Buying a vintage watch is a bit like buying a used car; the more you know about it and understand how things work under the hood, the more chance you’ll find a gem and enjoy it when taking it for a ride.
But with over a 100 working parts and a whole glossary of technical terms, it can seem like the only way to really find your perfect watch is by becoming an expert horologist.
Fortunately, however, it’s really easy to get a grip of the basics. And once you acquire a solid understanding of the basics, you’re 80 percent of the way there and, therefore already in a great position to find your ideal watch.
To help you do that, we’ve put together a quick layman’s guide that anyone can use to wrap their head around common terminology from the world of wristwatches.
Let’s get started by taking a look at the basic anatomy of a watch. Then we’ll go into more detail on two of the more demanding areas, movements and complications.
Case: The container that houses and protects the watch movement.
Crystal: The transparent cover that protects the watch dial, typically made from glass, plastic, or synthetic sapphire.
Crown: The button on the side of the watch used for setting the time and date.
Dial: The metal base of a watch on which information such as hours, minutes, and seconds are displayed.
Lug: The protruding parts of a watch’s case that secure its strap.
Bezel: A ring around the watch that holds the glass or crystal in place.
Watch movements
A watch’s movement describes the sweep of the hand’s around its face and the inner mechanisms that sits at its heart and drives them. They come in three types: mechanical, automatic, and quartz.
The main thing to know about mechanical watches is that they’re powered by a mainspring that’s wound by hand. Due to their rich history and the craftsmanship that goes into making them, they generally have much more character than the average watch and thus enthusiasts consider them the cream of the crop.
Automatic watches are built in much the same way as mechanical watches, the difference being they don’t require manual winding to keep the hands ticking. Instead, they self-wind from the wearer’s movements throughout the day.
As they require the same amount of craftsmanship as mechanical watches, automatic watches come with a lot of character. However, one downside is they need to be stored in a watch winder when not in use to make sure they stay wound.
Today, your typical watch is powered by a quartz movement. Quartz watches run on electricity from a small battery and are incredibly popular due to being stronger, cheaper to produce, and more accurate than other movement types.
All these benefits do, however, come at a cost. Most quartz watches lack the charm, character, and significance that older, more technically demanding timepieces posses.
Watch complications
It can be complicated to buy a watch but that’s not what is meant by the term watch complications.
Complications describe any of a watch’s features other than telling the time — things like alarms, repeaters (a feature that chimes the house and minutes), and calendar and moon phase displays.
A chronograph watch is a specific type of watch that combines the complication of a stopwatch with the traditional display. Most chronographs have three sub-registers or dials within the display and a tachymeter inscribed around its rim.
Together, these features can be used to calculate metrics like speed, distance, and fuel consumption, and are why chronographs are most often associated with sports and field watches.
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