From 'Alarm Watch' to 'Zodiac'...

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This page is a glossary of terms associated with horology, watches and watchmaking, please click one of the links above. If you would like us to list any other words that you think may be helpful, please contact me direct chris@christopherward.co.uk  

H - WATCH WORDS

Hammer
Steel or brass element used in movements provided with a repeater or alarm sonnerie. It strikes a gong or bell (s). back to top

Hand
Indicator for the analogue visualization of hours, minutes and seconds as well as other functions. Normally made of brass (rhodium-plated, gilded or treated otherwise), but also steel or gold. Hands are available in different shapes and take part in the aesthetic result of the whole watch. back to top

Hardlex Crystal
is Seiko's trademarked name for a hardened mineral crystal. back to top

Harrison (John)
John Harrison was born in 1693 in Foulby, West Yorkshire and lived for most of his life in Barrow upon Humber. He became a carpenter, like his father, was a gifted musician and a self-taught watchmaker, creating his first timepieces entirely out of wood.

He moved to London in the 1750s, at the height of his development of his “sea watches” and died in the  capital in 1776. The ship’s
chronometers were rediscovered at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the mid-20th century and restored.

Heart-piece
Heart-shaped corn, generally used to realign the hands of chronograph counters. back to top

Helium Valve
Valve inserted in the case of some professional diving watches to discharge the helium contained in the air mixture inhaled by divers back to top.

Hexalite
An artificial glass made of a plastic resin. Back in the 1960's, many watches used either mineral glass or acrylic crystals. These are not difficult to scratch, but very inexpensive to replace. Now though, most all luxury watches use the highly scratch resistant synthetic sapphire crystals, there are some styles/brands that use the Hesalite (a name brand of fine acrylic crystal). The reason for this is directly related to the watch's certification for use in space or in high stress/impact situations. While sapphire crystals are less prone to scratching, they can be shattered. When shattered, they break into tiny fragments that would be hazardous in some environments. So the Hesalite crystal is maintained on some specific models as a safety feature. back to top

Hunter Caliber
A caliber characterized by the seconds hand fitted on an axis perpendicular to the one of the winding stem. back to top

I - WATCH WORDS

Incabloc
Incabloc is a shock-absorber system which help prevent damage from shocks to the balance pivots. Thanks to a retaining spring system, it assures an elastic play of both jewels, thus absorbing the movements of the balance-staff pivots when the watch receives strong shocks. The return to the previous position is due to the return effect of the spring. If such a system is lacking, the shock forces exert an impact on the balance-staff pivots, often causing bending or even breakage. back to top

J - WATCH WORDS

Jewel
To minimise friction , the hardened steel tips of a movement’s rotating gear wheels (called pinions) are lodged in synthetic rubies (fashioned as polished stones with a hole) and lubricated with a very thin layer of special oil. These synthetic rubies are produced in exactly the same way as sapphire crystal using the same material. back to top

Jumping Hour
Feature concerning the digital display of time in a window. The indication changes almost instantaneously at every hour. back to top

K - WATCH WORDS

Kinetic
Refers to the Seiko line of Kinetic watches. This innovative technology has a quartz movement that does not use a battery. Movement of the wrist charges a very efficient capacitor which powers the quartz movement. Once the capacitor is fully charged, men's models will store energy for 7-14 days without being worn. Ladies models store energy for 3-7 days. Of course, if the watch is worn every day the capacitor is continually recharged. The watch alerts the owner to a low capacitor charge when the seconds hand starts to move in two second intervals. Some of Seiko's Kinetic Watches have See-Thru CaseBacks, that use a clear, Hardlex crystal watch back to enable the wearer to view the kinetic movement. back to top

Kinetic Auto Relay
A Seiko Kinetic Auto Relay watch is powered by human movement, however when it senses inactivity for three days, it puts itself into suspended animation to conserve energy. It can be re-activated with a few shakes of the wrist. It automatically resets itself to the exact time after to up to four years of dormancy. back to top

L - WATCH WORDS

Lap Timer
A chronograph function that lets the wearer time segments of a race. At the end of a lap, the timer can be stopped, which then returns to zero to begin timing the next lap. back to top

Leap-Year Cycle
Leap or bissextile years have 366 days and occur every 4 years (with some exceptions, Calendar, Gregorian). Some watches display this datum. back to top

