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    Wrist Watches Explained: How to fully appreciate one of the most complex machine ever invented
    Wrist Watches Explained: How to fully appreciate one of the most complex machine ever invented
    Wrist Watches Explained: How to fully appreciate one of the most complex machine ever invented
    Ebook142 pages1 hour

    Wrist Watches Explained: How to fully appreciate one of the most complex machine ever invented

    By Michael Fraser

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    About this ebook

    This book wants to be an introductory book to those who have always been wondered how their precious watches work but never dared to ask. In this technical but yet easy to understand work, wrist watches are covered in an orderly way to have eventually an idea of not only the complex watches mechanisms but also the most important watch models and companies. It is not a substitute for the more advanced and detailed books about watches but this book will serve the curious minds well.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVyiha Publishing
    Release dateMar 26, 2016
    ISBN9789881300560
    Wrist Watches Explained: How to fully appreciate one of the most complex machine ever invented

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    • 5/5
      Excellent source of information. Very nicely done. I love the detailed spec images, these are incredibly helpful.

    Book preview

    Wrist Watches Explained - Michael Fraser

    Cover.jpg

    Contents

    The world of watches

    How a watch work

    Watch complications

    Legendary watches

    Selected watch companies

    Appendix

    References

    The world of watches

    A bit of history

    WATCHES have been part of man's history for longer than most think. As early as 1530, portable spring-powered clocks were already a luxury that no aristocrat could avoid to wear. With measures between a desk clock and a pocket watch, these portable timepieces could be easily fastened to a vest or other articles of clothing, as well as be worn on a lanyard around the neck. At that time, with rudimentary mechanical movements, the average clock had to be wound twice daily. Adorned with engravings and ornaments, gentlemen would utilize such designs as a sign of wealth. However, as more and more people became aware of the practicality of the timepiece, clocks began to be used primarily by night watchmen to keep track of their shifts.

    How the watch got its name

    The use by night watchmen is where most historians believe the word watch comes from. Others believe the term derived instead by sailors who used timepieces to keep track of their so-called shipboard watches, the modern shifts or tours of duty.

    As time passed, watches began to appear on the streets, probably sometime in the early seventeenth century. Prior to the 1920’s, almost all watches were mechanical pocket watches and, with the railway industry growing faster and faster, they were often referred to as railroad or conductor watches since they were commonly used on railroads.

    When World War I broke out, American soldiers determined that the idea of having to reach into a pocket to check the time when buried deep in the trenches was just unfeasible. The trench watch, now the commonly known ‘wrist watch’, was born into existence. Originally developed by the Waltham Watch Company, it gave soldiers the unique ability to check the time while still peering the sights of their rifles in the middle of the battle.

    Since that moment, watches have changed dramatically in their design and complications as new techniques were invented and watchmakers jumped to outdo the competition. Considered by now an art form by many, watchmaking offers various types and styles of watch today, ranging in price from a mere few dollars up to millions to get one of the grand complications handmade in Switzerland by icons such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Breguet.

    Types of Watches

    THERE are no doubts that the wristwatch is the most common style of watch worn today. However, in recent times, the pocket watch has made somehow a comeback and it is now often revered by horologists and collectors around the world. With specialty watches becoming now a standard, some manufacturers have focused their efforts to developing watches that can be worn in any type of environment, from under sea to up in the air until the space.

    Despite the technology improvements, when it comes to watches, there are nowadays three main types of movement: mechanical, automatic, and quartz (which is sometimes referred to as ‘electronic’). With more technology companies entering the world of smart watches, soon a fourth type will be certainly added to the three just mentioned.

    Mechanical Movements

    Most commonly used in luxury or collector timepieces, a mechanical movement is by definition much less accurate than a quartz movement. Often losing a number of seconds throughout the day, they have therefore to be manually wound on average at least once daily. In addition to losing time, they are also very sensitive to the environment. Factors such as position, temperature, elevation, as well as magnetism can all cause failure in the watch. Despite being usually costly to produce, they require a great attention for dedicated maintenance and adjustments.

    Regardless of the issues that a mechanical movement can cause, these watches are nevertheless truly a work of craftsmanship and are highly regarded by most watch enthusiasts as a consequence.

    Mechanical movements operate by using a selection of mechanisms to control the winding and unwinding parts of the watch (something we’ll go into greater detail with the chapter dedicated on how a watch works). In a few words, what these mechanisms do is to control the unwinding of the spring after it is wound. Instead of simply unwinding itself, a part called 'escapement' regulates the action which causes the spring to periodically release. In addition to the escapement, the mechanical movements also use a balance wheel that moves back and forth, recalled to its original position by a spring. The balance wheel is moved by the escapement which uses the gears of the watch to deliver impulses to the balance wheel, causing in turn what we often refer to as the tick or the heartbeat of the watch. It is this ticking rhythm that causes the group of gears, or gear train, to advance and to eventually move the hands forward, showing us the correct time. The combination of the weighted balance wheel and the spring is what ensures consistency and accuracy in timekeeping.

    Truly phenomenal mechanical watches often feature a tourbillon (see picture below). This complication has been developed by Abraham Louis Breguet, by no doubt one of the world’s foremost watch manufacturers. He hand crafted the beautiful and intricate yet simplistic tool in 1795 with the idea of countering the law of gravity. By encasing the balance wheel and escapement in a rotating cage, the tourbillon ensures the mechanism is never operated in the same position which can eventually cause the watch to loose time due to the gravitational pull. In this way, regardless of where the wrist is hold, the cage will rotate to ensure the escapement and wheel are in always a prime position to work effectively and efficiently.

    tour.jpg

    While the mechanical movements are constantly being improved, they are nevertheless an intricate process that is indeed a true culmination of art and science. A well-made mechanical timepiece will last a number of generations, being handed down by a father to his son on a momentous occasion or in his final will.

    Automatic Movements

    Similar to those of mechanical watches, automatic movements run almost in an identical way but with one very important exception. Unlike mechanical movements, they do not require manual winding to operate.

    By employing an off-center weighted rotor that spins as one moves the wrist, a ratcheted mechanism that winds the watch automatically is operated. To prevent the watch from over-winding (which would cause the mainspring to eventually break), an automatic watch has a clutch that, upon being fully wound, drops in front of the mechanism to prevent it from engaging the mainspring.

    Nowadays, in addition to the classic automatic watch, there are also automatic quartz watches which utilize kinetic energy and in some cases, solar energy to operate.

    Quartz Movements

    Unlike mechanical and automatic watches, quartz watches (often called electronic) generally have very few moving parts. Developed initially by Seiko in 1959, the first prototypes were codenamed 59A and developed then secretly by the CEH research laboratory in Neuchâtel, Switzerland before being eventually used as timekeeping devices in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

    From ‘64 through ’67, the quartz movement was then perfected and a miniature oscillator, module, and circuit board were created with the idea to be housed in the smallest

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