E

ETA: Swiss manufacturer of mechanical movements. Although held in the highest regard, their movements are available in watches retailing under $1000 up to tens of thousands.

Elapsed time rotating bezel: A graduated rotating bezel (see rotating bezel”) used to keep track of elapsed time. The bezel can be turned so the wearer can align the zero on the bezel with the watch’s seconds or minutes hand. After a period of time passes, you can read the elapsed time off the bezel. This saves you having to perform the subtraction that would be necessary if you used the watch’s regular dial.

Electronic (quartz) watch: A watch, usually battery-powered, which uses an electric current to cause a quartz oscillator to vibrate, normally 32,768 Hz per second but sometimes at much higher frequencies. These vibrations are processed by an integrated circuit which transforms the current into impulses. These are fed into a stepping motor which drives a train of gears to move the hands. Some quartz watches have solar cells which take light from any soul, natural or artificial, and transform them into electrical energy. Another form is the Seiko Kinetic (See Kinetic).

Escapement: Device in a mechanical movement that controls the rotation of the wheels and thus the motion of the hands.

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Filed under: Glosary

K

Kinetic: Refers to the Seiko line of Kinetic watches. This innovative technology has a quartz movement that does not use a battery. Movement of your wrist charges a very efficient capacitor which powers the quartz movement. Once the capacitor is fully charged, men models will store energy for 724 days without being worn. Ladies models store energy for 3-7 days. Of course, if the watch is worn every day the capacitor is continually recharged. The watch alerts you to a low capacitor charge when the seconds hand starts to move in two second intervals.

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Filed under: Glosary

S

Sapphire – Man made sapphire crystal used for its hardness and scratch resistant qualities in watch making.

Sapphire crystal: A crystal made of synthetic sapphire, a transparent, shatter-resistant, scratch-resistant substance.

Screw-lock crown: A crown that can be screwed into the case to make the watch watertight.

Screw-down crown: The crown of a watch that screws on / in to the case to better seal the watch. This ensures more water and dust resistance.

Second time-zone indicator: An additional dial that can be set to the time in another time zone. It lets the wearer keep track of local time and the time in another country simultaneously.

Shock resistance: As defined by U.S. government regulation, a watch’s ability to withstand an impact equal to that of being dropped onto a wood floor from a height of 3 feet.

Skeleton watch: A watch with no dial and only a chapter ring. As much metal is removed as possible and all the remaining parts are decorated with elaborate engravings.

Slide rule: A device, consisting of logarithmic or other scales on the outer edge of the watch face, that can be used to do mathematical calculations. One of the scales is marked on a rotating bezel, which can be slid against the stationary scale to make the calculations. Some watches have slide rules that allow specific calculations, such as for fuel consumption by an airplane or fuel weight.

Solar powered: A watch that uses solar energy (from any light source) to power the quartz movement. The Citizen >Solar-Techitizens Internet Site.

Spring bars (or pins) : Spring-loaded bars between the lugs on the case, used to attach a strap or metal bracelet to the case.

Stepping motor: The part of a quartz movement that moves the gear train, which in turn moves the watch’s hands.

Stopwatch: A watch with a seconds hand that measures intervals of time. When a stopwatch is incorporated into a standard watch, both the stopwatch function and the timepiece are referred to as a chronograph.

Sub-dial: A small dial on a watch face used for any of several purposes, such as keeping track of elapsed minutes or hours on a chronograph or indicating the date.

Swiss made: As a part of a move towards greater consumer protection and in order to combat fakes in the Far East that claim to be Swiss made, the Swiss federal council in 1993 laid down the rule that a watch has to satisfy before it could be described as Swiss made. The movement must be of Swiss origin, and must contain at least 50% Swiss parts. The watch must be cased in Switzerland and pass its final inspection in that country.

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Filed under: Glosary