# Question: Self-Winding vs. Automatic



## pimp4cheddar (Jul 6, 2010)

Hey Folks, 

I'm new to the IWC world and look to buy my first IWC fairly soon. I'm looking at an Aquatimer Chrono. 

I've been reading up and have a question. 

I've noticed that the Aquatimers are Self-Winding watches...while some of the others (higher end) are Pellaton automatic winding. I've read alittle about the Pellaton system, but I'm a little confused. 

Are the Self-Winding watches something I would have to sit there and wind everyday? I plan on wearing the watch everyday.

Any help?

I don't want to have to wind my watch up myself everyday or every 2-3 days...


I currently wear a Tag Formula 1 Chrono all day long and I'm looking for something nicer |>


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## Mockingbird (Nov 1, 2009)

The Pellaton automatic winding system, is just a newer and more efficient mechanism for automatic winding. Don't worry, the Aquatimer is automatic, and can be wound manually but will remain wound if you wear it every day. The movement has a rotor that translate wrist movements into winding the mainspring. (I'm not a movement guru so that's a very rough outline) So if you wear your Aquatimer every day it WILL remain wound.

The Aquatimer is a great watch, and definitely a great step up from the tag!


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## Alon (Aug 5, 2006)

@P4C: Mockingbird gave you a good explanation. To make it simpler for you, there are two kinds of watch movements:

1. Electronic (usally Quartz)
2. Mechanical

The mechanical are split in to two kinds:

2.1 Hand-wound (you really need to wind yourself everyday via crown).
2.2 Automatic a.k.a. self-winding (via movement of wrist by daily usage).

Up to about a decade ago all winding systems of automatic movements worked the same: The rotor (winding system) was created by a half cirkel and although it would spin both directions, only one would actually wind the movement.

IWC has a patent, which is named after the chief ingenieur of IWC in the 1950s/1960s, Mr. Albert Pellaton, where the rotor winds the movement, independent of the direction.

Hopes this clears a bit more and helps you with your decision. For the record, the movement in the Aquatimer is very good. IWC took it to another level with their own in-house designed/manufactured movements


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## ulackfocus (Oct 17, 2008)

A couple points to clear up:

- Albert Pellaton patented his winding system in 1946 and made a few improvements in 1950. It's not exactly new, but it is one of the best ever made. IWC still uses the same basic set-up in the 5000 and 8000 series, but the automatic system like in the DaVinci Chrono is a little different.

- 'Self-winding' and 'Automatic' mean the same thing.


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