MB Watch Knowledge Base

Introduction

Working with fine watches on a daily basis gives you an appreciation for the engineering, quality and finishing that goes into every high-end timepiece… But it also makes us slightly complacent. Working in the watch industry we often take things for granted, small details and distinctions that are often not known by the general public. To address this and to better inform our clients, I’m preparing a FAQ about watches and watch technology. Use this information to build your knowledge and fuel your passion for watches – these are the details that every self-respecting watch nut should know.

The Basics

Quartz vs Mechanical

A watch is a watch right? But there are two very different ways of keeping time. Quartz is now the most common – simply put, it’s a watch that takes a battery. It is the least expensive and most accurate way to tell time. Quartz is the crystal used to regulate the timekeeping – an electric current vibrates the crystal at a specific frequency which is then used to measure time. A mechanical watch is just that – no battery, no electronics, just mechanical parts. It uses a spring to push a series of gears that are regulated by a balance wheel that spins back and forth at high speed (up to 36 000 beats per hour). Almost all high-end watches are mechanical, and require a great deal of precision to manufacture and assemble. The Swiss are the best-known producers of mechanical watches (and the most highly-regarded) but there are producers in Japan, the US, and China that produce mechanical movements as well.

Manual vs Automatic

Within the mechanical category there are two types of movements – manual winding and automatic winding. Manual winding means that the spring has to be wound by hand – normally the watch will run for 40-50 hours on a full wind, some special movements can run as long as 8-10 days (there is even a 31 day power reserve movement made by A. Lange and Sohne). So for most manual wind watches you have to wind them once a day or every other day. The advantage of a manual wind is that the mechanism is slim, simple and relatively easy to service.

An automatic is a mechanical watch that winds itself with the movement of your wrist. This has become the most common form of modern mechanical watch because it eliminates the need for regular winding; as long as you are wearing the watch it will keep itself wound, usually enough to run overnight or a day and a half without being worn. It does so by using a weighted rotor that runs a series of gears through a clutch; the rotor spins, the gears wind the spring, and the clutch stops the movement from being overwound. Aside from the rotor assembly, the movement is very similar to a manual wind.

Power Reserve

What is all this talk of "power reserve"? A power reserve is the length of time the watch will run (in hours or days) when the mainspring is fully wound. An average mechanical movement will run between 40-50 hours on a full wind. Keep in mind that on an automatic, just wearing it is not enough to reach full wind - usually you will have around 50% power reserve after wearing the watch for a day. To fully wind an automatic you need to manually wind it through the crown, also the best way to start an automatic that has run down.

Chronograph vs Three-Hand

The most important function of a watch is (obviously) the time. Often there will be a date display, but otherwise no extra functions or complications. A simple watch that shows minutes, seconds and hours is called a “three-hand” watch. The next, and most popular, form of complication is a chronograph. A chronograph takes the time and adds the ability to measure elapsed time on a series of subdials – small dials located on the main dial below the central hands. The central hands measure the regular time, while the subdials count off elapsed minutes and hours. To start, stop and reset the counters you press pushers, usually placed above and below the crown of the watch. The advantage of a chrono is that you can time events (sports, or maybe just your parking meter), and it adds an interesting level of complexity to the watch. Because the movement is more complicated, chronographs almost always cost more than an equivalent three-hand watch.

Setting and winding a mechanical watch

A little known fact about automatic mechanical watches is that shaking them to start is NOT the correct way to get them running. In fact you need to manually wind them to build up the power, after which you can wear them and the movement of your wrist will keep them running. To manually wind an automatic, you simply turn the crown clockwise in the closed position (as in pushed all the way in, not in the time or date setting position). You will feel a gentle resistance, that’s the spring being wound. Turn the crown 20-30 times to build up some power, then set it and wear it. And don’t worry about over-winding an automatic – there is a clutch that stops the winding when it reaches full power, so the crown will keep turning without damaging the spring.

You can, however, overwind a manual wind watch. When winding a manual you must take care – wind slowly and gently until you begin to feel resistance. When you feel the crown stop (kind of like getting stuck in rubber, it will suddenly stiffen up), you are at full wind. If you force it past that you will break the mechanism, so take care.

What is a Screw Down Crown?

A screw down crown is a crown that has threads like a screw so it can be sealed against dust and water. It is typical of a diving watch, and is often found on more expensive designs by default whether they are for diving or not. It protects the watch from the elements and also makes it much less likely for the crown to catch onto something and be pulled out. For example, all Rolex models (save the Prince and Cellini) have screw down crowns. To release the crown from the closed position you gently turn it counter clockwise until it pops out, then you can wind and set the watch normally. To screw it back down, you push firmly and turn it clockwise until it is snug – finger tight only, don’t try to over tighten it. The best thing is to ask a salesperson for a demonstration of the proper technique.

What are jewels? Are more jewels better?

You always see a marker on the movement or the back of a mechanical watch that lists the number of jewels in the movement. Anything between 15 and 50 jewels is possible. But what are jewels and what do they do? A jewel is a bearing – it’s a hard surface that acts as a reducer of friction on moving parts, helped by a tiny bit of oil. They are called jewels because early watches had actual rubies, sapphires or even diamonds to act as bearings. Nowadays jewels are made of synthetic corundum – very similar in composition to a ruby, which gives it the signature red tinge.

The number of jewels is determined by the complexity of the watch. 15-18 jewels is typical for a simple manual wind movement, as that is the number of moving gears or pivots you will find. An automatic normally has between 20 and 26 jewels, the extras are in the automatic winding system. Complicated movements with multiple functions will have more. The number of jewels is not an indicator of the quality of the movement, only of the number of pivots and gears. Back before there was strict regulation of claims, there was a “100 jewel” movement made by a certain manufacturer. It had 17 functional jewels inside the movement – and 83 arranged uselessly around the edge. Now it is required by law to state the number of FUNCTIONAL jewels only.

