Why Do Some Watches Feature a Telemeter?
Some scales seem to have been placed on a dial like survivors of a vanished world. We have already looked at doctor’s watches with their pulsometer for calculating heart rate.…
Watchmaking
89 posts
Explore the technical world of watchmaking: automatic movements, complications, materials such as sapphire and titanium, and watch adjustment and maintenance. This category breaks down the mechanical and technological aspects of watches to give you a better understanding of how they work and their value.
Why Mechanical Movements Are Sensitive to Gravity
There is something profoundly insolent about a mechanical watch. A few grams of brass, steel, synthetic rubies and hairspring presume to divide time with regularity, even as the Earth pulls…
Why Some Watches Display the Date at 4:30
Why do some watches display the date at 4:30? Because watchmaking is rarely a matter of chance, and almost always a matter of compromise. Behind that small angled aperture, often…
What Is a Grand Feu Enamel Dial?
Grand Feu enamel dials: the unforgiving art of fire What is a Grand Feu enamel dial? Put simply, it is a dial coated with powdered glass, fired at very high…
Why Military Watches Don’t Have a Date Display
An Absence That’s No Accident At first glance, the absence of a date on a military watch can seem surprising. After all, in civilian life, knowing the day of the…
Why Watches with Arabic Numerals Are More Legible
In watchmaking, everything seems to be a matter of detail. A crown that’s too large, a case that’s too thick, a poorly balanced dial, and the alchemy disappears. Among these…
What Is a Lacquered Dial?
In the hushed language of watchmaking, certain terms seem simple, almost innocent. “Lacquered dial” is one of them. Two words, a vaguely glossy image—yet a far more exacting reality, almost…
How a Vertical-Clutch Chronograph Works
A discreet mechanism In the world of chronographs, the “vertical clutch” represents a decisive innovation for the precision and user comfort of a modern chronograph, even though it remains largely…
What Is a 904L Steel Watch Case?
A Steel Unlike Any Other In watchmaking, steel is everywhere. From accessible sports watches to the most coveted haute horlogerie pieces, it forms the raw material for the majority of…
What Is a Bridge in Watchmaking and What Is It Used For?
The bridge: an invisible yet essential architecture Deep within a mechanical movement, the watch bridge plays a role that is almost never noticed—unless you take the time to turn the…
What Is a “California” Dial?
The mystery of the “California” dial, between watchmaking culture and deliberate oddity In the refined world of haute horlogerie, few aesthetic codes provoke as much curiosity—and perplexity—as the “California” dial.…
What is a hairspring and why is it crucial to precision
The hairspring, the invisible spring that decides everything In a mechanical watch, precision does not hinge on a single closely guarded “secret,” but on balance. At the heart of…
What Is a Variable-Inertia Balance Wheel
Before even talking about escapements, “free” hairsprings or marketing feats, we need to return to the most vital organ of a mechanical watch—its beating heart. The variable inertia balance is…
How a Dual Time Zone Watch Works
Travelling with Time on Your Wrist: Why the Dual Time Zone Changed Watchmaking Some complications are born of aesthetic whim, others of pure necessity. The dual time zone watch…
How a Stop-Seconds Mechanism Works
Hacking Seconds: The Art of Stopping Time (Just Long Enough to Set It Better) The gesture is familiar to anyone who enjoys setting their watch with near-ceremonial care. You pull…
Why Not All Vintage Watches Have a Central Seconds Hand
The detail that changes everything: where do the seconds go? On a modern watch, the central seconds hand has become so obvious that we barely notice it. It glides,…