| Automatic Watch |
An automatic watch requires no battery. The watch
mainspring is wound automatically by a balance wheel which rotates due to
normal wrist motion whilst wearing the watch.There are 2 types of
automatic watches i.e. mechanical and automatic.Mechanical watches have to
be wound up and automatic watches work on the movement of the wrist. |
| Bezel |
This
is the ring around the case which holds the crystal of a watch to the case
of the watch. |
| Bi-Directional Rotating Bezel |
A
bezel that can be rotated either clockwise or anticlockwise. |
| Buckle |
The traditional loop and pin buckle is called a 'buckle'. A
hinged fold-over style metal clasp that opens and closes easily, allowing
the watch to be placed on the wrist. |
| Calendar |
A
feature that shows the date, and often the day of the week and month. Most
calendar watches show the information digitally through an aperture on the
watch face.If watches have perpetual calendars this will mean that the
date will automatically change at the end of the month.Somechronograph
watches show the information on sub-dials on the watch face. |
| Calibre |
The mechanism inside the watch that tells the quality of
the watch movement. |
| Case |
A case of a watch is the primary housing for the internal
watch movement. |
| Case back |
The
bottom of the watch case that can be opened for access to the watch
movement for repair or battery change.Some watches have a sapphire glass
backing which allows you to see the working mechanism of the watch. |
| Chronograph |
This is a watch with a variety of extra features displayed
on sub-dials.This can include hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve, date
and moon phase. |
| Chronometer |
This is a watch which has been measured for accuracy and
tested for precision by an official testing institute. |
| Complication |
An additional function other than basic timekeeping of the
hours, minutes, and seconds. Certain features such as automatic winding or
date are considered complications. The main complications are power
reserve, moon phase, GMT, and full calendars. Great complications are
split second chronographs, perpetual calendars, tourbillons, and minute
repeaters. |
| COSC |
This is the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute
that will certify the official chronometer status of a watch. |
| Crown |
The
'Crown' is known better as the adjustment dial on the watch. The crown is
used to adjust the time, date and for winding up the watch. |
| Crystal |
The
'crystal' is thetransparent cover over the dial. The crystals can either
be made from resin, minerals or sapphires. |
| Date Window |
A small opening in the dial through which the date is
displayed. |
| Deployment Buckle |
The deployment buckle is a clasp that folds nicely in to
the strap for elegancy. |
| Dial |
The 'dial'
is the face of the watch showing the time. |
| Diving Watch |
A watch that is at least 200M water resistant. Has a one
way rotating bezel and a screw-on crown and back. Some watches have a
helium escape button to release the pressure after the diving
|
| DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) |
DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) a metal coating that produces a
grey/black finish that is very scratch resistant and corrosion resistant.
This type of coating is like PVD, but even harder. |
| Escapement |
Set of parts (escape wheel, lever, roller) which
converts the rotary motion of the train into to-and-fro motion (the
balance). |
| End of Battery Life
Indicator (EOL) |
The EOL indicates when it is time to replace the existing
battery. Different manufacturers use different methods to indicate a low
battery, i.e. if a second hand usually sweeps, when the battery is low it
will begin to tick. |
| Finishing |
The finishing of watches come in three types of
finishing's, a polished surface, a brushed finish and a gold plated
finish. |
| Fly-Back Hand (Retrograde
Date Hand) |
Usually, a hand indicating a date or time against a scale
and then 'flies back' to catch up with to another date or time. For
example, a hand that 'flies back' to the beginning of the month after
reaching the 28th, 29th, 30th, or 31st day of the month. |
| Geneva Stripes |
A
form of decoration in higher grade watch movements which look like a
pattern on the face of the watch. |
| Grand Complication |
A
Grand Complication is a combination of complications but it must have a
perpetual calendar with or without moonphase indication), a split-second
flyback chronograph and a minute repeater. Manufactures quite often
include many other complications as well. |
| Horological |
The art of making a Timepiece. |
| Incabloc |
A metal coating that produces a grey/black finish that is
very scratch resistant and corrosion resistant. This type of coating is
like PVD, but even harder. |
| Jewel |
In watch making, a synthetic ruby used for making low
friction bearing in which the delicate pivots of the movement wheels run
in. In some deluxe watches, sometimes sapphires or garnets are used.
Expensive watch movements are jeweled from the barrel to the balance, and
all automatic work, date and complication movements are expected to be
jeweled. |
| Luminous |
The hour markers and/or hands have a feature coating of a
glow in the dark which will illuminates in the dark so you can tell the
time where there is insufficient light. |
| Manufacture |
A French term for a watch factory which itself produces the
components needed for the manufacture of watches.
|
| Mechanical Automatic
Wind |
A watch which has mechanical moving parts and winds its
mainspring automatically using an internal rotor system. |
| Mechanical Manual Wind |
A watch which has mechanical moving parts and requires its
mainspring to be manually wound. |
| Moon-Phase Calendar |
On some watches, the display of the evolution of the lunar
cycle: rising, full or waning moon. |
| Movement |
This is the internal mechanism of a watch. Assembly of
parts and main components such as the mainspring, balance assembly,
escapement, train of wheels, setting and winding . |
| Perpetual Calendar |
A complication or function of a watch which displays
correctly without adjustment, the day, date and month, and can also
account for leap year cycles. |
| Power Reserve
Indicator |
A 'Power Reserve Indicator' shows the power resource of a
mechanical movement watch. |
| PVD (Physical Vapour
Deposition) |
The PVD procedure consists of taking ions that have
combined with a gas which then is deposited on the surface to be coated.
Although, a PVD coating is extremely thin (approx. 1 micrometer), it
enables colour to be applied to steel and it also increases its resistance
to wear. |
| Quartz |
This is awatch with a battery-powered mechanism. |
| Retrograde |
This is a pointer hand on a watch dial which returns to
zero at the end of a prescribed period i.e. days/months. For example a
watch may have a retrograde date,meaning that the hand moves up a scale a
day at a time, pointing to the current date, when it reaches 31 it will
spring back to 1. |
| Rotor |
In automatic winding mechanisms, an unbalanced,
semicircular metal turns freely in both directions winding the
mainspring. |
| Sapphire Crystal |
A Sapphire Crystal is a synthetic watch crystal that is
extremely hard and very scratch resistant. |
| Skeleton Movement |
Movement
on a watch where the plates have been removed or trimmed so that you can
see the gears and other parts. |
| Skeleton Watch |
Crystal
on the front and back. |
| Waterproof |
No watch can be 100% waterproof. |
| Water Resistant |
Describes a watch case designed to prevent water from
entering. |
| Tachometer (Tachymeter) |
A watch or stop watch used for the measurement of speed.It
measures speed in kilometers per hour based on 1000m distance. |
| Tourbillon |
This type of watch is a complex piece of micro-engineering
which results in the escapement of a watch rotating on its own axis; the
aim is to cancel out the variations in running regularity which can be
caused by the watch being in different positions; (a watch may gain in one
position yet lose in another). |