Servicing and maintenance

A mechanical movement is like an engine. It has gears, pivots, levers, springs and shafts that all work in delicate harmony to keep time. They are a marvel when you look at them closely – with hundreds of tiny pieces working together it’s amazing that they can run every day for years or decades while maintaining accurate timekeeping. But just like an engine, they require regular maintenance to run properly and last.

All the moving parts need oil for lubrication, and these oils will dissipate or evaporate after a period of a few years, after which the parts will begin to wear heavily. Typical service intervals for a mechanical watch are between 3 and 5 years. This interval is critical – never go more than 5 years between services, even if the watch keeps good time. At that point the moving parts will begin to get eaten up by friction, and when it does inevitably stop or need adjusting you will spend more to replace the worn out pieces.

Water resistance and diving watches

Water resistance is just that – resistance. Notice no one claims their watches are water proof. Generally manufacturers quote water resistance as a rating in either metres/feet or ATM (atmospheres, 1 ATM = 10 metres). But something needs to be addressed within this system – generally, the quoted depths are theoretical and are in no way a guarantee. In fact they are expressly NOT a guarantee, as water entry is never covered under a manufacturer’s warranty. Water resistance on non-diving watches is checked using air pressure, not actual water. The ATM rating is based on how much air pressure can be applied before it gets into the case. In real-world conditions submerged in water that rating does not mean much. 5 ATM/ 50 metres does not mean you can scuba dive 150 feet with the watch – in fact, a 5 ATM rating is splash resistance at most. The minimum rating for swimming or diving with the watch should be 30 ATM or 300 metres, and the watch should feature a screw down crown. The minimum for timed decompression dives should be 1000 metres resistance and the addition of a helium escape valve (more on that later).

Something to note outside of the ratings – you should never shower with your watch, even if it is a purpose built diving item. The heat affects the integrity of the seals (by expanding the metals) which compromises the water resistance, and high heat is not good for mechanical movements either.

Warranties

Any manufacturer or dealer warranty on a mechanical watch applies to the movement ONLY. The bracelet, case, crown, pushers, dials, crystal, caseback – anything outside of the movement itself – is not covered by any sort of warranty. Additionally water or shock damage is not covered – only defects within the movement not caused by outside interference. So if you drop the watch and break the movement, not covered. If water gets into the movement, not covered. Keep this in mind, as treating your watch with care and respect will reward you with years or decades of faithful service, while beating the snot out of it or using it in ways not intended by the manufacturer (like swimming or showering with a dress watch) will just result in expensive repair bills.

Swiss Made

The Swiss Made moniker has become a trademark of quality and fine finishing in the watch world. After all the Swiss are the best-known watch producers in the world, and have a virtual monopoly on high-end watchmaking. But what qualifies a watch for the Swiss Made mark? 51% of the value of the watch must be manufactured in Switzerland. 51% of the movement must be manufactured in Switzerland as well. On top of that, the final assembly of the movement and the watch must be performed in Switzerland. That is the minimum; many brands perform all the manufacturing and assembly in Switzerland alone. Some even restrict themselves to a particular region – Geneva has a particularly good reputation in the high-end.

Preowned

Here at Matt Baily we pride ourselves in our experience in preowned and vintage timepieces. We established our business 30 years ago by specializing in preowned watches. Today we maintain an interesting stock of high-end pieces for discerning collectors and clients looking for savings by purchasing preowned. All our preowned pieces are backed up by a guarantee of authenticity and a one-year warranty on the movement. When we receive a piece we have the watch checked and serviced by a professional watchmaker, and if necessary we will have it polished back to as-new condition at the same time. And we always file a police report to ensure the piece is not stolen. Preowned is often the best way to get a unique, hard to find, or exclusive piece that is not available or discontinued. And vintage watches are the darling of collectors and clients looking for something truly distinctive.

Entry Level – Midrange – Haute de Gamme – Haute Complication

Much like everything else in life, watches are loosely categorized into market categories based on their price, exclusivity, complication, and brand name. Here I will lay out the categories of the Swiss industry.

Entry Level denotes pieces under 1000$ (often 200-750$) of simple design, finishing and manufactured in large numbers. More often than not these pieces are quartz, rarely mechanical, made of stainless steel, and are produced in very high numbers. Generally this category is a step above the basic Japanese or Chinese watch that dominate the market.

Midrange is the most popular category of Swiss watch, and runs 1000-5000$. These pieces are usually mechanical, of fine finishing, and can be made of stainless steel, titanium, ceramic, and sometimes even gold (some Tissots in solid gold fall into the under 5000 category). Most of the time these watches will use off-the-shelf movements from major suppliers (like ETA, Sellita, Dubois-Depraz and Soprod) rather than manufacturing their own from scratch (two exceptions are Frederique Constant and Alpina who make their own movements for between 3000 and 5000). They are made in large numbers, but there are many limited editions in this category too.

Haute de Gamme is the most popular category of prestige watch. These run anywhere between 5000$ and 25 000$ or more, usually feature in-house movements and extremely high levels of finishing, and can have quite impressive levels of complication. Generally they are low production and can feature very exclusive limited editions in the tens or hundreds of pieces. Materials can be anything short of Platinum.

Haute Complication is the cream of the watchmaking world. These are the most complex, most exclusive, and most expensive watches produced. They start around 25 000$ and can reach into the millions. Materials are almost always precious metals or high tech composites. Production can be in the single digits for some pieces. And in this category you can often get a piece made to order and to your own specifications, provided cost is no object. Complications abound, with the highest level of watchmaking skill on display in perpetual calendars, tourbillons, and the holy grail - the minute repeater. More on high complications in the Advanced section of the FAQ.

