January 24 Through February 4—TUCSON, ARIZONA: Annual show
Welcome to the GemologyOnline.com Forum
A non-profit Forum for the exchange of gemological ideas
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:07 am

All times are UTC - 4 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Watches Lingo: 23 Terms You Should Know
PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 11:48 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm
Posts: 21602
Location: San Francisco
Courtesy of Sotheby:
Watches Lingo: 23 Terms You Should Know

Components

Aperture:
An aperture is a small window that displays indications such as the date, day or moon phase.

Bezel:
A watch’s bezel is the forward-facing ring surrounding the dial.

Case:
Known as the body of the watch, the case contains all its inner workings and gears.

Crown:
The crown is used to set the time and, when relevant, to wind the watch’s mainspring.

Dial:
Casually referred to as the face or front of the watch, the dial displays the time among other possible information.

Escapement:
Often referred to as the heartbeat within the watch, the escapement regulates timekeeping. While hundreds of different escapements have been modified and invented over the years, the most common modern version is the lever escapement.

Hands:
The watch’s hands point to the correct time or other information located on the dial.

Indexes:
Indexes are the markings (shapes, numbers, Roman numerals, etc.) that hands point to in order to tell time.

Lugs:
Part of the watch’s case, lugs hold onto the strap or bracelet.

Complications

Complication:
In simplest terms: A complication is something a watch does. Individual complications can include chronographs, calendars and more. If a watch has a combination of at least three different advanced functions, it’s referred to as a grand complication.


Annual Calendar:
The annual calendar complication shows the day, date and month without accounting for leap years.

Chronograph:
A chronograph is essentially a stopwatch that has the ability to measure time or an event. Within chronographs there are different variations, including the split-seconds chronograph, which can time two things simultaneously.

Day/Date:
This complication indicates both the day of the week and the date of the month.

Moon Phase:
The moon phase complication gives you a visual representation of phases of the lunar cycle, either in a picture or in days. Originally invented for farmers, it’s less practical for most people today.

Perpetual Calendar:
The perpetual calendar complication shows the day, date and month while accounting for leap years. That’s the big difference between perpetual and annual calendars.

Power Reserve Indicator:
One popular complication is the power reserve indicator, which tells the wearer how long a watch will last or keep going before it needs to be wound.

Repeater:
A repeater is a watch that can chime the time. There are different variations, including minute repeaters that strike different tones for hours, quarters and minutes.

Tourbillon:
The tourbillon is a special type of escapement that rotates on an axis in order to counteract the effects of gravity and thus improve accuracy in a mechanical watch. A feat to be made, it’s considered a calling card of high horology.

Movements

Movement:
Mechanical or quartz, the movement is what’s inside a watch and makes it run.

Quartz:
Quartz watches utilise a battery or capacitor to charge and run the watch.

Mechanical:
Mechanical watches run without batteries and can be divided into either the automatic/self-winding or manually wound categories.

Automatic:
An automatic movement is wound by the oscillating weight (known as a rotor) inside the watch that moves in unison with the wearer’s wrist.

Manual:
Manual watches are powered by winding the crown, which connects to the mainspring.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Watches Lingo: 23 Terms You Should Know
PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 3:39 pm 
Offline
Active Member

Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 4:35 pm
Posts: 83
Location: Wichita Kansas
Thanks for posting this.

_________________
That pink haired jeweler from Wichita


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 4 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Gemology Style ported to phpBB3 by Christian Bullock