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Terms as they relate to the watch making industry.
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Analogue
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Time indication by hands and dail; means corresponding. Originally an electronic term that was
adapted by watch making with the spread of the quartz movement.
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Antimagnetic Watch
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A watch whose parts are protected from but the very strongest magnetism; quartz watches
cannot be disturbed by the phenomenon.
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Applied Numerals
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Raised metal characters attached to dail
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Automatic Watch
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Mechanical watch with a mainspring that is wound by the wearers movements via a rotor.
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Auxillary Dial
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Small dial showing seconds only, up to one minute, usually at the six o'clock position
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Back Winder
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Flat crown set into the back of the case for setting time and winding.
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Baguette
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Rectangular movement, with a length at least three times its width. Popular shape for Art Deco watches.
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Balance
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Running regulator of mechanical watch; it oscillates about its axis of rotation, the hair-spring making it swing to and fro
(tick-tock) in equal time parts. Balances of modern wristwatches beat up to 10 beats per second.
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Barrel
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Circular box housing mainspring; teeth attached at edge drive gears; going barrel has great wheel mounted upon it.
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Baton Numerals
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Undecorated non-numerical markers of hours, minutes and seconds.
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Bezel
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Metal surround frame in which watch glass(crystal) is fitted.
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Breguet Hand
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Popular design by Breguet; the slightly tappered needle of the hand ends in a pointed head mounted on a circle,
which is pierced with a hole. Sometimes called a moon hand.
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Button
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Better known as crown or winder; sometimes refers to chronograph.
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Cabochon Crown
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Crown or winder set with a jewel.
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Calibre
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Once used only to denote the diameter of a watch movement; now often only indicates type (e.g. mens, ladies, automatic)
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Carat
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The official scale by which the purity of gold is determined. 24 carrot is pure gold, 18 carrots is 18 parts in 24 are gold etc..
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Chronograph
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Watch which has an independant stop watch for short interval timming.
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Chronometer
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Ordinary watch which has passed extremely severe precision and reliability tests in an official observatory.
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Complicated Watch
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Watch with functions not directly related to the time of day. (eg: calendars, chronographs, moonphases, perpetual, repeaters etc..)
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Crown
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Knob, generally knurled and positioned outside the case at three o'clock, for winding, correcting and setting.
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Crystal
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Glass dial cover (made of glass, plastic, synthetic sapphire, or quartz crystal) fitted into bezel.
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Deployment Buckle
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Two strips of hinged metal (curved to the wrist shape) on the watchband; upon closing, one folds over the
other to cover it. Probably invented by Cartier.
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Dial
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Face of the watch, showing hours, minutes, seconds. Other small dials are called subsidury dials.
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Divers Watch
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Water-resistant.
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Doctors Watch
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Also known as a duoplan or duodial. An auxillary seconds dial is seperated from the hour and minute dial;
useful for quick reference when taking pulse count.
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Form Watch
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Watch in a very unusual shape.
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Hack Features
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Balance stopping - Second hand which is stopped to synchronize time, when crown is pulled out.
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Integral Bracelet
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Designed as natural extension of watch case.
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Jewels
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Used as bearings at points of greatest friction in movements; commonly fifteen to eighteen are used.
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Lug
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Part or parts of watch case to which band, bracelet or strap may be attached.
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Mainspring
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Principal spring in watch; a flat spring is coiled in a barrel.
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Mean Time
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Average length of all solar days in year; the usual time shown by watches.
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Minute Repeater
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Repeating watch that sounds hours, quarters and minutes.
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Month Aperture
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Pierced window in a mechanical digital watch displaying month, often abbreviated.
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Moonphase Watch
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Watch displaying phase of moon through twenty-nine and a half days
(correction for extra extra forty four minutes per month often incorporated).
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Movement
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Complete mechanism of watch; from 120 to over 600 parts may be incorporated in it.
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Oyster Case
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Rolex watch with water-resistant case.
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Pave
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Literally "paved with", as in dial with precious stones.
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Perpetual
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Self winding automatic watch.
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Perpetual Calendar
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Calendar mechanism with display which automatically corrects for long and short months and leap years.
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Quarter Repeater
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Repeating mechianism which sounds hours and quarters.
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Quartz
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Rock crystal (silicone dioxide) that can be made to oscillate by electronic switching,
maintaining its very constant frequency, in accordance with its cut.
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Rolled Gold
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An extremely hot sheet of gold pressed onto another metal.
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Roman Numerals
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Besides Arabic, the most common numerals used on watch dials; note IIII instead of IV
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Rotor
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In an automatic watch, the rotor winds the mainspring; in quartz watches, it is a
permanently rotating magnet in the step-switch motor.
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Ruby
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The ruby referred to in watch making today is in fact corundum, a synthetic stone.
It is used to reduce waer on pivot points.
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Sapphire
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Glass (crystals), sold as scratch proof, are made of synthetic sapphire.
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Shock-Resistant Watch
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A watch is held to be shock proof if, when dropped on to a hardwood surface from a height of 1 meter,
it does not stop, or if its daily rate does not change by more than sixty seconds.
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Signed Movement
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The signature on a movement of its maker, which is likely not to be the same as that on the dial.
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Skeleton Watch
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The dial of a skeleton watch has a seperate chapter ring with the interior cut away, leaving only numerals and
exposing the wheels and interior mechanisms of the movement. The back plate is also cut away and fitted with glass.
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Split Second Chronograph
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Chronograph with sweep second hand, independent of chronograph hand.
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Stem
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Shaft connection between winding mechanism and crown on outside of case.
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Subsidary Dials
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Smaller auxillary dials that show elapsed minutes and running seconds.
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Sweep Seconds
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Center Seconds - Second hand mounted at dial center and extending to chapter ring.
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Tachometer
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Speedometer or revolution recorder on bezel.
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Tank Case
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Today common name for a rectangular case; originally exclusive name for Cartier wristwatch.
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Tonneau
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Case shape with wide center and flat tapered ends.
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Tourbillon
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Invention by Breguet for nullifying vertical position errors by means of a revolving platform which
goes through all such positions, so that they neutralize each other.
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Tritium
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Luminous paint for dials, hands and numerals.
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Tuning Fork
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A transistor continually switching between two small magnets to regulate smooth running, oscillating 360 times
a second. The high frequency gives great precision in time keeping. Bulova Accutron made use of the device famous,
but then quartz watches usurped its popularity.
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Water Resistant
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Expression for waterproof, which is illegal in the USA. Water resistant watches sold as such, must be able to
withstand water pressure at a depth of 1m for 30 minutes and thereafter 90 seconds at 20 meters. Divers
watches have much greater resistance
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