Women's Watches Have Evolved in to the 21st Century

A modern watch is made to be worn not carried, usually on the wrist, hence the term, wristwatch. It is worn with a strap or with a bracelet on a woman\'s wrist. Women\'s watches in modern times frequently display the date in addition to the time and many electronic watches have other functions also.

Inexpensive watches and moderately priced watches are used principally for timekeeping, have quartz movements and are electronic. More expensive watches that are collectible are valued for workmanship appearance and appeal more than they are for timekeeping. They frequently have mechanical movements with springs that provide the power to run the watch.

Before miniaturization became available in the 20th century, watches were mostly pocket watches. These watches usually had covers and were attached to a watch fob or a chain. These were men\'s watches and were not normally carried or worn by women. When women\'s watches did begin to be manufactured, they were similar to the men\'s watch but much smaller and were worn around the neck or in a small pocket of a dress. These watches were frequently made out of solid gold and are valuable today.

Women\'s watches have several different types of movements. A movement is the mechanism that gauges the amount of time that passes and continually displays that progression of time. Other information may be displayed, such as the date. Movements can be mechanical, electronic (having few moving parts) or a combination of the two. Most women\'s watches today are made with electronic movements, using mechanical hands to indicate the time.

Electronic movements, when compared to mechanical movements are much more accurate. Mechanical movements make errors of seconds in a day, and are sensitive to temperature and position. They are more likely to fail. Still, the "old world" craftsmanship of these watches continues to attract interest from a portion of the buying public. "Old" watches like the old Hamiltons are highly prized today whether they are gold or not.

Mechanical movements have a mechanism to control the unwinding and limit it, making what would have been an uncontrolled unwinding to a controlled, timed release. They also use a balance wheel with a balance spring (aka hairspring) to guide the motion of the watches gear system in a steady, controlled manner like that of a swinging pendulum.

Most quartz watches have primarily electronic movements except for the drive hands that are mechanical on the watch face to provide an analog time display.

Mechanical movements use a mainspring to power the watch. This mainspring must be wound periodically. Old pocket watches must be wound using a key that is inserted into a tiny hole in the watch. Modern women\'s watches that must be wound are made so that they can run for 40 hours between windings. Some must be wound daily, others run for days and others have 192 hour springs that are wound once per week.

An automatic mechanism or one that is self-winding rewinds the watches mainspring by the watch being moved during normal wear. A rotor, called the "eccentric wieght" swings with the motion of the person wearing the watch, this winds the watch\'s spring. Many women find this watch the most convenient to wear.