50 Terms Every Watch Lover Needs To Know
Collecting watches can be an incredibly rewarding hobby, as these accessories can often be as decorative as they can be functional.
Not only can watches be beautiful but many love them as they are incredibly intricate pieces of exquisite engineering. With such precise engineering comes a lot of parts and plenty of complexity.
If you are a novice to the watch enthusiasts community, you will be confronted with many unfamiliar expressions. This guide will help you understand all the terms an avid watch lover should know.
Get ready to become a watch expert!
Automatic: Unlike many mechanical watches that employ the classical twist to the crown mechanism, automatic watches are simply wound up by the motion of the wearer’s wrist. The action moves the rotor, which acts as a counterweight that pushes the hands to move forward.
Balance Wheel: The watch’s gear needs a weighted wheel to move forward. This mechanism is balanced by its oscillation at a constant rate, around one time per fraction of a second.
Balance Spring: A balance spring (or hairspring) is a very fine spring. It is the part of a watch that regulates the oscillation of the balance wheel. It’s usually made of metal or silicone.
Barrel: A cylindrical, enclosed fixture that houses the watch’s mainspring. Equipped with geared teeth, the barrel can be replaced or expanded.
Bezel: A metal or ceramic ring surrounding the crystal. On dive watches, bezels rotate and contain different measurements. On other devices, the bezel is in a fixed position and serves only decorative purposes.
Bridge: The frame of the watch houses the inner mechanisms and is mounted to the main plate. A bridge is a small bar that’s part of this frame and is also fixed on the plate.
Caliber: This term is used by manufacturers when they refer to a specific model name for the movement used by a watch.
Case Back: The removable rear side of a watch case that grants you access to the inside of the watch for expansion, battery replacement, cleaning, or repair.
Chronograph: A watch that, besides the general time function, features an additional stopwatch mechanism. A chronograph is activated by small buttons on the side of the case. It’s usually made out of metal, quartz, or a combination of the two materials.
Chronometer: These are specific watches tested and verified for accuracy by the COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute) or other official authorities. They are usually tested in different positions over the course of several days. Mechanical watches must retain an accuracy of -4/+6 seconds per day, whereas, for quartz watches, the standard is ±0.07 seconds per day.
Complication: Additional functions in watches are called complications. It can be anything that goes beyond telling the time. This could be calendars to chronographs or scales to moon phase indicators. Since complications require additional parts, watches containing them are usually more expensive.
Crown: Most mechanical watches have a small knob on the side of their case to adjust the time and date. With the exception of automatic watches, the crown is also used to wind up the mechanism and keep the watch running.
Crystal: Made from either glass, acrylic, or synthetic sapphire, the crystal is the clear protective layer covering the watch face. Watches with glass and acrylic crystals are usually less expensive, but synthetic sapphire is more scratch-resistant, providing added protection.
Deployant Clasp: An easy-to-use buckle that closes by folding in on itself before clasping. The wearer can take the watch on and off much quicker, preventing the leather from getting stretched or worn out.
Dial: The face or the dial displays all the features of the watch, including the hands, the time, and other numerals and markings.
Dive Watch: These are highly water-resistant watches that meet specific standards for diving, like being water-resistant to at least 200 meters. Most of them feature rotating bezels and at least some form of illumination for underwater use.
Escapement: A mechanical watch’s internal component transferring the power from a wound-up gear into the movement. Driving the balance wheel at a steady rate, the escapement pushes the power onto the second hand. It usually employs a lever solution with two pallets and an escape wheel that’s connected to the gear train. The pallets and the lever lock and unlock the escape wheel, making a ticking noise.
Exhibition Case Back: When a watch has an open-type case back, this shows off the inner workings of its mechanism. These exhibition case backs are transparent covers made from similar materials like the crystal in front.
Flyback Chronograph: If a watch can be reset without stopping the movement of the chronograph, it’s called a flyback chronograph. Most pieces don’t employ this mechanism, and the ones that do are used to record multiple times in quick succession.
Frequency: Measured in either the number of vibrations per hour or hertz, the frequency is the speed at which a watch beats. This feature is controlled by the oscillation of the balance wheel, which allows for a frequency of 28,800 VpH (4Hz) or higher. Truly high beat watches have a frequency of 36,000 VpH and upwards.
Gasket: The gaps between the watch’s case, the crystal, the crown, and the case back are sealed with a rubber or plastic ring called a gasket. It prevents dirt or water from entering the case and damaging the mechanism inside.
Gear Train: This is the complex system of gears the watch employs to transfer energy created in the mainspring to the escapement.
GMT: The original abbreviation stands for Greenwich Mean Time, but in watches, GMT usually refers to the ability to track two time zones simultaneously.
Guilloche: Some collection pieces have watch dials with engraved ornamental designs. These patterns of intricately intertwined lines are called Guilloche.
Hacking Seconds: It’s a function that allows the watch to stop the second’s hand when you pull out the crown. Hacking or stopping seconds is useful for synchronizing a watch with another one.
Hand-wound: When a mechanical watch doesn’t automatically wind, it has to be hand-wound. These types of watches require you to manually turn the crown until you wind up the mainspring.
