Analog: The traditional dial; keeping time with hands.
Aperture: The date display window on a watch dial.
Calendar: Displays featuring the day, date or year in addition to the hour; analog watch dials show this feature in apertures or subdials.
Caliber: The configuration and size of the watch movement.
Countdown Timer: A chronograph function that measures how much of a preset period of time has passed.
Chronograph: A watch or clock with multiple functions measuring specific durations of time, often in fractions of a second. Subdials and hands measure the time periods; such as the stopwatch of a sports watch.
Chronometer: A high-precision timepiece whose movement has been quality-tested by the Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres [COSC], a Swiss laboratory. The COSC tests the movement at five different positions and 3 different temperatures for several consecutive days to determine accuracy. Timepieces qualifying as chronometers include a COSC certification number.
Digital: A digital watch shows the time and other features in a LCD (liquid crystal display) or LED (light emitting diode) display. This feature is useful displaying information on a multifunction watch.
Dual Time: A display that shows two time zones on the dial. The feature can have two dials, a subdial placed in the main dial, or analog and digital displays on the same watch.
Guilloche: A pattern of ridges that ripple outward from the center of a flat surface; a sunburst pattern. This texture is common on the dials of dress watches.
Jewels: The jewels form the bearings in a mechanical or automatic watch. The movement generally will have at least 17 jewels.
Kinetic: A watch mechanism or battery that is powered by natural movements of the wearer's arm. A quartz watch with kinetic movement never needs a new battery.
Lap Timer: A chronograph function that measures segments of a race; it can stop to show the time for each lap without losing track of the total race time.
Mechanical: Watch movement using a spring that must be wound by hand. The spring slowly unwinds to release the energy that powers the watch.
Moon Phase Dial: A subdial that tracks the phases of the lunar month. Some watches have a Sun and Moon subdial which tracks the 24-hour day.
Perpetual Calendar: Automatically resets the day at the end of the month or year, including leap years.
Power Reserve: The amount of energy, notated in hours, that a watch has stored in its movement. The average mechanical or automatic watch has a full power reserve of about 36 hours.
Skeleton:: This case design displays the watch movement with an open dial or with a clear crystal placed on the case back.
Sweep Hand: The marker that denotes the seconds as it moves around the dial of an automatic watch. Also called the sweep second hand, this marker moves in a smooth arc on the dial. The second hand of a quartz watch will click forward in second-long increments.
Tachymeter: A register set on the bezel that measures the distance covered over a specific period of time.
World Time: Found in digital watches, this function features a list of the current times in major cities around the world.
Showing posts with label Watch technology.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Watch technology.. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2009
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