eli5 how do wristwatches consistently take shocks and sudden movements without being deflected in the slightest?

Question

eli5 how do wristwatches consistently take shocks and sudden movements without being deflected in the slightest?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

because the gears inside are very small light and round, this means they have little mass and it’s all perfectly balanced, so any arm movement will not cause them to turn, because the force that makes them turn and stop (spring and escapement) is stronger than anything you can impart with your arms, they also move fairly slowly so any gyroscopic effect is very small,

however a hard hit for example from a fall can still impart enough movement to the insides to cause it to break