the present invention concerns a method and a device for reducing the consumption of a stepping motor by automatically adapting the duration of each drive pulse supplied to said motor to the mechanical load that its rotor is to drive . the method comprises forming each drive pulse by a series of elementary pulses separated by interruption periods , and determining the mechanical load by measuring , during said interruption periods , a parameter which is representative of the variation in the voltage induced in the winding of the motor by the rotary movement of the rotor .