Technical term used to describe the additional regulating mechanism added to a complicated watch: for example, the mechanism of a chronograph, a repeater with percussion or a calendar. Depending on the construction, a cadrature may be integrated into the movement or mounted on a separate plate and additively connected to the main movement. The latter, the so-called 'modular' solution, is usually less expensive because its manufacturers can rely on a ready-made movement. Integrated constructions, e.g. for chronographs or repeaters, have to be developed individually. Almost all additional features are now available in modular form.

The size and shape of a movement and its parts. The name and/or number of a calibre allows the exact identification of the device, for example, when ordering spare parts. Until the 1970s, large ébauche manufacturers sometimes had more than 100 different calibres in their product range. This wide diversity no longer exists for gauges. Traditionally, a distinction is made between round gauges for open watches (Lépines), round gauges for spring watches (Savonnettes or hunters) and gauges of various shapes (e.g. baguette, tonneau, oval or rectangular gauges). Lépine calibres can be recognised by the fact that the staff bearing the seconds hand is located along an imaginary line extending from the winding stem. This differs from the situation in hunter watches, where the staff carrying the seconds hand axis, the centre of the watch and the winding stem form a 90° angle. If there is a small seconds dial, it is located at the '6'. Ready-made ébauches supplied by ébauche suppliers should be distinguished from so-called 'manufacturer' calibres. The latter are movements that manufacturers produce for their own use. Finally, one sometimes encounters the term 'reserved' calibres. This refers to ébauche that ébauche manufacturers develop and/or produce exclusively for individual customers. Other établisseures do not have access to these gauges. Ready-made ébauches supplied by ébauche suppliers should be distinguished from so-called 'manufacturer' calibres. The latter are movements that manufactures produce for their own use. Finally, one sometimes encounters the term 'reserved' calibres. This refers to ébauche manufacturers develop and/or produce exclusively for individual customers. Other établisseures do not have access to these calibres.

An elongated rectangular calibre very popular in the 1920s and early 1930s. The ratio between its proportions (length and width) must be at least 3: 1.

The French word 'calotte' means 'skullcap'. In watchmaker's jargon, it describes a steeply domed case or the domed front of a wristwatch case.

Unit of measurement used to express the fineness of gold. So-called 'fine gold' is almost 100% pure and is synonymous with '24-carat gold'. If, for example, the case of a wristwatch is made of 18-carat gold, the alloy contains 750 parts of gold for every 1,000 parts of alloy. The remaining quarter of the alloy consists of other metals (copper, brass, silver, etc.). Fourteen-carat gold has a fineness of 585 parts per 1,000. Eight-carat gold has a fineness of 333 parts per 1,000. The fineness of the alloy is shown on the watch case as a distinctive mark engraved in the metal.

The outer protective case of a watch. Cases are made in a wide range of different versions and a wide range of materials. A distinction is made between open cases (Lépine) and closed cases (Hunter) on pocket watches. Cases that are splash-proof or completely waterproof to various depths are often used on wristwatches. There are also a large number of different case shapes (round, square, oval, rectangular, tonneau) and materials (platinum, gold, silver, steel, titanium, aluminium, plastic, etc.).

A seconds hand whose axis is located in the center of the dial. On watches with central seconds, the shaft of the central wheel is hollowed out to provide space for the staff on which the seconds hand is attached perpendicularly. A distinction must be made between movements with direct central seconds and those with indirect central seconds. The former is within the energy flow of the gear train; the latter is outside the flow.

Central European Time. Germany and other central European countries established Central European Time on 1 April 1893. Central European Time is one hour ahead (+1) of World or Universal Time (also known as GMT or Greenwich Mean Time). GMT is defined as mean solar time at the Greenwich meridian (0° longitude).

There is no Italian equivalent for this technical term in French watchmaker's jargon. It indicates a series of unassembled components for a movement blank.