Limited Editions

Limited editions offer an extra degree of exclusivity in the midrange and haut de gamme market. A true limited edition should be numbered (number X out of XXX) and many offer a certificate of authenticity from the manufacturer as well. A limited edition can be a variation on an existing model or an entirely new design, or even a model with unique properties and/or materials. Normally they command a premium over standard models; some rare editions even sell for more than retail when demand exceeds supply.

The Advanced

So you know all the basic stuff already, or maybe you have absorbed the introductory portion of the FAQ and are hungry for some more in-depth knowledge. For the watch lovers and aficionados who already know the basics and want to build their understanding, I offer this: the Advanced portion of the watch FAQ.

Watch winders and long term care

When you start building a collection of mechanical watches, it soon becomes apparent that you can’t keep them all running all the time. Once you have two or three watches, odds are you won’t rotate wearing them often enough to keep them running constantly. That is where a watch winder comes in handy. A watch winder uses rotating mounts to gently turn the watches at regular intervals, replicating the movement of your wrist, to keep automatic movements running indefinitely. Not only does it keep your watches running, you don’t have to constantly set the dates (handy on a calendar watch), and it is the best way to keep the movements in top shape. Here is why:

A mechanical movement is like an engine. It has many moving parts and requires oils to lubricate everything. When the movement is running, the parts move and keep the oils in place. When it is static, the oils will slowly evaporate and the parts may seize. If a watch is used regularly (say, weekly) the expected service interval is 3-5 years. If it sits idle for an indefinite period, or is used very rarely, that interval can be as short as 6 months to a year. So it is in your best interest to use the watch as much as possible to avoid the oils drying out. And if you can’t use the watch regularly, the watch winder keeps things in order for you. Plus automatic watches tend to run more accurately when kept on winders.

Not all watch winders are created equal. The best are programmable for TPD (turns per day) and will wind in both directions (if the watch only turns in one direction it puts extra wear on the automatic rotor system, and some watches only wind when turned in one direction rather than both). It should not run continuously – that places too much wear on the rotor and keeps the mainspring tension too high. The ideal is for the mainspring to be wound, then wound down, the rewound regularly – that maximizes performance and minimizes spring “memory” where the tension varies a lot depending on the winding level. On top of that, a good quality winder should be dead silent or near silent and have good quality motors that will run for years without issue. For more advice regarding choosing a winder, give us a call in store.

Accuracy – What is acceptable and what is not.

So you bought a mechanical watch… And you are horrified to discover it is off by several seconds a day. Don’t panic! Decades of being spoiled by no-fuss, highly accurate quartz watches has made us forget that for hundreds of years watches and clocks were far from dead accurate. It used to be that MINUTES a day were acceptable from less expensive wristwatches. Nowadays you can expect accuracy in the SECONDS a day range.

For a non-chronometer, anything within 20 seconds a day is acceptable. Most manufacturers quote 10-20 seconds a day for a basic manual wind or automatic movement. In good adjustment these movements are capable of running within 5 seconds a day, but will be easily affected by positional variance – turning the watch on its side will alter the accuracy. So on the wrist the watch is constantly moving in space, and accuracy can vary quite a bit. This is normal. You can even compensate for it in how you rest your watch overnight – placing it flat on its back will give a neutral or slightly fast rate, while putting the watch on its side with the crown down will make it run slower, and on its site opposite the crown will make it run slower still. Handy if you know that the watch usually runs slightly fast or slightly slow, you can compensate by how you lay it to rest.

An adjusted or chronometer spec watch is expected to run within 5 seconds a day regardless of position. In the real world 5-10 seconds variation is acceptable. The official rate for a chronometer is –4 to +6 seconds per day regardless of position. But keep in mind that many variables can affect the rate – magnetic fields, air temperature, humidity, altitude, or just jarring during shipping. So –4 +6 is the ideal, but not a guarantee.

ETA, Selitta, Soprod, Dubois Depraz – Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Swatch Group?

What many people don’t realize is that many different brands tend to use the same series of movements, all coming from one of several major movement suppliers in Switzerland. The biggest and most common is ETA – short for Eterna, as Eterna founded the company as its movement producer – which is now owned wholly by the Swatch Group. ETA builds the most reliable, least expensive, most popular calibres in the watch industry – the 28XX series for three-hand and calendar (as well as basic complications) and the 77XX for chronographs (aka the Valjoux series). Something like 75% of the Swiss watch industry uses ETA movements, or at least uses their ebauches (base plates or disassembled movement kits) to modify for their own purposes.

Selitta is a new company that began as a factory within ETA SA that assembled the components into finished movements. Now they have branched off to produce complete movements competitive with ETA designs – in fact, most of their products are copies of ETA calibres. They supply a smaller portion of the market that is looking for an alternative to the Swatch Group, who have begun restricting the supply of ETA movements to companies not directly controlled by Swatch. Supposedly ETA will shut its doors to third party buyers as soon as 2012 - they have been threatening to do this since 2008.

Soprod is similar to Selitta but makes their own designs that are a bit more complex in engineering and finishing, but also a bit more expensive. They are less common and are used by a handful of independent brands.

Dubois Depraz is best know as a high quality module maker – they take ETA ebauches and build kits to add complications. For example, Marvin uses Dubois Depraz modules to create their Malton Regulator. Tag Heuer is a prominent user of DD modules as well. They offer an extra level of complexity to standard ETA base movements, without buying an off-the-shelf calibre.

