillator. |
| Accuracy | Measured in seconds per day, and regulated by hand. Part of the craft rather than lab precision. | More accurate day to day — typically seconds per month. |
| Maintenance | Wear it or wind it regularly, and have it serviced every few years. | Low-maintenance: a battery swap every year or two. |
| Motion | A smooth, sweeping seconds hand. | A single tick, once per second. |
| Character | Visible, serviceable, often kept for decades and passed on. | Simpler, cheaper to replace, and more often treated as disposable. |
Why we build automatic only
The point of a hand-assembled custom watch is the mechanical part. There's a movement in there doing visible work: a rotor that turns, a seconds hand that sweeps, a rate that can be regulated, adjusted and serviced years from now.
A battery-powered module dropped in at a factory doesn't give you any of that, and it isn't something we could meaningfully build by hand. So every Eximius watch runs on an automatic movement — you can find out which movement is inside your build, and the FAQ covers warranty and day-to-day care.