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History of Watches
Glossary of Watch Terms

1838	1868	1871	1880
Louis Audemars invents stem winding and setting mechanism	Patek Philippe makes the first wrist watch	Aaros Dennison of international watch company (IWC) invents waterproof case	Girard-Perregaux produces a wrist watch for officers of the Imperial Austrain Navy

1888	1902	1902	1903
Cartier produces ladies wrist watch with diamond and gold bracelet	The first Omega wrist watch is produced	93,000 wrist watches sold in Germany	Louis Brandt Founder of Omega dies

1904	1910	1911	1912
One of the most famous early wrist watches appears - the Santos-Dumont produced by the house of Cartier	Longines begins wrist watch production	Santos-Dumont wrist watch goes on general sale	Movado makes a army wrist watch with a protective grid over the glass

1914	1917	1918	1920
First alarm wrist watch is made by Eterna	British royal flying corps issued with wrist watches by Omega	Omega suplies US army with wrist watches	Audemars produces the smallest repeater watch

1923	1925	1927	1930
Invention of the automatic wrist watch by John Hardwood	Patek Philippe produces the first wrist watch with a perpetual calendar	First water resistant Rolex Oyster produced	Smallest ladies watch movement to date - baguette shape - is produced

1930	1932	1932	1933
Tissot develops the first antimagnetic wrist watch	Launch of Reverso by Jaeger-LeCoultre	Manufacture of the Lindbergh Aviator by Longines	First watch made for children by Ingersoll (featuring Disneys Mickey Mouse)

1933	1936	1936	1936
Longines made official timekeeper at the Brazilian grand prix	Omega appointed official time keeper at the Olympic games	Hamilton supplies US forces with wrist watches	Omega and Breitling supply US RAF watches during the war years

1945	1946	1947	1947
Rolex Date is the first watch with a date display on the watch face	Audemars Piguet produce the thinnest wrist watch in the world (1.64mm)	American Nathan George Horwitt designs the Movado Museum watch	Poljot, the first Russian wrist watch is produced - later to become Sekonda

1947	1947	1952	1953
Tissot develops Tissot Navigator, a self winding wrist watch with a universal calendar	Rolex submariner watch capable of going down to 305m/1000ft is produced	Brietling introduce the Navitimer, a super chronograph designed especially for pilots	Lips produce the first battery powered watch

1957	1960	1966	1969
Hamilton produces the first electric watch	Bulova launches accutron, the electric tunning fork watch invented by Max Hetzel	Girard-Perregaux develops the first high frequency mechanical watch (Swiss Quartz Movement)	Girard-Perregaux develops the first mass-produced quartz watch

1969	1969	1969	1969
International Watch Company introduces the DaVinci wrist watch	Longines produces the first quartz cybernetic wrist watch	Zenith brings back El Primero the epitome of chronograph movements	Neil Armstrong wears the Omega Speedmaster Professional on the moon

1972	1972	1975	1976
Audemars Piguet makes the first stainless steel luxury wrist watch	Longines launches and LCD wrist watch	Launch of Raymond Weil brand with innovative ultra slim movement	Launch of Maurice Lacroix brand

1978	1983	1983	1983
Vacheron Constantin Kallista is sold for $US5,000,000	Swatch is launched	Rolex Sea Dweller goes down to 1,220m/4,000ft	Longines launches the Conquest range, accurate to one minute in five years

1985	1986	1987
Tag-Heuer brand appears on the market	Tissot brings out the Rock watch	Tissot introduces the two timer (a watch displaying both analog and digital displays)