If a company claims to be a manufacture, it means they produce their own movement designs in-house. Creating a manufacture movement requires many years of development and tooling; it’s not something that happens overnight. A manufacture movement shows a company is aiming for a higher level of watchmaking by not relying on outside suppliers; it’s also a way to construct a movement that meets their specific needs, rather than modifying an existing calibre to fit the bill. You will pay more for a manufacture movement (generally they reside in the 3000$ up category of the market) but you get something much more exclusive when it has been entirely developed in house.

BPH

BPH is Beats Per Hour, the rate at which a watch ticks. A mechanical watch beats many times a second, which gives them the characteristic sweeping seconds hand (which moves 4-10 times per second, giving it the appearance of smoothly sweeping across the dial rather than ticking once a second). Typical beat rates are between 18 000 BPH and 28 800 BPH, with some movements clocking in at 36 000 BPH (the Zenith El Primero being the best known). There are even some that run as fast as 72 000 BPH. A beat is one “vibration” of the balance wheel; vibration meaning it swings one direction and then back in the other, rather than spinning in one direction like a wheel. So that little balance is moving back and forth up to 10 times a second. Really it’s a wonder than watch movements are accurate to a few seconds when they are beating up to 864 000 times a day, every day, for years or decades.

Movement Components and what makes a watch tick

So what is a balance wheel? What are the main components of a watch movement? The most basic movement features the following - a mainspring that provides the power to drive the movement, an escapement that translates that power to the gears (the balance wheel is part of the escapement, it regulates the flow of energy so the mainspring does not just spin all its power out in fraction of a second), and a set of gears that then drive pinions that turn the hands. It is actually fairly simple, in theory. In practice it requires incredible attention to detail; even the shape of the teeth of the gears, barely visible to the naked eye, need to be perfect to ensure good performance. Any of the moving gears, wheels or pinions are mounted in jewel bearings to reduce friction, and each moving part is lubricated with a near microscopic drop of oil (because too much oil can actually slow the movement down). Add any sort of complication – automatic winding, a date, a calendar, a chronograph, etc and you multiply the complexity of making the movement work reliably. It takes years to develop a movement from scratch and ensure it runs properly and reliably.

Movement grades and finishing – You want stripes with that?

Not all movements are created equally. While the architecture can be the same, the level of finishing varies between "grades" and what individual manufacturers do to personalize movements. ETA is the best example of different grades. Many ETA calibres are available in up to 5 different grades – base/economique, standard, elabore, top soigné, and chronometer.

Base is what you would find in a Swatch – they are the least expensive and they often use components made outside Switzerland to keep costs down. Standard is the more common base movement, with better parts and more components made in Switzerland.

Elabore takes the standard movement and upgrades some of the individual components for greater accuracy; they are also adjusted to multiple positions at the factory. But it still looks like a standard or base movement with flat finish bridges and plain screws.

Top Soigne is a higher grade in performance and in appearance. At this grade, the parts and polished and finely finished and the bridges are given perlage (circular grain polishing) and/or polished stripes (called cotes de geneve). The screws are blued through heat treatment for a touch of colour. And all the components are upgraded; even the jewels are of higher grade. Top Soigne movements perform to chronometer specs, and are adjusted to 5 positions (but not temperature variations) but are not officially certified (see Chronometer section).

Chronometer is a top soigné that is adjusted to 5 positions and also to heat and isochronism. It is sent to Controle Officiel Suisses des Chronometres (COSC) for independent chronometer testing; the COSC issues a certificate to authenticate the performance of the movement and allow the manufacturer to legally declare the watch a chronometer.

What is an HEV, and the phenomenon of the exploding watch?

Back in the 1960s, deep sea diving became more common. Divers were reaching depths never before attempted without a submarine. At this point controlled decompression became necessary for deep dives – up to this point, decompression was done by slowly rising at controlled intervals to allow the nitrogen to escape the bloodstream gradually. With deeper dives the decompression couldn’t be done with a slow ascent, there needed to be a controlled atmosphere chamber that would allow decompression over a long period of time.

How does this relate to watches? Divers in a decompression chamber breath a mixture of oxygen and helium. Helium is a very thin gas, much lighter than air. That is why it makes balloons float, and your voice squeaky. It also permeates things that are otherwise airtight – like a diving watch. So in the decompression chamber, helium gas would seep into the case of the watch. When the mixture changes and the pressure in the chamber drops, the helium in the watch expands. And the result is an exploding watch. Usually the crystals would blast off the case in hilarious fashion.

To combat this, the Helium Escape Valve (also called a Helium Release Valve) was developed by Rolex, first appearing on the Sea Dweller and later on the COMEX Submariner. The HEV is a simple device – a hole in the side of the case is fitted with a one way valve on a spring, sealed by a rubber gasket against water. The valve moves in one direction – from the inside out, so pressure can’t push it in and compromise the water resistance. When the helium pressure builds inside the case, the valve automatically opens and releases the pressure. Simple and effective. Nowadays HEVs are usually found on purpose built dive watches of 300m water resistance or more.

Graduated bezels and how to read them

Many sport watches nowadays feature a rotating bezel. Aside from looking neat, these bezels serve a specific purpose – they were originally developed to log elapsed time when diving. You rotate the “zero” marker to line up with the minute hand of the watch, then it will show you how many minutes have elapsed since you set the bezel. A proper diving bezel will show minute markers for just this purpose.

If the watch is a GMT model, you will often have a rotating bezel with a 24 hour scale. The GMT hand on a true GMT watch will rotate around the dial once every 24 hours - half the speed of the normal hour hand. By rotating the bezel, you can instantly change the time zone. A lesser-known function of a GMT with rotating bezel is that it makes an impromptu compass – with the watch set to local time, line up the hour hand with the sun. The GMT hand will point roughly towards true north, give or take a few degrees. Keep in mind this only works with a 24 hour GMT hand, where the hand rotates once every 24 hours.

