How does this watch work? ( Tissot Swiss, Automatic Seven)

[beebs]

This watch is so cool. It was given to me as a very dear gift, something bought a couple decades ago.

The watch keeps excellent time, unless it's left still for very long. But you begin to turn it gently back and forth and the "motor" seems to begin running again. It's very fascinating, especially since I'm not an engineer and I don't know very much about watch mechanics.

What keeps this bugger ticking after all these years without a wind-up or battery power source?

[puppygod]

I don't know for sure, but I guess it's one of those self-winding watches. Basically you wind it up by moving it, so just shake it a little, and it start ticking again.

[Q.E.D.]

I have a Bulova Accutron which does this. The instruction manual is a bit sparse on details and I'm not about to open it for no good reason--it is NOT a cheap watch, but if I'm understanding the manual correctly, it contains a tiny generator (along the lines of those "shake 'em up" flashlights) which charges a small capacitor or perhaps a battery. Of course, this could all be just misleading marketing language and it's really just a standard self-winding mechanism as described above.

[beebs]

All right, thanks for the input.

New question: Is there any good methods of removing some of the links to the wrist without taking it to a place that will charge me $15? It's not the money, it's that I hate people.

[Boozahol Squid, P.I.]

All right, thanks for the input.

New question: Is there any good methods of removing some of the links to the wrist without taking it to a place that will charge me $15? It's not the money, it's that I hate people.

Yes, you can manage it pretty easily with that smallest screwdriver sold in eyeglasses repair kits, either to unscrew the pin, or to push it through a little.

http://www.webjeweller.com/jewellery/removelinks.shtml

I haven't ever tried the other two ones, but they don't look like anything you couldn't do at home.

[Q.E.D.]

Careful there, some (particulary high-end) watches do require a special tool to remove links. I don't have time at the moment, but I would start by searching "tissot link removal". I don't see instructions on their website for removing links, so it's a good bet it's not a simple DIY thing.