Line
Ancient French measuring unit maintained in horology to indicate the diameter of a movement. A line equals 2.255mm. Lines are not divided into decimals; therefore, to indicate measurements inferior to the unit, fractions are used. back to top

Liquid Crystal Display or LCD
A digital watch display that shows the time electronically by means of a liquid held in a thin layer between two transparent plates. All LCD watches have quartz movements. back to top

Lubrication
To reduce friction caused by the running of wheels and other parts. There are points to be lubricated with specific low-density oils such as the pivots turning inside jewels, the sliding areas between levers, and the spring inside the barrel which requires special grease, as well as numerous other parts of a movement. back to top

Lug
Double extension of the case middle by which a strap or bracelet is attached. Normally, straps and bracelets are attached with removable spring bars. back to top

Luminescent or Luminous
Christopher Ward watches use Super-LumiNova, a photo-luminescent non-radioactive material with a long period of phosphorescence. It reaches up to 100 times the brightness of Tritium. Tritium was the original, radioactive, substance used to coat hands, numerals and hour markers on watch dials to make reading the time in the dark possible. back to top

M - WATCH WORDS

Mainspring
The mainspring, located in the spring barrel, stores energy when tensioned and passes it on to the escapement via the gear train as the tension releases. Today, mainsprings are usually made of Nivaflex, an alloy invented by Swiss engineer Max Straumann in the early 1950’s. This alloy basically comprisesof iron, nickel, chrome, cobalt and beryllium. back to top

Manual
A mechanical movement for which winding is performed by hand. The motion transmitted from the user's fingers to the crown is forwarded to the movement through the winding stem, from this to the barrel through a series of gears and finally to the mainspring. back to top

Manufacture
Most experts agree that the term, which is from Latin and means “made by hand”, should be used for a company that manufactures at least one calibre, or extremely important parts of it such as the base plate, on the premises. While ten years ago this constituted only a handful of companies in Switzerland and Germany today’s competitive market has forced a number of others to invest in developing their own movements. ETA is without doubt the largest manufacture (horologists prefer using French) and, at present, Christopher Ward uses them exclusively for all our automatic movements. back to top

Marine Chronometer
A large-sized chronometer watch enclosed in a box (therefore also called box chronometer) mounted on gimbals and used on board ships, to determine the respective longitude. back to top

Meantime
The mean time of the meridian of the Greenwich Observatory, considered the universal meridian, is used as the standard of the civil time system, counted from midnight to midnight. back to top

Mechanical Movement
A movement powered by a mainspring, working in conjunction with a balance wheel. Most watches today have electronically controlled quartz movements and are powered by a battery. However, mechanical watches are currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity. back to top

Military Time or 24hr Time
When time is measured in 24-hour segments. To convert 12-hour time into 24-hour time, simply add 12 to any p.m. time. To convert 24-hour time into 12-hour time, subtract 12 from any time from 13 to 24. back to top

Mineral Crystal or Mineral Glass
Watch crystal that has been tempered (heat treated) to increase its hardness and scratch resistance. back to top

Minute Repeater
Mechanism indicating time by acoustic sounds. Contrary to the watches provided with en-passant sonnerie devices, that strike the number of hours automatically, repeaters work on demand by actuating a slide or pusher positioned on the case side. Repeaters are normally provided with two hammers and two gongs: one gong for the minutes and one for the hours. The quarters are obtained by the almost simultaneous strike of both hammers. The mechanism of the striking work is among the most complex complications. back to top

Moonphase
A function available in many watches, usually combined with calendar-related features. The moonphase disc advances one tooth every 24 hours. Normally, this wheel has 59 teeth and assures an almost perfect synchronization with the lunation period, i.e. 29.53 days (in fact, the disc shows the moonphases twice during a single revolution). However, the difference of 0.03 days, i.e. 44 minutes each month, implies the need for a manual adjustment every two and a half years to recover one day lost with respect to the real state of moonphase. In some rare cases, the transmission ratio between the gears controlling the moonphase are calculated with extreme accuracy so as to require manual correction only once in 100 years. back to top

Mother of Pearl
Iridescent, milky interior shell of the fresh water mollusc that is sliced thinly and used on watch dials. While most have a milky white lustre, mother-of-pearl also comes in other colours such as silvery grey, grey blue, pink, and salmon. back to top

Movement
The entire mechanism of a watch. Movements are divided into two great families: quartz and mechanical; the latter are available with manual or automatic winding devices. back to top