Automatic or quartz is the first real fork in choosing a watch, and it is usually presented as a matter of taste when it is really a matter of habit. Both keep time. They ask different things of you in return. Here is the honest version.
How each one works
A quartz watch runs on a battery. A current passes through a small quartz crystal, the crystal vibrates at a very regular rate, and a circuit counts those vibrations and drives the hands. There is almost nothing to go wrong and very little to maintain.
An automatic is mechanical. A coiled mainspring stores energy and releases it through a train of gears, regulated by a balance wheel swinging back and forth. A weighted rotor inside the case spins as your wrist moves and winds the mainspring as it goes. No battery is involved at any point.
Accuracy
Quartz wins this comfortably, and it is not close. A typical quartz movement drifts by seconds a month. A typical mechanical movement drifts by seconds a day — and the rate can shift depending on temperature and on the position the watch is left in overnight.
Whether that matters is a separate question. A mechanical watch running a few seconds fast each day will be a minute or two out by the end of the month, which most people correct without thinking about it. If you want a watch you can set once a year and forget, buy quartz.
What each asks of you
A quartz watch asks for a battery every few years. That is the whole commitment. Leave it in a drawer for eight months and it will still be running when you pick it up, and still roughly correct.
An automatic asks to be worn. A rotor only winds when you move, so a watch left off the wrist will run down and stop. Coming back to a stopped automatic means winding it by hand and resetting the time and date. If you rotate between several watches, or wear one only at weekends, that is a small ritual you will perform constantly.
Over a long horizon a mechanical movement also expects servicing — cleaning, fresh lubricant, regulation — while a quartz movement generally does not until something fails.
The part that is not rational
None of the above explains why people buy automatics, so it is worth saying plainly. A mechanical watch is a small machine running on a spring you wound with your own arm. The seconds hand sweeps instead of ticking, because the balance beats several times a second rather than once. Some cases have an open back, so you can watch it work.
That is a genuine pleasure and a perfectly good reason to choose one. It is just not an argument about timekeeping, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
How we describe movement on the site
We want to be exact about this, because it affects how you read our product pages.
We state that a watch is automatic only where the model name itself confirms it — the Marlin Automatic, for instance. Those references are gathered in the Automatic collection, which currently holds 46 watches. Where a model name does not say automatic, we do not assert a movement type on the product page. We would rather leave a field blank than fill it with a guess, so if you need certainty on a specific reference, write to us at support@heatshabu.com and we will check before you order.
The same principle runs through the rest of the catalogue. More on it in How We Choose.
A short way to decide
Choose quartz if you wear one watch daily and want it to be right without thinking. Choose quartz if you own several watches and rotate them. Choose quartz if the idea of resetting a date wheel on a Monday morning irritates you.
Choose automatic if you will wear it most days, and if the mechanism itself is part of what you are buying. Choose automatic if you would rather never change a battery.
There is no wrong answer, and a first watch does not have to be a permanent decision. If one turns out not to suit you, unworn watches go back within 30 days in their original packaging. You can browse both kinds from the shop, or read the short version in our FAQ.