The NH35 is a Japanese automatic movement made by Seiko, which has become the de facto standard for affordable automatic watches. Robust, repairable and accurate for daily use, it powers millions of watches worldwide, including Modora watches. Here is how it works and why it is so highly recommended.
The NH35 (sometimes written NH35A) is a self-winding mechanical calibre produced by Seiko Instruments / Time Module Inc. (TMI), Seiko's movement division. Designed to be reliable and affordable, it is sold to countless brands and workshops, which has made it the benchmark movement for accessible automatic watchmaking.
An automatic movement has no battery. A rotor swings with the movements of your wrist and winds the mainspring, which stores energy and releases it steadily to drive the hands. As long as you wear the watch, it winds itself. Left off the wrist, it keeps its power reserve for about two days.
The NH36 is the same movement as the NH35 but with a day + date display (instead of date only). The Miyota 9015 (from Citizen) is another popular calibre, thinner and with a higher frequency (28,800 bph), but often a bit more expensive. For the balance of reliability, price and repairability, the NH35 remains the safe bet.
Every Modora watch carries a genuine automatic Seiko movement, under a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal. The NH35 lets us offer real, reliable Japanese mechanics, easy to service at any watchmaker, from 249 CHF. Want to see it in action? Discover our skeleton and open heart watches, whose openworked dial lets you admire the movement at work, or browse all our automatic watches.
Yes. It is one of the most reliable and widespread automatic movements in its category, renowned for its robustness and ease of repair. It powers watches from many brands.
Around 40 to 41 hours. If you set the watch down one evening, it is still running the next day; beyond that, you need to wear it or wind it by hand.
No. It is an automatic mechanical movement: it winds through the movements of your wrist, with no battery.
The NH36 adds a day-of-the-week display to the date. In every other respect (reliability, frequency, reserve), they are identical.
Yes, the NH35 supports manual winding and second stop, which lets you start it and set the time precisely.