P

Perpetual Calendar – A highly complicated movement displaying calendar information that adjusts to different lengthen months and years. Perpetual calendars are often among the most valuable, highly sought after watches.







Power reserve indicator: A feature that shows when the watch will soon need a new battery or winding. A battery reserve indicator on a quartz watch informs the wearer when the battery is low. Often this is indicated by the second’s hand moving at two or three-second intervals. Seiko's Kinetic watches are quartz watches that do not have a battery (see Kinetic). When a Seiko Kinetic needs to be wound, the seconds hand will also move in two second intervals.







Pushers or push pieces: Push buttons are on the case of the chronographs and some complicated watches. Most are used to stop and start a stopwatch but sometimes serve other functions. • PVD -physical vapour deposition: A coating of titanium nitrate applied in a vacuum and then covered by a coating of 22k gold to obtain a gold coloured finish.










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N

NIB: New In Box.


New Old Stock – A term referring to a Mint condition/New watch first available for initial sale a long time ago but never used and/or sold.








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Q

Quartz: A mineral with a highly regular molecular vibration rate. Quartz is used in watches as its vibrations can be harnessed to control the output with great accuracy.




Quartz movement: A movement powered by a quartz crystal to. Quartz crystals are very accurate. They can be mass produced which makes them less expensive than most mechanical movements which require a higher degree craftsmanship.



Quick set/date: A movement that allows the date to be set directly from the crown of the watch rather than the rotation of the time.















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R

Rattrapante: Split lap time function on a mechanical chronograph. Separate second hands are utilized to show split lap times.





Repeater: An auditory way of telling time. When a button is pressed a series of tones is heard signifying hours and minutes. It is definitely one of the most highly complex types of complications included in a watch movement. Watches that carry a repeater are often extremely valuable / expensive. Retrograde – Most commonly used to indicate elements of a date, a retrograde hand does not move through a full 360 degrees, instead it will move back to the start of it’s “sweep” begin again.





Rotating bezel: A bezel (the ring surrounding the watch face) that can be turned. Different types of rotating bezels perform different timekeeping and mathematical functions (see elapsed time rotating bezel," "unidirectional rotating bezel," "bi-directional rotating bezel" and "slide rule.")





Rotor: The part of an automatic (or self-winding) mechanical watch that winds the movement's mainspring. It is a flat piece of metal, usually shaped like a semicircle that swivels on a pivot with the motion of the wearer's arm.






Ruby: The red jewel used to prevent wear on some moving and contact parts in a mechanical movement. Rubies may be either synthetic or actual stone.















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S

Sapphire – Man made sapphire crystal used for its hardness and scratch resistant qualities in watch making.

Sapphire crystal: A crystal made of synthetic sapphire, a transparent, shatter-resistant, scratch-resistant substance.

Screw-lock crown: A crown that can be screwed into the case to make the watch watertight.





Screw-down crown: The crown of a watch that screws on / in to the case to better seal the watch. This ensures more water and dust resistance.





Second time-zone indicator: An additional dial that can be set to the time in another time zone. It lets the wearer keep track of local time and the time in another country simultaneously.



Shock resistance: As defined by U.S. government regulation, a watch's ability to withstand an impact equal to that of being dropped onto a wood floor from a height of 3 feet.





Skeleton watch: A watch with no dial and only a chapter ring. As much metal is removed as possible and all the remaining parts are decorated with elaborate engravings.





Slide rule: A device, consisting of logarithmic or other scales on the outer edge of the watch face, that can be used to do mathematical calculations. One of the scales is marked on a rotating bezel, which can be slid against the stationary scale to make the calculations. Some watches have slide rules that allow specific calculations, such as for fuel consumption by an airplane or fuel weight.





Solar powered: A watch that uses solar energy (from any light source) to power the quartz movement. The Citizen >Solar-Tech<>itizens Internet Site.



Spring bars (or pins) : Spring-loaded bars between the lugs on the case, used to attach a strap or metal bracelet to the case.





Stepping motor: The part of a quartz movement that moves the gear train, which in turn moves the watch's hands.



Stopwatch: A watch with a seconds hand that measures intervals of time. When a stopwatch is incorporated into a standard watch, both the stopwatch function and the timepiece are referred to as a chronograph.