There are two types of rotating bezels - bi-directional and unidirectional. Bi-directional turns both ways (usually GMT watches allow this, as do some early diving watches from the 1960s and 70s) while unidirectional only turns counter clockwise. The reason is that if used for timing diving, you don’t want to accidentally shift the time to show a shorter period (very bad if you were timing decompression periods). If anything, it will only rotate to show a longer period.

Tachymetres/Telemetres and how to read them

A sport chronograph will often have a fixed tachymetre bezel, and less commonly a telemetre scale. A tachymetre scale shows speeds, while a telemetre measures the speed of sound to calculate distance. Both scales need to be used in conjunction with the chronograph seconds hand.

To measure speed with a tachymetre, you must be travelling in a vehicle or able to see the vehicle cross two points – the beginning and the ending of a mile (or kilometre, depending on whether the tachy scale is in MPH or KPH). You start the chrono at the beginning of the mile. When the car hits the end of the mile, you stop the chrono. The tip of the seconds hand will line up with a marker on the bezel. So if you stop the chrono at exactly 30 seconds, the car averaged 120 miles per hour over the mile.

A telemetre is an old scale that allows you to measure distance using sound. For example, you start the chrono when you see a lightning flash and then stop it when you hear the thunderclap. The scale will show you the distance between the origin of the sound and you. Obviously this system is rather specific (you need to be able to see the event that makes the sound, like lightning, an explosion, or a gunshot) and kind of useless, hence why it is not popular anymore.

A Chronometer and why it is more expensive

Why do you pay a significant premium for a chronometer? After all a top soigné often performs as well as a chronometer, but is not certified as such. And that is the difference in the price – certification.

An officially certified chronometer has to be independently tested to prove that it does in fact perform to chronometer standards. This is done by a third party company in Switzerland that tests any movement from any company that cares to submit them – the Controle Officiel Suisses des Chronometres or COSC.

Every single chronometer movement needs to be certified. That means if the watch is a chronometer, the movement inside it was sent to COSC and certified by them. Most chronometers provide a copy of the certificate to prove this – the certificate shows the score and the accuracy variation in all positions, and will list the serial number of the individual movement. This process costs money – the COSC does not do this for free. So the cost of proving a movement is a chronometer adds to the price of the watch, hence the premium.

Something to keep in mind is that a lot of smaller, independent companies do not submit to COSC testing to keep their costs down. Others don’t submit because they feel it is superfluous and unnecessary to “prove” their skill with a slip of paper. So they may have the most accurate movement in the world, but it is not “officially” a chronometer. IWC is a good example of this. They don’t submit to COSC testing, but some of their designs have shown to be astoundingly accurate (some Ingenieur models showed a deviance within a few seconds a month).

One thing I want to address is the common misuse of the work chronometer. Often I hear people call a chronograph a chronometer. This is wrong. A chronograph is a chronograph, a stopwatch. A chronometer relates only to the proven accuracy of the movement. We have a similar problem in the automotive world, where people call dampers “dampners”. A damper is a shock absorbing device. A dampner is something wet.

What does it mean when you see the tag “Adjusted to X Positions”? All this means is that the movement has been regulated (adjusted for timekeeping) in different positions – on its side, right side up, upside down, etc. To qualify as a chronometer, the movement must perform within specs in different positions, not just in one.

Along the same lines is “Adjusted to Heat and Isochronism”. Heat is obvious, the movement is regulated in a high heat environment. Isochronism is the variation of the balance wheel's beat, or the amplitude of the movement, more of a problem on a manual wind movement where the mainspring tension varies a lot as the movement winds down. Isochronic adjustment is a black art, requiring careful adjustment of several variables – when you hear someone talk about a “Breguet overcoil hairspring”, that’s one piece of (old) technology developed to combat amplitude variation in the balance wheel. Generally if a movement is marked with these three tags – position, heat and isochronism – it’s a sign of very fine finishing and regulation and the mark of a very high quality movement.

Know your Materials

Watch makers use a wide variety of materials to craft timepieces, some of them traditional, some of them on the bleeding-edge of high tech. A watch movement is made of brass which is then either rhodium plated (to look like white metal), gold plated, or ruthenium plated (to look blackened, like gunmetal) for the final finish. Some very high end companies use different materials to make the movements – it is not necessary, but it shows their superfluous attention to detail when they build a movement out of 18k gold or titanium and ceramic. In this section I will focus more on the materials used to build watch cases, as this is the most common place to find a wide variety of options.

Chrome is the cheapest, nastiest metal used in watches. The least expensive drug store watches from Asia, and some well known fashion watch brands, use chrome plated brass, copper or nickel to mimic the look of stainless steel. Chrome does not last – like gold plating, it wears off over time and can corrode easily due to the salt in your sweat. What you end up with a brownish rusty mess. No Swiss brands ever use chrome for cases, nor do any reputable Japanese companies. Only the cheapest of the cheap use this for their watches.

Steel is the most common material for watch cases, and has been common since the 1930s. Stainless steel (often of 316L or 316F grade) is what is used across the board. Some companies, Rolex in particular, pride themselves on using even higher grades of stainless steel – since the late 1980s, Rolex has been using 904L steel, which has a higher resistance to acid and corrosion than 316 grades (904 is actually designed for tools and containers that come in contact with chemicals of high acidity). It is totally unnecessary, but shows their attention to quality. The nice thing about steel is that it can be easily milled, polished and brushed and has good scratch resistance compared to other metals.

