Watch Glossary

Definitions and explanations.
A small companion with and through the watch.

 

Glass …

Acrylic glass	is a synthetic, glass-like thermoplastic material
Sapphire glass	Synthetic sapphire crystal plates are used for glazing high-quality wristwatches. In watchmaking terminology, they are called sapphire glass, although they have a crystalline and not a glass-like structure.
Mineral glass	one distinguishes normal glass from the softer and lighter plastic glass or from the harder sapphire glass

 

what they are made of …

Gold	is a chemical element. Gold belongs to the precious metals and is one of the few colored metals. One distinguishes yellow gold, rose gold, and white gold. In watches, the types of gold are found in various alloys.
Gilding	objects are coated with gold
Stainless steel	is a steel with a special degree of purity. Often used as stainless, non-rusting steel
Platinum	Platinum is a heavy, malleable, ductile, gray-white transition metal, has high durability, tarnish resistance, and is very rare. It is considered the most valuable precious metal before gold.
Titanium	metal, white-metallic shiny, light, hard, ductile, corrosion- and temperature-resistant, very durable
Ceramic	Derived from ancient Greek, "Ceramic" refers to clay minerals and their shape-retaining products.
Carbon	plastic fiber made of carbon, extremely durable and hard, mostly black

 

on the case …

Cabochon	round-cut decorative stone, found for example in the winding crown
Crown	a button-like control element for setting the time and manually winding the Power Reserve
Spring bar	connects watch and strap
Pusher	for triggering various functions
Diamond	hardest, most natural material, carbon in pure form, measured in carats, evaluated by 4 "Cs" (Color, Cut, Carat, Clarity)
Brilliant	cut style for gemstones, used only in connection with diamonds without additional designation, has 56-57 facets

 

Drives …

Quartz	electromechanical or fully electronic, the timekeeper is an electronic quartz oscillator whose frequency is maintained by a tuning fork quartz
Manual winding	mechanical with manual winding
Automatic	mechanical, the spring is wound automatically in small steps by a rotor through the wearer's arm movements

 

inside …

Anchor	receives the power impulse from the escape wheel and transmits it to the balance wheel
Baguette Movement	Rectangular and particularly narrow Movement for ladies' jewelry watches. It is a compacted gear train arranged on two levels.
Bimetal Screw Balance Wheel	The bimetallic screw balance wheel previously partially compensated    Temperature fluctuations that adversely affected the watch's rate.
Breguet Spring	A special balance spring with an upturned terminal curve. It was long considered a special feature of precision watches.
Bridge	Part of the raw Movement that serves to support wheels and is fixed with two screws. There is the winding bridge and the gear train bridge.
Bridge Movement	A rear Movement plate consisting of several bridges (and cocks).
Chaton	Previously, ruby bearings often set in gold in high-quality wristwatches, sometimes fixed in the plate with two or three screws.
Jewel Bearing	A jewel bearing additionally reduces the friction of the bearing. Jewel bearings are always used in the balance wheel bearing and occasionally in the anchor wheel bearing.
Fine Regulation	Fine regulation compensates for differences in the watch's rate. For this purpose, watches are finely adjusted by experienced specialists in various positions and at different temperatures. Usually, such watches also have a fine regulator, with which the index pointer can be shifted by micrometers. Other watches have adjustment screws on the balance wheel.
Form Movement	Form Movements are Movements that deviate from the circular shape in the floor plan. With them, the wristwatch demonstrated its independent development. With the introduction of automatic calibers, the round Movement type largely returned. The dimension refers to the width of the caliber.
Escapement	The escapement consists of the anchor and escape wheel and is located between the gear train and the balance wheel. The escapement prevents the uncontrolled operation of the Movement by supplying energy to the regulating organ and allowing the gear train to advance in time with the balance wheel.
Jewels	The number of jewels is indicated on the Movement in English.
Movement	Abbreviation for "calibre", French for Movement. Often with the manufacturer's name and a number for distinction (for example ETA 2892A2), usually also with size indication (for example 13" ).
Cock	The cock is part of the raw Movement for bearing a wheel or the balance. It is held only by one screw and a locating pin.
Jewel Bearings	Jewel bearings are today mostly made from synthetic rubies. They reduce wear on the ends of the pivots and decrease friction. Previously, they were set in chatons; today they are pressed into the plate without a sleeve. They have a depression to hold lubricant.
Minute Wheel	The minute wheel is usually the gear located in the center of the movement, on which the minute hand sits and which, with its pinion, takes over the power from the mainspring barrel and passes it on to the third wheel.
Plate	In technical language, the plate refers to the movement plate on which the Movement is built. The second movement plate in wristwatches usually consists of bridges and cocks.
Regulation	The regulation serves to optimize the rate. By changing the effective length of the hairspring using the regulator, this can be influenced and regulated. High-quality watches are regulated in two different positions ("2 ADJUSTMENTS").
Column Wheel	In chronograph mechanisms, two constructions are distinguished: one with and one without a column wheel. The column wheel is easy to recognize even for non-experts, as it is made of steel and has seven to nine strong pin teeth. It controls the start and stop functions and prevents unintended zeroing of the chronograph hand.
Swan Neck Fine Adjustment	The swan neck fine regulator is used for fine adjustment of a watch. Due to a spring in the shape of a swan neck and a fine screw, the regulator pointer is under pressure and cannot change its position.
Hairspring	A wound spring, which is attached at its inner end to the balance staff and at its outer end to the balance cock (hairspring stud). It was originally made of steel, today it is made of Nivarox. The hairspring, together with the oscillating body balance, generates the frequency.
Shock protection	The shock protection primarily serves the delicate pivots of the balance staff. The Incabloc system, for example, has proven to be the best.
Balance wheel	The balance wheel is a time-regulating flywheel that enables the uniform advancement of the hands via the gear train. It must repeatedly return the hairspring to its resting position. By tuning the balance wheel and hairspring, the desired oscillation frequency is achieved. The balance wheel is held in ruby bearings. Today, by using special materials, disturbing influences such as temperature fluctuations and variations in spring force are largely eliminated.
Hacking function	for second-precise setting of the watch
Mainspring	The mainspring stores the energy and drives the gear train. In newer watches, they are unbreakable and non-rusting.

