Posted on سبتمبر 23 2025
Every watch is driven by its movement, and the three you’ll find at Ducci work in three different ways. None is better in every respect; each suits a different way of wearing a watch.
Automatic: wound by your wrist
An automatic is a mechanical watch. A weighted rotor inside turns as your wrist moves and winds the mainspring, so the watch keeps itself running while you wear it. Take it off and it runs on its power reserve: most of the automatics we carry, from Bulova and Citizen, list about 42 hours, and a few Citizen models list 60.
A mechanical movement is not as precise as quartz. Expect a variation measured in seconds a day rather than seconds a month: Citizen rates its Promaster Dive Automatics at −10 to +20 seconds a day. What you get in return is a movement with no battery at all, and often a display case back or an open dial to watch it work.
An automatic suits you if you wear the same watch most days and enjoy the craft of a mechanical movement.
Quartz: battery-powered and precise
A quartz watch runs on a battery that drives a vibrating quartz crystal, the most accurate everyday timekeeping there is. It keeps running whether you wear it or not, and quartz movements are thin, which suits dress watches and slim cases. The battery needs changing every few years.
Bulova’s Precisionist takes quartz further: its high-frequency crystal vibrates at 262 kHz, and the second hand sweeps instead of ticking.
Quartz suits you if you want a watch that is always right and ready, at any price point.
Eco-Drive: quartz, powered by light
Citizen’s Eco-Drive is a quartz movement charged by light instead of a disposable battery. You get the accuracy of quartz, it keeps running for months without light once fully charged, and there is no regular battery change. Read how Eco-Drive works.
Eco-Drive suits you if you want quartz accuracy without ever thinking about the battery.
In short
- Automatic: no battery, a mechanical movement to admire, best worn often.
- Quartz: the most precise, thin and light, a battery every few years.
- Eco-Drive: quartz precision, powered by any light, no battery changes.