Stainless steel can have many different finishes applied to it using electroplating, DLC (Diamond Like Coating) and PVD (Physical Vapour Disposition) processes. The most common is gold plating to give a watch the goldtone look without the solid-gold price. Black PVD coating is very common on sport watches, but other colours are possible too. DLC is quickly replacing PVD as the coating of choice because it is up to 10 times more scratch resistant without costing much more to do; otherwise it provides the same type of finish as PVD. Keep in mind that any PVD/DLC or goldplated finish can wear or scratch off, exposing the steel underneath.

Titanium has become a hot material for sporty and industrial designs. Titanium is considerably lighter than steel and has good tensile strength. It is distinguished by its characteristic colour, slightly darker than steel, and it’s hypoallergenic so it is good for people with allergies to certain metals. The downside to titanium is that it is softer than steel and scratches more easily, though it is still harder than gold.

The latest craze in watch materials is ceramic. Ceramic is a man-made material that has incredible properties – it is a bit lighter than steel but as hard as sapphire (just below diamond). It is nearly impossible to scratch without a diamond tipped tool and is very rigid. It can be made in virtually any colour or texture, the most common colours nowadays being black, white, grey and sometimes green. The only downside to it is that because it is so hard and so rigid, it is brittle. If dropped it can crack or shatter. So it is very scratch resistant, but susceptible to shocks.

Sterling silver is a very old fashioned material for watch cases. Up to the 1930s silver was common because it is so soft and easy to work with, making production of pocket and wristwatch cases easier. Nowadays it’s virtually nonexistent, but I mention it because U-Boat produces a series of limited edition pieces, called the 925 series, in solid sterling silver. Silver is a bit heavier than steel and has a warm tone to it. Unfortunately sterling is extremely soft and oxidizes very easily; if left alone it will tarnish to a black-grey colour, easily removed with a polishing cloth. This can be a plus - after time the watch will get a nice patina, with the recesses and crevices blackened with tarnish. The softness is not a problem on a heavy duty case like on a U-Boat, but on some older watches from the 1920s the cases disintegrated after years of wear.

Gold is the most popular precious metal for haute de gamme pieces. Nowadays 18k gold is the standard, but in past decades 14k and 10k gold was common. Obviously a gold case commands a significant premium – often three to four times the price of a stainless steel piece of the same design, sometimes even more. A solid gold watch is a mark of distinction, a sign that the wearer has the means and the taste to wear such a fine timepiece. It has traditionally been a milestone watch – a gold watch for graduation, retirement, or to celebrate a great success. Gold is very dense and much heavier than steel, giving the watch a satisfying heft. It is a soft material, so it will scratch easily, but the benefit of the soft material is it is easy to polish back to new.

Yellow gold used to be the most popular option, but now rose gold and white gold have become extremely popular for a more subdued look. Rose gold has a distinct soft copper hue, achieved by adding more (surprise) copper to the alloy. Red gold has the same hue, but a darker tone, almost orange in some cases. Pink gold is a bit lighter and softer in tone. White gold achieves a bright white finish in one of two ways – either the alloy itself is bright white, or the metal is a soft yellow which is then rhodium plated to look like platinum. Today most companies develop a true white gold alloy that does not require rhodium plating; the result is something that looks like steel at first glance, but on closer examination has a slightly warm tone. And because it is not plated, the finish won’t wear off and show the yellow-y metal underneath like many white gold jewellery pieces do.

The most noble of the precious metals is platinum. It is the densest, heaviest, and most expensive material for producing watches. Platinum is incredibly heavy, even heavier than gold, but remains understated because at first glance it looks like regular steel. Wearing a platinum watch is the ultimate sign of understated distinction – only the wearer knows it is platinum. And they command an enormous premium, often 150% to double the price of a solid gold timepiece. For the ultimate in exclusivity, platinum is the only way to go.

In recent years we have witnessed an explosion of new, high tech materials for watches. Audemars Piguet developed a “forged carbon” material that is unbelievably light and durable, and has the appearance of a burnt piece of charcoal with lots of surface variation. Hublot has innovated in ceramics as well as unique metallic alloys, like zirconium alloys that straddle the line between ceramic and metal. There are far too many new materials to list here, but rest assured that you will be seeing far more in the near future as watch companies continue to innovate and push the boundaries of what you can expect in a timepiece.

As a supplement to this section, I’d like to outline the three main types of crystals used on watches – sapphire, mineral, and acrylic. Sapphire crystal has become the norm in recent years, offering very good scratch resistance and durability. It is made by synthetically growing sapphire crystal tubes that are then sliced into wafers. They are very hard and difficult to make into complex shapes, and can be expensive to replace, but for durability they are unbeatable. Mineral crystal, also known as K1 glass, is the most common crystal in less expensive watches (under 500$). It is a hardened glass that is more durable than traditional glass, but still prone to scratching. The advantage of K1 is it is cheap, easy to replace, and easy to manufacture. Acrylic is the oldest form of watch crystal – it’s basically plastic, and is sometimes called Plexiglas. It is very easy to scratch, but it is very resilient – you can bend it and flex it without it cracking easily, so it can be dinged and bounce back in a case where a K1 or sapphire crystal would shatter. And unlike K1, they can be polished back to clear very easily (a little polishing compound on a soft cloth will take out most scuffs). They are the cheapest option out there, and they are the most common on vintage watches made before the 1980s, and some retro-re-editions made today (the Omega Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” still uses acrylic crystal to this day).