Hybrid Smartwatch: A type of analog quartz watch that’s classically styled and features digital functions as well. They usually include smart activities like tracking and push notifications.
Horology: Is the science that studies the art of measuring time.
Indices: The hours in place of numerals are represented by special markings called indices. In most watches, these are usually printed on, while in higher-end pieces, they are attached to the dial and are sitting on top of it.
Jewels: Watchmakers use synthetic sapphires or rubies to reduce friction between moving parts of the mechanism. These jewels aren’t used for decoration but to increase the accuracy of the movement by counteracting the weight of the bearings at the heaviest points of wear.
Lugs: At the top and bottom of a watch case they are two tiny protruding pieces of metal called lugs. These elements sit where the strap is attached and hold it in place with a spring bar between them.
Luminescence: In specifically designed pieces, the watch numerals, hands, and indices give off a glow which is often referred to as luminescence or lume. These elements have been coated with a photo-luminescent material that glows in the dark. Usually, strontium aluminate, a non-radioactive phosphorescent substance, is used for these purposes.
Magnetism: If a watch is introduced to a strong magnetic field, its metal components can be magnetized, causing the movement to lose accuracy. For example, if the balance spring is magnetized it will stick to itself, and the watch will run much faster than it should. To avoid this issue, some watchmakers use iron cages or silicon balance wheels to protect the mechanism from magnetic fields.
Mainplate: All the parts of a mechanical watch are mounted on a solid base called a mainplate.
Mainspring: When you wind a watch, you are tightening a torsion spring, which stores energy for movement. As the spring unwinds, it powers the watch. This mechanism is called a mainspring and is housed inside the barrel.
Manufacture d’Horologie: It’s a French term that refers to a watch manufacturer that makes its own parts. This usually includes the movements as well. Many manufacturers source niche parts from 3rd parties.
Movement: This term encompasses the entire inner-working mechanism of a watch. These can be either automatic or hand-wound mechanical, or battery-powered quartz. The main components of a mechanical movement are a mainspring, an escapement, a gear train, and a balance wheel. On the other hand, quartz movements consist of a battery, a quartz crystal, a microchip circuit, and a stepper motor.
Power Reserve: Once it’s fully wound, a mechanical watch can run for a certain amount of time. This is referred to as a power reserve, and in most watches, it lasts about 40 hours. In many higher-end pieces, the wound-up movement can last for up to several days. Some watches feature a power reserve gauge which indicates the fullness of the power reserve.
Pusher: This is a button on a chronograph that starts, stops, and resets the entire mechanism. The vast majority of chronographs have two pushers. One for starting and stopping the movement and the second one for resetting it.
Quartz: These are battery-powered watches. Their mechanism uses a battery to send an electric signal via a microchip circuit to a small quartz crystal. As a result of this, the crystal begins to vibrate at a precise rate, regulating a stepper motor that moves the hands. Not only are quartz watches more reliable and accurate than their mechanical counterparts, but they are also considerably cheaper. Although their simpler internal components can make them less appealing for watch lovers.
Rattrapante Chronograph: A double, split-seconds or rattrapante chronograph employs an additional seconds hand and pusher. The added seconds hand moves in sync with the standard one, but it can be stopped by depressing the extra pusher. Because this allows you to record two different times simultaneously, it elevates the standard chronograph function to a higher level.
Rehaut: It’s a metal rim located between the dial and crystal. Like the silicone around it, a rehaut protects the movement.
Repeater: A very specific complication used in high-end watches. At the push of a button, a repeater denotes the time by chiming.
Retrograde: Instead of going a full circle as the hands do, a retrograde on a watch dial only forms a segment of a circle. When this indicator goes through its entire cycle, it resets itself by going back to the zero position. Whether it indicates dates, hours, or minutes is a great tool for measuring time left.
Silicon: A metalloid material used in making balance springs and escapements. Because it doesn’t react to changes in magnetism and temperature and doesn’t require lubrication like metals usually do, it has become quite popular in watchmaking. Silicon components make watches considerably more accurate, reliable, and resistant to magnetism than timepieces using metal elements.
Skeleton: Like an exhibition case back, a skeleton is used to show off the inner mechanisms of the watch. However, this one does so through a dial that’s either partially cut through or transparent. This allows the users to see the movement from the front side of the watch.
Small Seconds: The hour and minute functions of a watch are separated by a tiny sub-dial (or small seconds) displaying the seconds.
Tourbillon: A special type of escapement that’s housed in a cage that rotates. This feature counters the effects of the gravitational forces on a movement. It also showcases the manufacturer’s watchmaking abilities, making timepieces with tourbillon rather expensive.
Winder: A specifically designed case, box, or vault that can be used to automatically rotate a watch to keep the mainspring fully wound even when it’s not being worn.
World timer: Some watches have a dial that allows adjustment for showing the time in 24 different time zones. Typically, the time zones used in word times cover the 24 major cities across the world, a feature that’s long been popular among travelers.
See more about - The 12 Best Gold Watches You Can Buy Right Now