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Anyone who who enjoys watches will always have an appreciation for automatic watches. One step better than this is having a power reserve indicator on the dial of your mechanical watch. It goes without saying that this function is convenient to say the least. Not only this, but it is the only real way of telling just how much power your watch has before it inconveniently stops.
Up until a few decades ago, power reserve indicators were only really a feature in luxury watches. Whilst this has still not changed too much, there are now much more affordable alternatives that have power reserves. These watches can be picked up for less than $400 and are made by respectable watchmakers. Or alternatively, if you’re willing to take a risk on an unknown Chinese brand, affordable power reserve watches can be half of this price.
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What Is A Power Reserve In An Automatic Watch?
A power reserve is an extremely simple way to display how much energy an automatic watch has left before it stops. Since finding out how much power is left in a watch is difficult, a power reserve indicator makes this information available to you instantly by just glancing at your watch.
A similar way of thinking about this would be the battery indicator on your phone. Without this, you have no idea how much power is left or whether the phone needs to be charged. You may be able to give it a good guess, but there is no real way of knowing. A power reserve indicator on a watch does a similar job of displaying how much power is remaining.
Do You Have To Wear An Automatic Watch Every Day?
This really depends, but all of the watches shown on the list below do not have to be worn every day. Simply put, if you have a watch that has a power reserve of greater than 24 hours you do not need to worry about wearing it every day.
Obviously the longer the power reserve a watch has, the longer you don’t have to wear it. Nothing bad will happen to your watch if it stops, it will just be a minor inconvenience to set the time again.
One way around this is to purchase a watch winder. These will typically cost you between $50-$200 depending on the quality of the brand. By leaving your watch in a winder, you can ensure that the power reserve will be full by the time you come to wear it.
What Length Of Power Reserve Is Good For An Automatic Watch?
A solid power reserve is 40+ hours. Anything under this time can be acceptable but will depend on your personal watch wearing habits.
At the entry level of automatic watches, you will see many brands offering anything between 30 – 80 hour power reserves, which is very good considering many luxury brands do not offer too much more than this.
The best thing to do is think about how long you will not wear your watch for – and then purchase a model with a suitable level of power reserve based on this logic.
Other Watch Movements With Power Reserves
Since quartz watches generally have a battery life of around 2 years, it would be possible to make a quartz watch with a power reserve. However, due to the price constraints and budget watches being made – this is a feature which is generally ignored.
ETA do have something similar to a power reserve, which causes the seconds hand to double tick, rather than single. This indicates that a battery should be changed soon – but gives no accurate estimate of just how much time is left.
Citizen and Seiko are the only two real brands which produce quartz-based power reserve indicators. On their higher end solar watches, both of these brands offer power reserve indicators which show how much charge is left before the watch will stop.
Best
Seiko Presage (40 hour power reserve)
The Presage is a very well known series of dress watches from the legendary Japanese watchmaker, Seiko. A cut above the rest of the Seiko budget range, Presage watches are finished to a much higher standard than basic Seiko models and are suitable for both smart and casual occasions.
Making use of a 40 hour power reserve, this is displayed around the outer dial, rather than the usual positioning of a separate subdial. The Presage is available in quite a variety of different colors, but always uses a classic and elegant set of hands as well as the crown.
More expensive than your typical budget Seiko, the Presage is still decent value for money using a very reliable movement and a more scratch resistant crystal than you will find in cheaper models.
Bulova (40 hour power reserve)
Making use of an elegant, domed sapphire crystal, this Bulova model is very suitable to be used as a dress watch, or even something a little bit more casual. It is not as high end as many of the Swiss watches on this list since it uses a Japanese Miyota automatic movement with a 40 hour power reserve. With that said, you will still be hard pressed to find an automatic watch with these complications for a similar price.
It should be noted that this model is also available in 2 other color schemes which are navy blue and a grey/rose gold combination. In short, this is pretty good value for money and one of the cheapest automatic watches with a power reserve indicator you can find from a truly reputable brand.
Mido Multifort (42 hour power reserve)
Mido is a Swiss watchmaker that are often overlooked by those of us that live in the west, as the brand has most of its success in both China and Mexico. With that being said, you can usually pick up Mido watches for a lot cheaper than other top brands with similar specifications.
The multifort automatic is a more sophisticated sports style watch. It does not have an oversized bezel like many sports watches, but still adopts a similar color scheme with a racing style dial layout. As Mido uses ETA movements, you will not have any concern about accuracy or longevity with this watch.
Orient (50 hour power reserve)
Quite simply the best value for money power reserve watch there is on the market. Orient are subsidiary of Seiko and built to a very similar standard. There are no real drawbacks to buying an Orient instead of a Seiko other than stylistic differences – with Orient watches being some 25% cheaper.
Orient Star is the brand’s higher end range and is built to a better spec than their standard Orient models. This would be recommended to anyone who wants an entry level automatic watch and hasn’t worn one before. The 50 hour power reserve is more than adequate for any serious watch enthusiast.
Citizen Aqualand (Extremely Large Power Reserve)
In many ways, the Citizen Aqualand is not a true power reserve watch – yet it is. Although the Aqualand does not have a mechanical movement with a coiled mainspring, it does have a capacitor which is equally as capable of storing energy.
Instead of getting energy from the kinectic movement of your wrist, the aqualand does this through Citizens eco-drive movement. This essentially draws in light through the dial and is stored within a capacitor in the watch. Using an advanced quartz-based movement, the watch is able to display how much energy is left. This feature is extremely useful on a dive watch since you will not want it to run dry at a crucial moment.
The power reserve on this watch is far superior to everything else on the list since the movement is so efficient at keeping energy. Therefore you’re often looking at a power reserve of weeks rather than hours.
Zeppelin Hindenburg (40 hour power reserve)
Another great choice for those who are venturing into the world of automatic watches for the first time. Zeppelin are a brand that makes vintage style watches in modern case sizes. This particular model is 40mm and combines a black dial with a striking rose gold case.
As Zeppelin watches are made in Germany, you can ensure that there aren’t any silly faults such as loose screws or gaskets. In terms of value for money, Zeppelin are pretty solid. They aren’t the cheapest brand on the planet but do offer good designs which are priced reasonably.
Hamilton Jazzmaster (80 hour power reserve)
The Hamilton Jazzmaster is a classic design and the most popular selling watch within the brand. Making use of their relationship with ETA, Hamilton uses a very similar movement to that found in the Tissot powermatic 80, which is a well known watch for its value and power reserve. Of course, the Hamilton is slightly more expensive, but this also has a date window and indicator visible on the dial.
Overall, this is a great entry point into both the world of automatic watches, as well as higher level models which are no longer cheap or basic. The fact it has an 80 hour power reserve allows you to forget about this watch for up to 3 days before picking up where you left off beforehand.
Maurice Lacroix Pontos (42 hour power reserve)
Maurice Lacroix are an entry-level luxury Swiss watchmaker who often does not get the credit or publicity they deserve. The Pontos is one of the brands lower level watches and is much more affordable than their masterpiece collection.
This particular model is one of only a few rectangular dial watches with a power reserve, so cannot be overlooked. Maurice Lacroix are yet another Swiss brand which make use of ETA movements, with this particular model having a 42 hour power reserve. On the dial you will see that the power reserve indicator states “haut” and “bas” – these are simply the French translations of high and low.