Know your Complications

A complication is simply an extra function added on top of basic timekeeping (hours, minutes, seconds). Even a date is considered a complication. But when most watch nuts talk about complications, they are referring to a complex additional function that is mechanically driven by the movement. Here are the most common and most important complications:

GMT

A GMT watch is a watch that displays more than one time zone. This can be accomplished in several ways. The simplest GMT features a second hour hand on the main dial that shadows the normal hour hand – following it around the dial in the usual 12 hour cycle. Panerai uses this system on some of its GMT models. This is not considered a true GMT however. A true GMT will have a second hour hand that rotates at half speed – rotating once every 24 hours. This allows calculations based on Greenwich Mean Time – plus or minus from GMT 0. The third type of GMT uses multiple dials to show different time zones with minutes and hours in each. An example would be the Franck Muller Master Banker, which shows two extra zones on subdials – this is handy for easy reading of other zones and allows you to display half hour differences ala Newfoundland, something not possible on other GMT systems.

Power Reserve

A power reserve is a simple complication that uses a dial or slider to display the remaining power in the mainspring. It will show a range from 0 to full, and normally marks the hours or days remaining as well. It is handy on watches with long power reserves of 3 days or more, particularly hand wound models, so you always know how much the watch is wound and when to stop winding.

Regulator

A regulator is less a complication and more of an alternate way of displaying time. A regulator separates the three hands (hours, minutes, seconds) into three separate dials. Normally the minutes or seconds are in the centre, the hours on a subdial, and sometimes the seconds on a subdial. Alpina produces a range of sport regulators, putting a traditional complication into an avant-garde sport watch.

Regatta timer

A regatta timer is the opposite of a chronograph. Where a chronograph counts elapsed time, a regatta timer counts down from a set time up to a maximum of 10 minutes. The reason for this is that during a yacht or sailing race (regatta) the competitors are released at 10 minute intervals across a start line. But a boat can’t sit still behind a line and take off at the start, they need to circle behind the start line until their turn to start comes. So the timer is used to countdown until you begin the race so you can line up to cross the line at the exact moment.

Depth Gauge

One of the oddest and rarest complications is a depth gauge on a diving watch. It does what it says on the tin – reads the depth you are diving at. IWC makes an Aquatimer that measures the depth with a mechanical pressure gauge; Panerai made a model that cheated slightly by using a battery powered electronic gauge added on top of a mechanical movement for the time.

Retrograde-Antegrade

Retrograde and antegrade displays are an interesting feature that is subtle but still quite complex. It is a way of displaying information, so it can be for the minutes, seconds, date, pretty well any display on the dial of a watch. Instead of having a round dial that has a rotating hand, you have a scale (usually crescent shaped) with a hand angled towards it. The hand sweeps across the scale, and when it reaches the end, it instantly snaps backwards to zero. It does so using a tiny spring and lever system attached to the hand itself. Retrograde means the hand moves from left to right then snaps back to the left, while antegrade is the opposite where the hand moves from right to left and snaps back to the right – otherwise they are the same concept.

Flyback

A flyback is a form of chronograph. Put simply, you can instantly reset the chrono to zero without stopping it. Normally a chrono needs to be stopped, reset, then started again to time a new event. With a flyback, you simply push the reset button while the chrono is running, and all the hands will instantly “flyback” to zero… And immediately continue running from zero. It is the only way to instantly start a new timing event without any delay. Breguet has been making flybacks for many years, most famously for the French air force (the Type XX).

Rattrapante

A rattrapante is one of the most complicated chronograph mechanisms. Instead of two buttons for the chrono, there are three (usually the extra pusher is located on the opposite side of the case). The extra button controls a split-second mechanism – you start the chrono normally, then when you reach the split time, you push the third button. What happens next is damn near magical. A previously hidden seconds hand located under the main seconds hand stops instantly, but the main seconds hand keeps going. Now you can read the split time without stopping the chronograph. A push of the button again instantly snaps the split second hand back into its hidden position behind the main hand – that’s the rattrapante bit (it “catches up” to the main hand). Unfortunately rattrapantes are expensive to produce, expensive to service, and can be very delicate if mishandled. But watching one in action is seriously neat.

Foudrayante

A foudrayante is a nifty complication usually associated with chronographs to measure split seconds. Because a mechanical movement beats up to 10 times a second, you can easily measure fractions of a second. Normally you do this by stopping the chrono precisely and measuring a tiny scale on the edge of the dial that shows fractions of a second. A foudrayante makes it easier – an extra subdial shows a hand that rotates once every second, in pulses directly tied to the beat of the movement. If the movement beats 28 800 bph, it shows 8ths of a second (8 beats per second). For 36 000 bph, it shows 10ths, and so on. The result is when the chrono is running you see a hand spinning furiously like a propeller, which stops dead when you stop the chrono so you can measure the split seconds.

Moonphase

A moonphase is a relatively simple complication that can hide an incredibly complicated mechanism. A disc on the dial shows the phases of the moon, tied to the date, by only showing part of the disc. As the disc rotates it blocks a portion of the picture of the moon to indicate the phase. When it’s a full moon, the moon sits in the centre of the little window. The complicated part comes in correcting the moonphases. A moonphase cycle is not every 30 days – it’s every 29.5305882 days. That half a day variation will throw off the display in a few months flat. But correcting for a fraction of a day requires immense complication – the number of teeth on a gear don’t allow it to be simple. Some companies use a corrector – Jaeger Le Coultre makes a model that has a pusher on the side of the case that you push to correct that half-day variation. The most complex moonphase indicators auto correct through a very delicate and convoluted series of gears. Something that appears so simple at first glance is actually incredibly complicated under the surface.

