Automatic Winding Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
Automatic Winding and Power Reserve Mechanism Patents
49.2% concentration. The top 5 assignees combined account for 31 of 63 records in scope — just under half the field held by a handful of filers. Filings were negligible through the mid-2010s, then climbed from 1 in 2021 to 6 in 2024 — a +500% rise over three years, with 2022 the peak year so far at 12 filings. Years after 2024 are still filling in under publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
- 1THE SWATCH GRP RES & DEVELONMENT LTD13
- 2ETA SA MFG HORLOGERE SUISSE8
- 3PONOMAREV4
- 4PARSHIKOV VLADIMIR IVANOVICH4
- 5BLANCPAIN SA2
See the full automatic winding and power reserve mechanisms analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on this field
Who holds the most patents in automatic winding and power reserve mechanisms?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 13 of the 63 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 2 records. The top 5 assignees combined account for 49.2% of all records, and the top 10 for 61.9%, so filing activity is concentrated at the top with a long tail of single-filing entrants below it. This pattern is typical of a specialist mechanical niche rather than a broad consumer-electronics category.
Is patent filing in this space growing or slowing down?
Filings rose from 1 in 2021 to 6 in 2024, a +500% increase over that three-year span, with a peak year of 12 filings in 2022. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the years from 2025 onward in this dataset are still filling in and should not be read as a decline. On the evidence available through 2024, the trend is upward, not falling.
What technology areas do these patents actually cover?
The largest single IPC class is G04B, mechanical clocks and watches, covering 47.6% of the 63 records in scope. B65H, web and filament handling, reaches 33.3% of records, reflecting winding and spring-handling equipment claims that extend beyond finished watch movements, and G04C electromechanical clocks covers a further 15.9%. Smaller classes in motors, magnetics and metalworking each sit under 8% and mark narrower claim territory rather than core activity.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automatic Winding and Power Reserve Mechanisms covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.