 

what other functions they have ...

Chronograph	Wristwatch with an additional mechanism to stop times up to 30 or 45 minutes, later up to twelve hours.
Chronometer	high-quality watch regulated in various positions and at different temperatures, whose accuracy is tested by an official institute and confirmed with a certificate
Digital display	digital display with digits, without hands. Today, the display is mostly done with an LC display.
Analog display	Display with hands and Dial
Perpetual Calendar	Wristwatches with the highly complicated Perpetual Calendar are only produced in very small series. A mechanism automatically advances the entire calendar, starting from the different month lengths through weekday and month to leap years. Usually, a Moonphase display is also added.
GMT	Abbreviation for Greenwich Mean Time, the mean solar time at the zero meridian in the London district of Greenwich. GMT forms the starting point for dividing the Earth into 24 time zones.
Moonphase	The Moonphase refers to the different light shapes of the moon - full moon, waning moon, new moon, and waxing moon.
Rattrapante	The double-hand chronograph, also called Rattrapante, has two hands and is used to measure split times. Chronograph hands with double or rattrapante hands run on top of each other after starting. The latter can be temporarily stopped by the pusher to read split times.
retrograde displays	In the retrograde display, the Dial indications for the time are not arranged in a circle, so the hour hand must jump back to position 0 at 12 o'clock and the minute hand must jump back to the starting position after 60 minutes.
Date quickset	With the quickset, any desired date can be set quickly using the crown. Previously, the watch hands had to be turned for over 24 hours before the next calendar day appeared in the display window.
Seconds display	In mechanical wristwatches, the seconds hand moves in five steps per second, while in quartz wristwatches it moves only one step. In the stop seconds, i.e. a stoppable second, pulling the crown stops the hands and balance wheel, allowing the watch to be set precisely to the second. In the mechanical jumping seconds, only every fifth step is transferred to the hand. The chronograph hand usually also moves in 1/5-second steps, rarely 1/10-second steps.
Central seconds	In the central seconds, the seconds hand is driven from the center of the Dial (just like the hour and minute hands). In a small seconds display, the indication is via a small subsidiary Dial integrated into the main Dial of the watch.

 

and something more …

Complication	Additional mechanism that can only be made by specialists. These include repeater, perpetual calendar, but also chronograph
limited edition	Wristwatches produced in small series or for a specific occasion are often consecutively numbered on the Dial or on the case back, for example with 50/1000 (= the 50th watch of a series of 1000 pieces).
rhodium plating	High-quality Movements receive an electroplated metal coating as surface protection and for decoration. Rhodium gives the surface a shiny, silver-colored appearance. The process of coating is called rhodium plating.

 

Source: Wikipedia