Watch companies are constantly using new technologies and materials to improve performance and durability. For example, the materials of a watch case can make it antimagnetic or anti-allergenic. Also there are new features being invented constantly. Watches today can do more than just tell time. A more common useful feature is a chronograph (not to be confused with chronometer), which is a timing feature like a stopwatch. Other popular features available include; alarms, dual time zones, world timers, countdown timers, minute repeaters which chime out the time, moon phases, calendars, perpetual calendars and tourbillons which remove the effect of gravity on a movement. There are even some watches that can tell the temperature, altitude, barometric pressure, tides and have a compass. With so many choices come see a watch professional at Steel's Jewelers to suggest a timepiece tailored to your career or lifestyle.

A quartz watch is powered by a replaceable battery. A mechanical watch can be a model that is powered by hand winding daily or an automatic model which has a "self winding" mechanism. In an automatic watch there is a rotor that winds a mainspring as you wear it. When the mainspring is fully wound most watches will run about 40 hours. The obvious advantage to owning a mechanical watch is that no battery will ever need to be changed, however, over time, maintenance will be required. Quartz watches are more accurate +or- a small fraction of a second a day, while most well maintained automatic watches should be between +5 to -2 seconds a day.

A chronometer is an automatic movement that has passed testing and has been certified by the C.O.S.C. The C.O.S.C. (Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres) is a Swiss not-for-profit association that measures and tests watches. A chronograph is a complication used like a stopwatch for measuring segments of time. A chronograph watch will have extra sub-dials and usually two pushers on the side of the case to start, stop and reset the chronograph. Therefore, it is possible to have a chronograph chronometer watch.

Citizen has developed Eco-Drive technology that runs on light energy and does not require a battery. Once fully charged an Eco-Drive can run up to 6 months in total darkness. Seiko has Kinetic technology in some of their watches. Kinetic watches have a rotor like automatic watches do, but in Kinetic watches the energy created by the rotor is stored in a capacitor and have a much longer power reserve than automatics.