Annual Calendar

Annual calendars (sometimes called triple date calendars) display the day, date and month but are unable to calculate leap years. They can distinguish the 30/31 day cycle but they don’t have a way to correct February, so you have to manually adjust the date during that month. Annual calendars are quite common in many brands as a mid-level complication. They are much less complex and less expensive than the next calendar:

Perpetual Calendar

A perpetual calendar is an amazing piece of complexity. It displays the day, date, month, and year. And it automatically corrects for leap years, knowing exactly which year they occur in. Essentially there is a mechanical computer inside the movement that has the “data” programmed into it by the watchmaker using nothing but gears and levers. Most perpetual calendars can run without correction for 100 years – some newer designs can run over 500 years without any need for correction. Keep in mind this is all accomplished mechanically. That is why you will pay a huge premium for a perpetual calendar, even if on the outside it looks very similar to an annual calendar.

Tourbillon

The king of complications, and probably one of the most useless and superfluous, is the tourbillon. They are hugely expensive, minimum 50 000$ for a Swiss tourbillon, and incredibly complex. Essentially the balance wheel and the escapement is housed in a cage that rotates at set intervals (normally once per minute, sometimes more or less). The balance wheel vibrates back and forth and transmits power to the movement, while spinning continuously in a suspended cage. It is a marvel to watch a tiny cage rotate while the balance wheel spins back and forth within it. The concept behind a tourbillon is relatively simple – it is designed to combat the effect of gravity on the accuracy of the balance by continuously rotating it. I should note that this is all theoretical; it hasn’t really been proven to be any more accurate, and gravity does not affect modern movements very much, especially in a wristwatch that is moving all the time rather than sitting in one place. In fact most tourbillons are no more accurate than a standard chronometer (sometimes less). It is a complication for the sake of complication, serving no real purpose other than displaying the skill of the watchmaker (and the size of the wallet of the owner). Generally the dial has an open aperture to display the spinning tourbillon and show off the fact that the watch has one (though some companies, Patek Philippe and Panerai for example, only show the tourbillon through the caseback for a more understated presentation).

Minute Repeater

The other top tier of complications, and probably my personal favourite, is the minute repeater. The minute repeater was originally developed to tell the time in the dark by chiming the hours and minutes on command. A sliding lever on the side of the case activates the chime; hours are chimed first, quarters (15 minutes) by a second tone, then minutes by a third. Each tone is unique and alternating, normally there are at least 3 or 4 gongs and hammers to provide the different sounds. Some even integrate a Westminster chime (ala Big Ben). The complexity is in the gong and hammer system, as well as the gear and levers than mechanically keep track of the minutes and hours to ensure that the chime always indicates the exact time on demand, rather than independently at set intervals like a grandfather clock. To optimize the sound, the gongs often use long circular coils that run the circumference of the case, and newer designs use the unique acoustic properties of sapphire crystal by connecting the gongs to the watch crystal itself. Minute repeaters are some of the most complex and expensive designs ever created, and generally run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. They make tourbillons look like toys – they are in the highest realm of the watchmaking art and are the pinnacle of timepiece collecting.

Footnote

The Quartz Crisis - or - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Balance Wheel

How did mechanical watches become the pinnacle of watchmaking? Why would anyone pay huge amounts of money for a delicate mechanical piece when the time is all around us, on our phones, our computers… or a perfectly functional wristwatch that costs 10$? The root of the current market for high-end mechanical pieces rose from the ashes of a dying industry, an industry that was nearly eradicated by what has become known as the Quartz Crisis.

The quartz movement nearly killed the mechanical watch market within a matter of years. The irony is that it was the Swiss who first developed the quartz movement back in the 1960s. The Beta project was a joint venture between a number of big names, including Rolex and Patek Philippe. Electronic movements had been in development for some time, but most had the same accuracy as a mechanical movement, and some were hybrids where a battery powered transistor motor drove a mechanical movement instead of a wound up spring. The quartz movement was a revolution; instead of using a balance wheel or a vibrating tuning fork (used by Bulova and Omega) to directly drive the gears of a movement, a quartz crystal was vibrated using a small electric current, which was then used to regulate an electronic timekeeping system. It was far more accurate than any mechanical movement, within seconds a month. The Beta 21 calibre was released as a very high-end movement in the top tier of watchmaking – after all, it was the bleeding edge of technology and the most accurate timekeeper created up to that point. It was when the Japanese took over that things took a turn for the worse for the Swiss.

The Japanese took quartz technology and simplified it, then mass produced it for very reasonable prices. Suddenly an extremely accurate, no fuss, no service watch was available to everyone for very reasonable money. Inexpensive Asian watches flooded the market. The Swiss industry took a huge nosedive in a short period of time. Companies that had existed for decades went bankrupt. It looked like the mechanical watch was finished, and the whole industry would collapse. Panic set in; companies liquidated inventory, destroyed tooling in factories- some threw cases full of watches into Swiss lakes to claim insurance. Everyone was certain that the industry was done and that the quartz movement was the only way forward.

The new beginnings of the industry began to emerge in the 1980s. Nicholas Hayek bought out several floundering corporations with his own funds to build a super-company that could compete with the Japanese head on – what would later become the Swatch Group, the most powerful Swiss watch company today. Brands that survived the crisis began to emphasize the skill and mastery involved in crafting a mechanical watch; by this point quartz was ubiquitous and cheap. Slowly, the industry began to get its footing again, albeit in much smaller operations and with fewer companies after the Crisis had wiped out most of the players. By the 1990s mechanical watches were well established as the high-end of watchmaking, and old world techniques came to be more appreciated. The Swiss industry had been reborn, stronger and better organized, out of the ashes of the Quartz Crisis. Today’s demand for traditional workmanship and the valuation of craft and complexity in wristwatches is a direct result of companies building a mythos around the mechanical watch after the Crisis, something that could not have happened if quartz movements hadn’t come along and nearly destroyed traditional watchmaking.