Mechanical movements can be hand-wound or self-wound via your wrist's motion during wear, which is known as "automatic" — a different thing, entirely, than quartz movements.

Quartz versus mechanical isn’t the only mark of quality though – there are plenty of excellent quartz watches and bargain basement mechanicals. The way a watch ticks is just the start.

Unlike mechanical watches, which will stop running unless they are wound or worn (automatic watches have a rotor that will wind the movement with wrist motion), quartz watches will run for months ...