n the early 1920s, the wristwatch was still a relatively new product, and reliability remained a significant challenge. Daily manual winding required repeated manipulation of the crown, increasing the risk of dust and moisture entering the movement at a time when sealing technologies were still in their infancy.

British watchmaker John Harwood sought to eliminate this weakness. In 1923, he filed a Swiss patent for a self-winding mechanism powered by the natural motion of the wearer’s wrist. His design employed a limited-arc oscillating weight - the so-called “bumper” system - which transferred energy to the mainspring without the need for manual winding.

Fortis brings the invention to market

While Harwood conceived the invention, its industrial realisation depended on a manufacturing partner capable of producing it on a commercial scale. Founded in Grenchen in 1912 by Walter Vogt, Fortis provided the manufacturing expertise and industrial capacity required to transform Harwood’s concept into a commercially viable product.

The challenge extended well beyond integrating a novel winding mechanism. The entire construction had to be adapted to ensure reliability in everyday use while accommodating the innovative self-winding system.

The resulting Harwood watches featured one of their most distinctive characteristics: they had no conventional winding crown. Time-setting was performed via a rotating bezel, while the movement was automatically wound through the natural motion of the wearer’s wrist.

A milestone in watchmaking history

The Harwood Automatic represented a major breakthrough in the evolution of the mechanical wristwatch. It is widely recognised as the first serially produced automatic wristwatch, although earlier concepts for self-winding mechanisms had existed for pocket watches and experimental timepieces. Approximately 30,000 Harwood automatic watches are believed to have been produced before full-rotor automatic systems - most notably Rolex’s Perpetual rotor, introduced in 1931 - became the industry standard.

Although automatic winding technology has evolved considerably over the past century, the principle introduced by Harwood remains unchanged: a mechanical wristwatch can generate its own energy through the natural movements of its wearer.

One hundred years later

A century after the commercial launch of the Harwood Automatic, Fortis continues to operate from Grenchen, where the company was founded in 1912. Today, the brand is primarily recognised for its professional tool watches designed for aviation, space missions and demanding environments.

By celebrating the Harwood centenary, Fortis also highlights its role in bringing one of the most significant innovations in mechanical watchmaking from patented invention to industrial production.

Rather than claiming the invention of the automatic wristwatch itself, Fortis’ contribution lies in partnering with John Harwood to industrialise and commercialise a technology that would become the foundation of modern automatic mechanical watchmaking.