A Watch’s Balance Wheel: The Source of the Famous “Tick-Tock”

Let’s take a look today at the definition of a cornerstone of watchmaking, responsible for regulating your watch’s movement: the balance wheel.

This article serves a dual purpose: helping you better understand how your watches’ mechanical movements work, and enabling you to shine in company thanks to your knowledge of watchmaking.

A watch’s balance wheel is a component that oscillates in a regular motion around a rotational axis thanks to a hairspring. Each swing allows the gear train to advance by one step and produces the famous “tick-tock” of the watch!

The balance wheel does not provide the impulse, but the cadence. It is therefore a regulating organ whose oscillation comes from the tension of the mainspring, or from the electric motor in the case of a quartz watch works.