The word 'chronograph' (or the more etymologically accurate term 'chronoscope') describes a watch with an hour and minute hand, as well as a chronograph seconds hand (usually centrally axial or 'running'). The latter hand is connected to a special additional mechanism that starts, stops and returns the hand to its zero position, usually in response to the pressing of one or more pushers. The time display is not affected by the activity of this mechanism. Depending on the specific version, a chronograph may also be equipped with counters for counting the minutes and hours elapsed since the activation of the stop-time feature. By pressing the reset pusher, all chronograph hands (including those on the counters) return to their initial positions. Chronographs with two pushers have dominated the market since the 1930s. One of the two pushers starts and stops the chronograph hand; the other returns it to its zero position. Chronographs of this type make additive stopping possible, i.e. the chronograph hand can be repeatedly stopped and restarted from the position it was at the instant it was stopped. Depending on the frequency of the balance, a mechanical wrist chronograph can stop time with an accuracy of up to a tenth of a second.

A precision watch that has demonstrated the accuracy of its rate during a series of 15-day tests conducted at an official test site (e.g. at the COSC in Switzerland). To qualify as a chronometer, the average daily rate of the watch must not exceed -4 or +6 seconds in each of the following five positions: crown left, crown up, crown down, dial up and dial down. The average daily speed deviation may not exceed two seconds; the maximum speed deviation may not exceed five seconds. All candidate watches are tested at temperatures of 23.8 and 38 degrees Celsius. Only after passing the chronometer tests does a watch earn the right to bear the word 'chronometer' on the dial and be sold together with an official classification certificate.

Unlike chronographs, stopwatches do not display the ordinary time of day. In simply constructed chronometers, pressing a button stops the progress of the movement, thus also stopping the progress of the seconds hand.

A mechanical movement performs a very difficult task. Needless to say, a car, whose parts are in motion only a few hours a day, receives an oil change and maintenance at regular intervals. The parts of a watch, by comparison, are in motion 24 hours a day. Failure to maintain the watch regularly can result in damage to the delicate components of the watch's gear train. When a watch is delivered for maintenance, qualified watchmakers completely disassemble the movement, thoroughly check each part, and then reassemble the watch.

Enamel that has been divided into polychrome compartments (so-called “ cloison”) by means of metal partitions that prevent the mixing of the liquefied material. Gold threads measuring 0.007 mm wide and about one mm high are folded into the desired shapes and attached to the dial to create a pattern. A specially trained craftsman known as “cloisonneur (e)” performs these tasks, the difficulty of which is inversely proportional to the size of the dial or pattern. After the threads are bent and fixed to create the finished pattern, each of the tiny cloison is filled with powdered enamel of the desired color. Up to five layers of this fine-grained material should be applied with a quill pen. After applying each layer, the workpiece must be baked in an oven. The bottom layer merges with the top layer to create a play of colors with many shades. The gold threads protrude above the plane of the last layer of enamel, so the cloisonneur (e) must sand them manually until they are flush with the surface of the enamel. This abrasion is followed by a final hand polishing.

An escapement for mechanical watches invented by English master watchmaker George Daniels. Thanks to a thorough redesign of the impulse elements, the resulting friction, which cannot be completely eliminated, is greatly reduced, making it possible to do without lubricating oil. This, in turn, avoids the deleterious effects on the amplitude of the oscillating system that are caused by the viscosity of liquid lubricants. Maintenance intervals can be significantly lengthened. Unlike conventional escapements (pallet, escape wheel), the coaxial escapement consists of three components: an intermediate wheel, a coaxial wheel, and a pallet with three pallet jewels. As in a conventional anchor escapement, the roller table is attached to the balance wheel;unlike the roller table of an ordinary escapement (which has only one roller jewel), the roller table of a coaxial escapement also has an impulse pallet. The name "coaxial escapement" comes from the fact that a single rod serves as the common axis of the escape wheel and the large pinion of the escape wheel (with its wolf teeth, which mesh with the teeth of the intermediate wheel). With regard to the operation of the whole assembly, suffice it to say the following: when the balance turns clockwise, it receives a direct stimulus from the escape wheel to the pulse pallet of the roller wheel. Only when the scale turns counterclockwise do the actual pallets come into play. A small pulse is given by the escape wheel sprocket to the center pulse pallet on the pallets. After each impulse, the escape wheel is briefly stopped by the outer pallet jewel so that the scale can continue to swing freely in the same direction.

A coin with an incorporated watch movement. The first coin watches were made in the 18th century. To create such watches, a coin is halved, then each half is emptied and an ultra-flat movement is sandwiched between the two halves of the coin.

