![\"rotor\"](\"http:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/rotor.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe rotor, a catalyst to the modern wristwatch, is a self-winding mechanism that was invented by Swiss watchmaker, Abraham-Louis Perrelet around 1770. Originally, the rotor self-winding mechanism was used predominantly in pocket watches, which when first invented, had to be wound for upwards of 15 minutes in order to operate for eight days as the watch’s only source of energy. Eventually, automatic winding was introduced in mechanical watches, which could subsequently store up to two days of reserve energy from manual winding in addition to its automatic functioning power.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From a functional standpoint, the rotor, works to power a mechanical watch’s spiral mainspring. This then activates the internal gears, which in turn move the hands of the watch. Like a manually wound watch, the spring in an automatic watch eventually loses energy without winding. The watch then requires manual winding or it will cease to work. This issue was solved by the introduction of the quartz watch, which many people found to sacrifice artistry for accuracy and functionality.<\/p>\n
The rotor is, in many ways, key to the modern watch’s functioning. The peak in popularity for automatic mechanical watches came in the 1960s as they became more widely adopted. Up to that point, the main obstacle to such development was the weight and size of a standard rotor, which was eventually squeezed into the inner workings of wristwatches.<\/p>\n
Consequently, this is why most modern watches are much thicker than pocket watches. With this said, modern watchmakers have still managed to maintain the classic, relative size of most mechanical watches albeit with a bit more girth to them. This, of course, is not to forget the popularity of the rotor’s quartz counterpart, which ultimately overshadowed mechanical watches in the 1970s and 1980s. However, while quartz may offer a more efficient and accurate watch, there is little artistry to be found away from the rotor of a mechanical watch.<\/p>\n
The rotor of and its fellow mechanical workings have recently made a comeback, as more watch owners are using, and subsequently paying homage to the classic beauty and elegance of mechanical watches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the recent comeback of the mechanical watch and its rotor, the longevity of such watches is remarkable, and a true testament to the artistry of mechanical watches. .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-watch-knowledge","tag-glossary","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/omega-2500-8500-movements\/","url_meta":{"origin":366,"position":0},"title":"A Progression of Movements: Omega 2500 & 8500 Calibers","date":"January 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Omega Caliber 2500 was developed by Omega in the 1990s. In 1993, Omega purchased the patent for the Co-Axial escapement from English master watchmaker and inventor George Daniels. The Co-Axial Escapement was the first practical new mechanical watch escapement invented for mass market in 250 years. Omega began work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Knowledge"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/OMG2178MVMT1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":294,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/why-is-it-important-to-wind-my-automatic-with-the-crown\/","url_meta":{"origin":366,"position":1},"title":"Why Is It Important To Wind My Automatic Watch With The Crown?","date":"September 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a gentleman come into the office today with a nice Breitling Navitimer for sale. Typically when people have a watch for sale, they are not wearing it so the first thing we do is wind the watch up fully via the crown to power it. After that, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Knowledge"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/TIMER1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":529,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/what-is-the-balance-wheel-of-a-watch\/","url_meta":{"origin":366,"position":2},"title":"What is the Balance Wheel of a Watch?","date":"January 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The balance wheel is to a fine, mechanical watch what a pendulum is to a grandfather's clock or a mantle clock.","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Knowledge"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/a-lange-movement-L041.2-close-up.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":411,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/pjs-watch-notes-of-the-week-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":366,"position":3},"title":"PJ\u2019s Watch Notes of the Week","date":"October 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Panerai - Radiomir GMT Alarm - PAM 98 This is a model we have been fortunate enough to come across a couple of times in the past, but it remains a rare piece, with only 3000 total pieces made between 2001 and 2006. \u00a0 The Panerai Radiomir GMT Alarm features\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Notes & Comments"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/image\/archive\/PAN283S.JPG?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":586,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/watches-at-sihh-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":366,"position":4},"title":"Watch Highlights From The SIHH 2014 Exhibition","date":"February 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Richemont Group's exclusive SIHH was held January 20-24th. 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Learn more about how this budget-friendly brand is bringing great innovations to consumers. We also goes into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Knowledge"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ham-h31-header.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}