John Harwood invented the self-winding watch in the 1920s. The movement is the forerunner of the Omega "Bumper" movement. Harwood had difficulty getting a manufacturer to make his watches until Fortis agreed to make them. Another interesting development Harwood incorporated in his watch was the lack of a crown. Harwood tried to eliminate dust from the interior of the watch by removing one of the weak points i.e the crown stem. To indicate the method of altering the hands, I've created a short video. On the dial of the watch is a red spot that indicates that the alteration clutch is disengaged. The bezel is rotated in the direction you want the hands to move and after alteration is complete, the bezel is rotated in the opposite direction until the red spot appears again. The creaking noise is from the leather strap.

 

Calling @JimInOz

 

https://omegaforums.net/threads/incoming-and-a-puzzle-to-be-solved.55921/
I think @gatorcpa has one too

 

Abraham Louis Perrelet was reportedly the one who invented the auto wind watch. A pocket watch design based on the pedometer. This was circa 1777, long before Harwood’s involvement with the automatic wind wrist watch.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham-Louis_Perrelet

 

I guess I should have said "wristwatch".

 

Very cool mechanism, thanks for sharing.

 

That is way cool.

 

Well that's neato!

Thanks!

 

= Total BS
http://www.horlogerie-suisse.com/technique/les-complications/origine-des-automatiques

 

Damn Wikipedia... yes Perrelet invented an automatic winding system. It was inefficient and as a result it was difficult to get enough energy into the system to keep it running. It had a hanging weight within the pocketwatch, like a pendulum, so it only worked well if the watch was worn upright. If it fell over in your pocket you didn’t get enough, or any, movement. It also required a lot of movement. Unlike a wrist watch, which is on your arm and moving a lot, this thing was in your pocket and moved a lot less as a result... not at all if you were at a desk or working standing still where the arm could still be quite busy. So it didn’t do very well at all.

I’ve got a picture of the silly thing somewhere, I’ll see if I can dig it up.

So @Canuck is correct when he says Perrelet is credited with inventing the automatic winding system.

Hardwood made a far more efficient system.

 

So, you are the ultimate authority? How about translating that for us?

https://omegaforums.net/threads/hor...ry-of-self-winding-watches.78457/#post-998507

 

I didn’t know he got as far as a full rotor winding system... clever bugger!

And quite ahead of his time.

Thanks for that tidbit. One learns everyday if one’s eyes are open.

 

Of course !
No, I just come from Belgium like Hubert Sarton...

If you want to know more you can read this book : The Origins Of self-Winding WaTches 1773 - 1779 by Richard Watkins
« The Perrelet myth is a good example. In 1952 Chapuis & Jaquet made an almost certain statement based on a fallacy. And since then many writers have repeated this statement as though it was a fact. But almost no one, including Sabrier, bothered to check the validity of the original statement and reassess the evidence. And so a myth was created, the myth that Perrelet invented the rotor watch.
One of the fascinating aspects of this myth is its complete dominance; nearly every writer who mentions self-winding watches comments on the Perrelet myth and nothing else. Even more surprising is that the “expert” books on the subject (by Chapuis & Jaquet and Sabrier) are also satisfied with this one myth and fail to study the other designs and people adequately. Indeed, the book you are reading is the first attempt to create a coherent history.
Unfortunately, I expect many people will ignore my views.
Like most myths, the Perrelet myth will endure. People writing general books on watches and watch making will continue to rely on “experts” and other books for their information, and the overwhelming majority of these sources repeat the Perrelet myth. And so it will be reproduced time and time again.
But at least the discerning reader now has an alternative view. »

 

Do I detect some Nationalistic pride in the defence of Hubert?



I too was under the impression that ALP was the original inventor of the automatic watch, probably due to the fact that the myth, as you say, has been perpetuated by so many "experts" et al.

Thanks to an Aussie researcher/author this myth has now been exposed (in so far as what I've read so far). I managed to download a copy of Watkin's book from the Australian National Library and will absorb it over the next week or so.

This book are also available here:

http://www.watkinsr.id.au/Origins.html

Note that this provides the second edition from 2016 so is the preferred reference.

 

Do I detect some Nationalistic pride in the defence of Hubert?




Of course ! We invented fries and they are called French fries !

 

Oh how the Belgians have been denied their true place in the history of watches and chips.........

We need to get Hercule Poirot to sort this all out!

 

I only placed this post here as another thread was being hijacked with talk of winding automatic movements. I never expected it to turn into an international incident.

BTW Chips are English.

 

OK.

Back on track.

 

Back off topic Bruges has a Friet Museum (Chip Museum). Photographic proof below