Without an intelligent steering mechanism, it would not be possible to start, stop and reset the seconds hand of a chronograph independently of the movement. Classic chronograph calibres rely on a rotating column wheel to govern these three features. Depending on the details of the movement construction, this relatively elaborate component can have five, six, seven, eight or even nine columns. Each time one of the chronograph features is activated, the column wheel advances clockwise along a precisely defined angle. If the end of a balance wheel stops on one of its columns, the latter holds the first in its raised position. If the balance wheel stops between two columns, a slight pressure from a spring keeps it in a depressed position.

Temperature variations have a deleterious effect on the speed of a mechanical watch because they alter the elasticity of the steel balance springs. Rising temperatures cause a watch to lose speed; falling temperatures, on the other hand, increase its speed. More than 200 years ago, the English watchmaker John Arnold invented the bimetallic rim with slotted compensation, which partly compensated for the non-negligible errors that temperature variations caused in the steel balance. As the name explicitly states, this component consists of a bimetallic rim made of two joined metals (e.g. steel on the inside and brass on the outside). Brass has a higher coefficient of expansion than steel. When temperatures rise, brass expands more than steel so that the free ends of the slotted brass hoop shift position towards the rocker arm. This compensates for the elongation of the steel balance spring. When the temperature drops, the balance rim has the opposite effect. Compensating balances are more expensive to produce and more elaborate to assemble than normal balances, so they are only used in better quality watches. Cheaper movement balances lack this compensation capability, so the speed of cheaper movements is more drastically affected by changes in ambient temperature.

An additional mechanism in a mechanical watch. The most important complications include: automatic winding systems, equation-of-time displays, chronographs, as well as flybacks, perpetual calendar, repeater movements, automatic chimes (grande / petine sonnerie), tourbillons and alarms.

Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Site). A Swiss agency with headquarters in La Chaux-de-Fonds and branches in Bienne, Geneva and Le Locle that conducts all official chronometer tests and issues the corresponding evaluation certificates. The acronym 'COSC' has been in use since 1973.

Counterfeiting of watches was already a serious problem long before the Far East became a destination for mass tourism. Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823) used a secret insignia in his attempt to protect himself from the unauthorised misuse of his name. Renowned watch companies exert rigorous efforts to combat counterfeiting, but the ongoing fight against imitators seems almost hopeless. Like the legendary Hydra, every counterfeit destroyed seems to generate two new ones. Modern fakes are more or less accurate copies of common watch models. They are mainly based on the easily recognisable appearance of the authentic watch and/or the insignia of its manufacturer. The quality of the imitation generally plays a subordinate role. The criminal energy is directed less at the buyer of the fake, who usually knows what he is getting for his typical small amount of money. The damage is suffered by almost all luxury brands. Certificates, invoices and cases no longer serve as a guarantee of authenticity because even these items are readily and frequently counterfeited.

A usually grooved pusher that can be turned to wind the mainspring, set the hands and/or adjust the date display. The crown was also sometimes used to govern the chronograph feature on older watches. On modern watertight watches, the crown may be screwed into the case frequently. A strong side blow to the crown can cause it to break, so case rims on modern sports wristwatches usually protrude slightly on either side of the crown to protect the crown from damage.

Colorless glass. Glass was used as a material to protect watch dials until the 40s. The problem with glass crystals is that they tend to break. Even a slight blow against the crystal can shatter the fragile glass sheet.

Various types of crystals are used on wristwatches. Glass crystals are mainly found on the first wristwatches. These crystals are scratch-resistant, but very fragile and prone to shattering. From the 1940s onwards, glass crystals were increasingly replaced by artificial plastic crystals (Plexiglas). These are unbreakable, but prone to scratching. Mineral crystals have a hardness of 5 on the Mohs scale and are therefore significantly stronger than Plexiglas crystals. Today's high-quality wristwatches rely mainly on synthetic sapphire for their crystals. This material, which has a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, is extremely scratch-resistant, but can only be machined with special diamond tools.

The cylinder escapement was invented by English watchmaker George Graham around 1726. This type of escapement is found in early wristwatches. If it is used in a brand newwristwatch, its presence suggests that this watch is simpler and less expensive. The cylinder escapement forgoes pallets as a connecting ring. Instead, the teeth of the escape wheel penetrate directly into a hollow cylinder, which simultaneously serves as a balance wheel. Because of the insufficiently accurate rate of movement based on this type of escapement, the cylinder escapement is no longer used in contemporary watches.