Mechanical Watch Display

Mechanical watches with exhibition case backs, where you can see the movement through a glass window on the underside, reveal an entirely different dimension of the product. Most wearers experience it only occasionally when they take the watch off. The mainspring, escapement, balance wheel, and jeweled bearings are visible through the sapphire crystal. Watching the components move in real time is mesmerizing because you're seeing a system of gears translate stored energy into the measured passage of time without any electronics or batteries. The appeal is partly aesthetic and partly philosophical. A $200 Seiko with an exhibition back shows you a machine that keeps time to within 15 seconds per day using nothing but springs and levers. A $5 quartz watch is more accurate, but its mechanism is just a battery and a circuit board. Choosing between the 2 is a choice about whether you value precision or craftsmanship, and most people who buy mechanical watches have already accepted they're paying for the latter.