Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
mainspring
References
Images
Typical components of a mechanical watch. Labeled diagram of a watch mainspring mechanism showing interconnected gears, the mainspring, balance wheel, winding pinion, escape wheel, and hands for hours, minutes, and seconds.
Britannica AI Icon

mainspring

watch part
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

Typical components of a mechanical watch.
Typical components of a mechanical watch.

The mainspring is the primary spring in a mechanism, most notably in a watch or clock. It is the element that powers a mechanical watch.12

The mainspring is a flat band of spring steel that stores energy when wound. This stored energy is then transmitted through the watch's gears and escapement to control the release of time. Early watches experienced variations in the torque exerted by the mainspring, affecting timekeeping accuracy. Solutions like the fusee were developed to maintain a more constant torque, though modern watches with improved mainsprings and designs have largely overcome this issue.2

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
3 Britannica Sources
  1. mainspring
  2. watch
  3. watch spring

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.