It is the first question most people ask before buying a watch properly, and the answer decides almost everything else — how you live with it, what you pay for, and whether it lasts.

What is the difference between an automatic and a quartz watch?

A quartz watch runs on a battery. A small electric current makes a quartz crystal vibrate at a fixed rate, and that rate drives the hands. An automatic watch has no battery at all. It runs on a mainspring wound by a weighted rotor that turns as your wrist moves, and the energy is released through a train of gears and a balance wheel.

One is powered by a cell you replace. The other is powered by you.

Which one keeps better time?

Quartz, and it is not close. A quartz watch typically runs to within a few seconds a month. A good automatic movement runs to within a margin of seconds per day — the Japanese NH35 used in every Andrina Yvette timepiece is rated at minus twenty to plus forty seconds per day at normal wearing temperature.

That sounds like a wide margin written down. In practice it means glancing at your watch after a fortnight and nudging the crown by half a minute. Accuracy in a mechanical watch varies with temperature, with the position it rests in overnight, and with how much you have worn it. This is inherent to mechanical watchmaking rather than a fault.

If being correct to the second is what you want from a watch, buy quartz. Most people who choose automatic have decided that is not the point.

So why do people choose automatic?

Because nothing about it is disposable. A quartz movement is an electronic component: when it fails, it is replaced. A mechanical movement is a machine of small parts that can be cleaned, oiled and adjusted, and a well-kept one outlives the person who bought it.

There is also the matter of what you are wearing. An automatic has a sweeping second hand rather than a ticking one, because the balance wheel beats several times a second — twenty-one thousand six hundred times an hour in the NH35. Turn it over and, through a display back, you can watch it working.

And it only runs if you wear it. A watch that stops when you set it down for a week is a slightly demanding object. Many owners find they like that.

What are the real drawbacks of an automatic watch?

• It stops if unworn. Leave it in a drawer for two or three days and it winds down. Wear it again, or turn the crown gently, and it restarts — then reset the time and date.
• It needs occasional service. Every few years the movement should be cleaned and re-oiled. Quartz asks only for a battery.
• It is less accurate. As above.
• It dislikes strong magnets and hard knocks. Shock protection helps — all Andrina Yvette movements are shock resistant — but a mechanical movement is still a mechanism.

Is an automatic watch worth the extra cost?

It depends entirely on what you want the object to be. If a watch is a tool for telling the time, quartz does the job better and cheaper, and there is no shame in that.

If a watch is something you wear every day, hand on eventually, or mark an occasion with, then a mechanical movement is the difference between an appliance and an heirloom. That is the case for automatic, and it is the only case worth making.

Do I need a watch winder?

Only if you own several and want them all running at once. For a single watch worn most days, a winder is unnecessary. The rotor does its work while you go about yours.

What to look for in a first automatic watch

• A known movement. The Seiko NH35 is widely used, well documented, and can be serviced by any competent watchmaker — which matters more than it sounds when the watch is twenty years old.
• Case size against your wrist. A 36mm case suits wrists of roughly 14cm to 18cm; a 41mm case suits roughly 16cm to 20cm. Size decides how a watch wears more than any other single factor.
• Honest materials. 316L stainless steel, a real crystal, a genuine leather or steel strap.
• Sensible water resistance. 50 metres covers handwashing and rain. It does not cover swimming or diving, whatever the number suggests.
• A warranty that means something. Every Andrina Yvette timepiece carries a two-year international warranty.

Every Andrina Yvette timepiece is automatic. The Classic Mother of Pearl collection pairs a 36mm case with a genuine shell dial set with 72 Swarovski stones. The Legacy Collection is a 41mm case with a sunburst dial that shifts with the light. Both run on the same Japanese NH35 movement, powered by nothing but you.

Questions? Write to hello@andrinayvette.com — we reply personally.