Sub-dial: A small dial on a watch face used for any of several purposes, such as keeping track of elapsed minutes or hours on a chronograph or indicating the date.







Swiss made: As a part of a move towards greater consumer protection and in order to combat fakes in the Far East that claim to be Swiss made, the Swiss federal council in 1993 laid down the rule that a watch has to satisfy before it could be described as Swiss made. The movement must be of Swiss origin, and must contain at least 50% Swiss parts. The watch must be cased in Switzerland and pass its final inspection in that country.












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T

Tachometer: instrument for measuring speed over a measured distance. It is also called tachymeter. Time an event that takes less than 1 minute. The scale on the Tachometer will tell you how many of those events will occur in 1 hour.
e.g.: A racing car covers 1 mile in 30 seconds. The sweep seconds hand, when stopped at the end of the mile, would point to 120 on the tachometer. The average speed of the car is 120 m.p.h.






Tachymeter: A feature found on some chronograph watches, a tachymeter (also called a "tachometer") measures the speed at which the wearer has travelled over a measured distance.






Tank watch: A rectangular watch designed by Louis Cartier. The bars along the sides of the watch were inspired by the tracks of tanks used in World War 1.







Telemeter: A telemeter determines the distance of an object from the observer by measuring how long it takes sound to travel that distance. Like a tachymeter (see "tachymeter"), it consists of a stopwatch, or chronograph, and a special scale, usually on the outermost edge of the watch face.




Titanium: A metal that is used for some watch cases and bracelets. Titanium is much stronger and lighter than stainless steel. Titanium is also hypo-allergenic.




Tonneau watch: A watch shaped like a barrel, with two convex sides.




Tourbillion: A device, invented by Breguet in 1801, in which the escapement is mounted in a small revolving cage as a means of overcoming the effects of gravity on the precision on a mechanical timepiece.






Tricompax: A chronograph with 3 sub dials, traditionally at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, most often displaying seconds, minutes and hours elapsed.







Triple Calendar - a dial that displays the day, date and month.
Tritium - a slightly radio-active substance that collects light and is used to allow the hands or hour markers to glow in the dark. The radiation is so low that there is no health risk. Watches bearing tritium must be marked as such, with the letter T on the dial near 6 o’clock.







Two tone – Most often 18K gold and steel pr white gold, two tone refers to a multicoloured watch design.














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U

Uni-directional rotating bezel: An elapsed time rotating bezel (see "elapsed time rotating bezel"), often found on divers' watches, that moves only in a counter clockwise direction. It is designed to prevent a diver who has unwittingly knocked the bezel off its original position from overestimating his remaining air supply. Because the bezel moves in only one direction, the diver can err only on the side of safety when timing his dive. Many divers' watches are ratcheted, so that they lock into place for greater safety.















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W

Water resistance: The ability to withstand splashes of water. Terms such as "water resistant to 50 meters" or "water resistant to 200 meters" indicate that the watch can be worn underwater to various depths.




Winding stem: The button on the right side of the watch case used to wind the mainspring. It is also called "crown."

World time dial: A dial, usually on the outer edge of the watch face, which tells the time in up to 24 time zones around the world. The time zones are represented by the names of cities printed on the bezel or dial. The wearer reads the hour in a particular time zone by looking at the scale next to the city that the hour hand is pointing to. The minutes are read as normal. Watches with this feature are called "world timers."

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Y

Yacht timer: A countdown timer (see "countdown timer") that sounds warning signals during the countdown to a boat race.














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Z

Zenith: Zenith is a watchmaking company founded by young twenty two year old Georges Favre-Jacot in 1865. It is one of the oldest watch producer company and also on of the companies that produce their own mechanical movement.

With El Primero, the watch that featured the world's first automatic chronograph movement, Zenith made history. It won many prix medals for timekeeping precision at the international expositions in Geneva, Barcelona, Neuchatel and Paris.

Apart from its quality and design, Zenith is characterized for manufacturing its own movements and having its own calibre. Those movements are known for being high standard quality. As a consequence, brands like Rolex adopted Zenith’s movement to manufacture the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. In 1988, Rolex launched its first automatic chronograph in which the most important feature was its calibre 4030 based on the Zenith calibre 400, the best industrial chronographic movement on the market at the time.

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