Abstract: An escapement-type drive mechanism for watches and the like comprises an escapement wheel formed with a circumferential array of teeth spaced apart by respective radial slots and having displacement faces inclined to respective radii. An angularly oscillatable inverse anchor-shaped lever is engageable with the wheel for intermittently rotating it. The lever is formed with a pair of spaced-apart pallets (pins) mounted for lost motion on the lever and alternately engageable with the faces and receivable in the slots to step the wheel upon angular oscillation of the lever. Magnetic means on the lever yieldably biases each of the pallets in a respective direction of its lost motion relative to the lever.