In this post, 0C and 1D teacher Cliff Prisament writes about his hobby…
If you look carefully at my wrist while I’m teaching, you might notice I wear a different watch almost every day. Since 2005, I have been collecting and fixing watches as an amateur horologist (someone who fixes watches and clocks).
In 2005, I moved to Shanghai, China to teach children English. While I was there, I found several markets that sold very cheap, antique watches (watches that are very old). I fell in love with watches and it became my favorite hobby. I would sometimes buy 2 watches a week! In 2007, I owned almost 40 watches! Now, I only own about 15 watches.
My oldest watch is a Mickey Mouse watch made in 1933! It’s half a century older than me!
Most people just buy a watch because they think it’s beautiful or fashionable. When I buy a watch, I buy it because of its movement.
There are three types of watch movements. They are quartz, automatic and manual-wind.
1. Quartz watches are the most popular. Your watch is probably a quartz watch. Quartz watches have a small, round, silver battery that powers the watch hands. Quartz watches are the most accurate.
2. Automatic watches do not have a battery. They have a rotor, which winds a mainspring that moves the hands. So if you wear an automatic watch every day, you never need to change a battery.
3. Manual-wind watches only have a mainspring and no rotor or battery. You have to wind them every day or they will stop moving!
Any questions about watches? Let me know!
Now take a quiz to test your understanding of what you just read:
