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DICTIONARY
WELCOME!
The world of wristwatches is just
like any other area of special interest in that it has its own
language. Although there is a certain amount of jargon, most regular
terms used in describing watches and horology have passed through
the generations intact. To assist any of you who are perhaps new
to the world of watches, your friendly web-based Watch Doctor
has kindly got his prescription pad out and written a few doses
of simple explanation! He will add more as time and his doctoring
permits so keep coming back. Please note that this section isn't
actually a dictionary in the true sense as I haven't put the explanations
in alphabetical order. This allows me to keep adding new explanations
with the minimum of 'webgineering' each time I update.
AUTOMATIC
MOVEMENT
A watch described as being "Automatic" can also be described
as "self-winding" but in reality the wearer has a part
to play in keeping the watch mainspring wound up! In a watch with
an automatic/self-winding movement there is a mechanism that converts
the movement of the watch whilst being worn into mechanical energy
that winds the mainspring. Today many such watches have a see-through
case back and this allows you to see the mechanism in action.
The most common mechanism uses a "rotor". The rotor
is a semi-circular metal weight (in top quality movements this
can be made from gold) anchored on bearings to the exact centre
of the movement. This swings freely under the force of gravity
when the position of the watch changes during wear. The rotor
is attached to gear wheels which then impart small turns to the
mainspring. The upshot of this is; wear the watch all day every
day and you should never need to actual physically wind it! The
benefit of an automatic movement is that the mainspring is kept
well wound and this constant pressure from the mainspring aids
accuracy in timekeeping.
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MECHANICAL
MOVEMENT
A watch described as being mechanical refers to the fact that
it relies on being manually wound to keep it going. Often the
mechanical watch is described as "manual" or "hand-wound"
to distinguish it from Automatic watches and also from quartz
watches which are battery, solar or kinetically powered. If you
have a mechanical watch it is best to develop a habit of regularly
winding it. Perhaps the best is to wind it first thing in the
morning and last thing at night. Always wind by turning the winding
crown gently back and forth until resistance is felt. Stop winding
once you feel the crown resist the turning motion. It is possible
to be too harsh and overwind a mechanical watch or break the mainspring
which will then require assistance from a watch doctor!
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KINETIC
MOVEMENT
A watch described as having a kinetic movement is in fact a quartz
watch that doesn't rely on a battery for its power source. Instead
it has a rotor just like that seen in an automatic watch. In this
particular kind of watch the rotor drives gear wheels that turn
a tiny electric generator at high speed, thus producing electric
current that keeps the quartz movement powered. Surplus current
is stored and discharged by a capacitor which can basically be
regarded as a rechargeable battery. The kinetic movement was introduced
by Seiko where it was first referred to as the Auto Generating
System. Seiko watches can still be found with "AGS"
on the dial. In recent years the Kinetic technology has been licensed
to other companies.
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MOONPHASE
A graphic display, usually showing through a cut-out in the watch
dial, that shows the phases of the moon. Many people, from all
walks of life and professions, have an interest in knowing when
a full moon occurs. Astrologers and astronomers often own moonphase
watches so they can track all the phases. The full lunar month
is actually 29.4 days in length. This presents some difficulty
in keeping the display totally in step with the moon and mechanical
watches do, eventually, get out of step and need slight adjustment.
Some quartz watches, however, now display the phases of the moon
via their Liquid Crystal Display (for example Casio & Yes
watches) and can track the full cycle more accurately than mechanical
ones.
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UNI-DIRECTIONAL
BEZEL
Many watches come equipped with a metal ring that rotates around
the outside of watch dial. This is called a bezel. Bezels are
usually marked either with divisions for 24 hours such as the
Rolex GMT-Master or with 5-minute intervals and have a marker
at the 12 position as used in diver's watches such as the Rolex
Submariner. Any watch that is used for diving should have a uni-directional
bezel. This rotates only in the anti-clockwise direction. Many
watches, not classed as diver models, have bezels that rotate
both ways. The importance of a uni-directional bezel is that if
the bezel is accidentally knocked and moved round it can only
read a longer dive time. No diver ever had trouble allowing longer
than necessary for decompression. But should a dive elapsed time
be shown as shorter than it was, because the bezel could be moved
the other way too, the diver would be in danger of not decompressing
long enough.
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SCREW
LOCK/SCREW DOWN CROWN
For a watch movement to be protected fully against water and foreign
matter it is necessary to seal all openings in the case. The most
obvious and weakest point is where the winder stem passes through
the watch case and directly into the movement. A screw down crown
allows the winding crown to engage in a threaded sleeve and be
tightened against sealing gaskets. Whilst screwed down such watches
are protected and, in combination with a screwed and sealed case
back and suitably sealed crystal, can be guaranteed to withstand
the ingress of water (water resistant) to a certain level expressed
in atmospheres, metres or feet. For example 10 atm = 100 metres
= 330 feet. Perhaps the best known example of the screw down crown
is the Rolex Submariner.
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TOURBILLON
The "beating heart" of a mechanical watch is the oscillating
escapement (balance wheel, hairspring and pallets) that literally
divide time into beats that are passed through a series of gears
to the hands. High quality watches are often adjusted to compensate
for the fact that, during normal wear, a watch ends up in all
sorts of positions. Each position allows gravity to exert a different
effect on the balance wheel and escapement and therefore affects
the overall time-keeping accuracy. The ultimate solution, and
the pinnacle of the watchmaker's art, is the Tourbillon. This
is a "cage" that houses the escapement and is engineered
to rotate continuously and at a steady rate. The whole escapement
is therefore, in a sense, gyroscopically protected from "positional"
effects of how the watch is worn and moved about. Tourbillons
take a master watchmaker several months to complete, are very
rare and are highly prized by collectors and lovers of fine craftsmanship.
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CHRONOMETER
The time keeping accuracy of quality watches is often given an
additional recommendation to the client by virtue of being certified
to chronometer status. This term cannot be used to describe a
watch unless it has undergone strict and stringent testing and
has been found worthy. The testing is carried out by COSC - Controle
Officiel des Suisse Chronometres - who are the independant and
official testing organisation. Now a watch can be quite accurate,
within the limitations of a mechanical movement, without having
to be certified as a chronometer. Many good watches have their
movements adjusted to compensate for the fact that, during normal
wear, a watch ends up in all sorts of positions. Each position
allows gravity to exert a different effect on the balance wheel
and escapement and therefore affects the overall time-keeping
accuracy. However, it's nice to have your watch guaranteed to
perform time keeping to highest standards of accuracy and for
this the COSC accreditation is the best benchmark. For some years
most Rolex Oyster Perpetuals have been submitted to the COSC for
testing and accreditation. Look at the dial of a Rolex and you
will find the legend "officially cerified superlative chronometer"
and also a special seal enclosed witht the watch. Some watch brands
actually supply the individual COSC report certificate with the
timepiece.
Please
note: A mechanical chronometer will usually not be as accurate
as a quartz watch. The oscillations of, say, 28,800 per hour in
a high beat mechanical chronometer ( or even 36,000 in the case
of the Zenith El Primero movement) cannot possible deliver the
stability and accuracy of a tuned quartz crystal oscillator operating
at 32,768 cycles per second! Also your friendly Watch Doctor asks
you to note that the definition of chronometer is not, therefore,
exclusively reserved for mechanical watches. Breitling watches,
for example, have pioneered new levels of accuracy for electronic/quartz
movements and have obtained a new chronometer classification for
this category.
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CHRONOGRAPH
The meaning of the word actually, if you wish to be pedantic,
translates as 'time writer' which once upon a time is what the
early sports event timing chronographs did on a moving paper tape.
However, dear watch seeker, times have moved on and the best thing
is to accept the historic baggage and realise that a chronograph
is basically a stopwatch! Yes, if a watch is described as a chronograph
it simply means that the watch has a stopwatch function. Basically
the watch movement has the ability to engage and disengage from
additional hands used to indicate the passing seconds, minutes
and even hours. Usually a chronograph of the mechanical variety
will be single or double button. We often call the buttons that
control the chronograph functions 'pushers'. On a more usual two
button model the top button will start and stop the measurement
and the bottom button/pusher will then reset the hands to their
original 'zero' positions. On quartz chronographs you can have
more pushers with additional functions. A more advanced version
of the chronograph is the 'split seconds' utilising two centre
sweep chronograph seconds hands. There are variations of the length
of time measurable with some chronographs measuring elapsed time
for 30 minutes or 45 minutes (often the vintage models do this
with curious intervals which actually were used to measure the
length of international telephone calls in the days when calling
aunty Sally in Sydney was a big deal!) but the famous mechanically
powered sports chronographs such as the Rolex Daytona measure
secs, mins and hours up to 12 hours. In passing, I have played
with quartz chronographs that have been able to track elapsed
time for very long times -into days and weeks! The best example
being the incredible X-33 by Omega which was designed for the
long awaited Mars exploration missions by NASA. If you want to
check this amazing timepiece out watch the movie "Mission
to Mars" where all the crew wear and refer to their X-33s.
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