Watchmaking Weekend

We’ve all at least heard of the Chinese New Year, which celebrates the beginning of a lunar year. This differs from the Gregorian calendar used throughout most of the world, based on a solar year. The Gregorian calendar went into effect in 1582, launched by Pope Gregory XIII to replace the Julian ca

When it comes to functional watch bezels, dive watches are the most common. The majority of bezels are simply decorative finishes of a case that surround the crystal, like crown molding in your home (so to speak). Functional bezels, however, almost act as additional complications to measure dive tim

It’s amazing how varying technologies can ultimately result in the same outcome. There are LCD/LED, OLED and Plasma widescreen TVs, all providing relatively identical pictures to the end user, but with very different tech behind the scenes. And don’t forget about cathode-ray tubes. This concept also

If you’re at all familiar with watches, you know there are many styles of hands. These aren’t randomly chosen and are very important for the overall aesthetic. In fact, Horage founder Tzuyu Huang says, “If the case is the body, the dial the face, then the hands are the eyes of the watch.” Of course,

Although watch movements have been around for centuries, creating one from scratch remains an incredibly difficult and complex process. Even the simplest Swiss movements are engineering marvels and include hand-wound and automatic variances. You’re not going to find a “bad” Swiss movement today as p

Go back five centuries and the original “pocket watches” were more like miniature clocks worn around the neck. There was a single hour hand that was fully exposed, not protected by a crystal as virtually all watches are today. Decorated lids kept them safe, but this was no longer adequate as portabl

There are unusual materials used in watchmaking today that stray from the traditional. Wood, carbon fiber, recycled plastics and sapphire crystal are a few, but the majority of cases and bracelets stick with tried and true metals. Stainless steel is the most common and found in both affordable and h

In a mechanical watch, the mainspring provides power and the balance/escapement control it, but what carries that power throughout the movement? A specific set of gears known as the gear train manages power and controls the hands, and although not interchangeable between different movements, the arr

The tourbillon (French for whirlwind) is among the most desirable and expensive complications for a watch, invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in the late 1700s and patented in 1801. Technically, it’s not a complication as it doesn’t provide additional functionality like a date or power reserve indica

Often overlooked as it’s hidden by your wrist, the caseback is more than meets the eye. It can be solid and straight forward, decorative, adaptive for divers and even a window to the movement. Casebacks are literally the backdoors of a watch and almost always the access point for maintenance and rep

When you think of the typical watch case, something round usually comes to mind. The shape dominates the industry by far, going back centuries, but many others are common and even preferred by enthusiasts. There are square, rectangular, cushion and even triangular cases among many others, and Horage

When I was a kid, there were two ways to see the time at night. Either press a button for a subpar light (cough, Casio digital) or rely on glow-in-the-dark paint on the hands and possibly the indices. What I didn't know is that luminescence in mechanical watches goes back a century and was actually

The movement represents the majority of a timepiece’s value, assuming it’s not clad in diamonds and platinum. In-house design, complications and accuracy help define the overall worth, but decorations can add significantly to the cost. Haute Horology emphasizes the highest level of finishing and thi

There’s a smorgasbord of complications for mechanical watches, many going back hundreds of years. For example, the tourbillon was invented in the late 1700s, while the minute repeater goes back another century. Both are still difficult to produce and remain very expensive. On the other end, the date

The very definition of a wristwatch is one that attaches to the wrist. Pocket watches are relics of the past and haven’t been primary timekeepers for almost a century, so straps and bracelets now come in a limitless variety. Leather, rubber, metal, canvas, wood… even recycled plastic straps are comm

Early watch movements with verge escapements didn’t have jewel bearings, so it was simply metal on metal that resulted in a lot of friction and wear. Of course, arbors today are set in synthetic jewel bearings, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that this technology was used. That doesn’t mean tha

The escapement is a mechanical element of a clock or watch that converts raw energy into controlled impulses that consistently (and accurately) move the hands. The escapement works with a regulating element, either a pendulum in a large clock or balance wheel in a watch, which are themselves powered