Terms as they relate to the watch making industry.
Analogue	Time indication by hands and dial; means corresponding. Originally an electronic term that was adapted by watch making with the spread of the quartz movement.
Antimagnetic Watch	A watch whose parts are protected from but the very strongest magnetism; quartz watches cannot be disturbed by the phenomenon.
Applied Numerals	Raised metal characters attached to dial
Automatic Watch	Mechanical watch with a mainspring that is wound by the wearers movements via a rotor.
Auxiliary Dial	Small dial showing seconds only, up to one minute, usually at the six o'clock position
Back Winder	Flat crown set into the back of the case for setting time and winding.
Baguette	Rectangular movement, with a length at least three times its width. Popular shape for Art Deco watches.
Balance	Running regulator of mechanical watch; it oscillates about its axis of rotation, the hair-spring making it swing to and fro (tick-tock) in equal time parts. Balances of modern wristwatches beat up to 10 beats per second.
Barrel	Circular box housing mainspring; teeth attached at edge drive gears; going barrel has great wheel mounted upon it.
Baton Numerals	Undecorated non-numerical markers of hours, minutes and seconds.
Bezel	Metal surround frame in which watch glass (crystal) is fitted.
Breguet Hand	Popular design by Breguet; the slightly tappered needle of the hand ends in a pointed head mounted on a circle, which is pierced with a hole. Sometimes called a moon hand.
Button	Better known as crown or winder; sometimes refers to chronograph.
Cabochon Crown	Crown or winder set with a jewel.
Calibre	Once used only to denote the diameter of a watch movement; now often only indicates type (e.g. men's, ladies, automatic)
Carat	The official scale by which the purity of gold is determined. 24 carrot is pure gold, 18 carrots is 18 parts in 24 are gold etc..
Chronograph	Watch which has an independent stop watch for short interval timing.
Chronometer	Ordinary watch which has passed extremely severe precision and reliability tests in an official observatory.
Complicated Watch	Watch with functions not directly related to the time of day. (eg: calendars, chronographs, moon phases, perpetual, repeaters etc..)
Crown	Knob, generally knurled and positioned outside the case at three o'clock, for winding, correcting and setting.
Crystal	Glass dial cover (made of glass, plastic, synthetic sapphire, or quartz crystal) fitted into bezel.
Deployment Buckle	Two strips of hinged metal (curved to the wrist shape) on the watchband; upon closing, one folds over the other to cover it. Probably invented by Cartier.
Dial	Face of the watch, showing hours, minutes, seconds. Other small dials are called subsidiary dials.
Divers Watch	Water-resistant.
Doctors Watch	Also known as a duo plan or duo dial. An auxiliary seconds dial is separated from the hour and minute dial; useful for quick reference when taking pulse count.
Form Watch	Watch in a very unusual shape.
Hack Features	Balance stopping - Second hand which is stopped to synchronize time, when crown is pulled out.
Integral Bracelet	Designed as natural extension of watch case.
Jewels	Used as bearings at points of greatest friction in movements; commonly fifteen to eighteen are used.
Lug	Part or parts of watch case to which band, bracelet or strap may be attached.
Mainspring	Principal spring in watch; a flat spring is coiled in a barrel.
Mean Time	Average length of all solar days in year; the usual time shown by watches.
Minute Repeater	Repeating watch that sounds hours, quarters and minutes.
Month Aperture	Pierced window in a mechanical digital watch displaying month, often abbreviated.
Moon phase Watch	Watch displaying phase of moon through twenty-nine and a half days (correction for extra extra forty four minutes per month often incorporated).
Movement	Complete mechanism of watch; from 120 to over 600 parts may be incorporated in it.
Pave	Literally "paved with", as in dial with precious stones.
Perpetual	Self winding automatic watch.
Perpetual Calendar	Calendar mechanism with display which automatically corrects for long and short months and leap years.
Quarter Repeater	Repeating mechanism which sounds hours and quarters.
Quartz	Rock crystal (silicone dioxide) that can be made to oscillate by electronic switching, maintaining its very constant frequency, in accordance with its cut.
Rolled Gold	An extremely hot sheet of gold pressed onto another metal.
Roman Numerals	Besides Arabic, the most common numerals used on watch dials; note IIII instead of IV
Rotor	In an automatic watch, the rotor winds the mainspring; in quartz watches, it is a permanently rotating magnet in the step-switch motor.
Ruby	The ruby referred to in watch making today is in fact corundum, a synthetic stone. It is used to reduce wear on pivot points.
Sapphire	Glass (crystals), sold as scratch proof, are made of synthetic sapphire.
Shock-Resistant Watch	A watch is held to be shock proof if, when dropped on to a hardwood surface from a height of 1 meter, it does not stop, or if its daily rate does not change by more than sixty seconds.
Signed Movement	The signature on a movement of its maker, which is likely not to be the same as that on the dial.
Skeleton Watch	The dial of a skeleton watch has a separate chapter ring with the interior cut away, leaving only numerals and exposing the wheels and interior mechanisms of the movement. The back plate is also cut away and fitted with glass.
Split Second Chronograph	Chronograph with sweep second hand, independent of chronograph hand.
Stem	Shaft connection between winding mechanism and crown on outside of case.
Subsidiary Dials	Smaller auxiliary dials that show elapsed minutes and running seconds.
Sweep Seconds	Center Seconds - Second hand mounted at dial center and extending to chapter ring.
Tachometer	Speedometer or revolution recorder on bezel.
Tonneau	Case shape with wide center and flat tapered ends.
Tourbillon	Invention by Breguet for nullifying vertical position errors by means of a revolving platform which goes through all such positions, so that they neutralize each other.
Tritium	Luminous paint for dials, hands and numerals.
Tuning Fork	A transistor continually switching between two small magnets to regulate smooth running, oscillating 360 times a second. The high frequency gives great precision in time keeping. Bulova Accutron made use of the device famous, but then quartz watches usurped its popularity.
Water Resistant	Expression for waterproof, which is illegal in the USA. Water resistant watches sold as such, must be able to withstand water pressure at a depth of 1m for 30 minutes and thereafter 90 seconds at 20 meters. Divers watches have much greater resistance.