Terminology Guide

The world of watches has its own unique language, filled with terms and phrases you might not encounter in everyday life.

Below, you’ll find our comprehensive guide, featuring both official jargon and the more casual, “street” terms commonly used within the watch community.

If you notice a term we’ve missed, let us know here so we can keep this resource up-to-date.

  • Automatic Movement: A self-winding watch mechanism that uses the movement of the wearer's wrist to wind the mainspring.

    Analogue Display: A watch display with an hour, minute, and sometimes second hands on a dial.

    Anti-magnetic: A watch designed to resist magnetic fields that can disrupt accuracy.

    Arabic Numerals: Numbers displayed on the dial in standard numerical form (1, 2, 3, etc.).

  • Balance Wheel: A component in mechanical watches that oscillates to regulate timekeeping.

    Bezel: The ring surrounding the watch face, often used for decorative or functional purposes like tracking elapsed time (as seen on common dive watches).

    Bracelet: A metal band that secures the watch to the wrist.

    Buckle: The mechanism on the strap used to secure the watch on the wrist.

    Bi-directional Bezel: A bezel that can rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise.

  • Case: The housing that contains the watch movement and protects it.

    Chronograph: A watch with stopwatch functionality, allowing users to measure intervals of time.

    Complication: Any function of a watch beyond simply telling the time (e.g., date, moon-phase, GMT).

    Crown: A small knob on the side of the watch case used for setting the time and winding the movement.

    Crystal: The transparent cover that protects the dial, typically made from sapphire, mineral glass, or acrylic.

  • Dial: The face of the watch, displaying the time and often other complications.

    Dive Watch: A watch designed for underwater diving, typically featuring water resistance, a unidirectional bezel to track time, and luminescence for low light visibility.

    Day-Date: A complication that displays both the day of the week and the date.

    Deployant Clasp: A folding clasp that secures the strap, offering easier wear and removal.

  • Escapement: A mechanism that transfers energy from the mainspring to the balance wheel in a controlled manner, driving the hands forward.

    Exhibition Case Back: A transparent case back that allows the movement to be visible.

  • Frequency: The number of oscillations per second of the balance wheel, measured in Hertz (Hz).

    Flieger Watch: A pilot’s watch with a highly legible design, often associated with German aviation watches.

    Flyback Chronograph: A type of chronograph that can be reset and restarted with a single push of a button.

  • GMT: A complication that is used to track a second time zone, often using a 24-hour scale.

    Guilloché: A decorative engraving pattern often found on high-end watch dials.

  • Hacking: A feature that stops the second hand when setting the time, allowing for precise synchronization.

    Horology: The study and art of timekeeping and watchmaking.

    Helium Escape Valve: A feature found on professional dive watches to release helium buildup during saturation diving.

  • Indices: Markers on the dial representing hours, often in the form of lines or shapes.

    Integrated Bracelet: A bracelet seamlessly designed to flow with the watch case.

  • Jewels: Synthetic rubies or sapphires used in a movement to reduce friction and wear on pivot points.

  • Kickback Chronograph: Another term for a flyback chronograph.

    Knurling: A decorative, textured pattern applied to crowns or bezels for improved grip.

  • Lume: A luminous material applied to dials and hands for visibility in low light.

    Lugs: The protrusions on the watch case where the strap or bracelet is attached.

  • Manual Movement: A mechanical movement that requires manual winding to function.

    Mainspring: The coiled spring that powers a mechanical watch.

    Moonphase: A complication that shows the current phase of the moon.

  • Numerals: Numbers used on the dial to indicate the hours.

    No-date Watch: A watch without a date complication, offering a clean dial aesthetic.

  • Oscillation: The back-and-forth motion of the balance wheel.

    Open-heart: A design that exposes part of the movement through the dial.

  • Patina : The natural aging process of a watch, characterised by changes such as faded dials, darkened lume, worn bezels, and softened case edges.

    Perpetual Calendar: A complication that accounts for leap years, automatically adjusting the date.

    Power Reserve: The amount of time a fully wound watch will run before stopping.

    Pusher: Buttons on a chronograph or multifunction watch for operating complications.

  • Quartz Movement: A battery-powered movement that uses a quartz crystal to keep time.

    Quickset Date: A feature that allows the date to be set independently from the time.

  • Rotor: A weighted component in automatic watches that winds the mainspring through motion.

    Retrograde: A complication where the hand moves along an arc and resets to the starting point after completing its scale.

  • Skeleton Dial: A dial designed to showcase the movement beneath.

    Sapphire Crystal: A scratch-resistant transparent cover over the dial.

    Shock Resistance: A feature that protects the movement from damage due to sudden impacts.

    Sub-dial: A smaller dial on the main watch face for additional information (e.g., seconds, chronograph).

  • Tourbillon: A high-end complication that rotates the escapement to counteract gravity’s effects.

    Tachymeter: A scale on a watch used to measure speed based on time and distance.

    Two-tone: A watch with a combination of two materials or finishes, typically steel and gold.

  • Unidirectional Bezel: A bezel that only rotates in one direction, used primarily in dive watches.

  • VPH (Vibrations Per Hour): The number of oscillations of the balance wheel in one hour.

    Vintage Watch: A watch typically 20 years or older.

  • Water Resistance: A watch’s ability to resist water entry, often expressed in meters or ATM (atmospheres).

    Winder: A device that keeps an automatic watch wound when not being worn.

  • Yacht Timer: A complication designed for timing the countdown before a sailing race.

  • Zulu Time: Another term for GMT, used in aviation and military contexts.