Basic Watch Knowledge

Movements:
The movement is the mechanism that powers the display of the watch. The three basic movements are quartz, mechanical, and automatic. A quartz movement is a watch that uses a battery to operate the watch. A mechanical movement is a watch that must be wound daily. An automatic movement watch is one that can be either manually wound, but it also automatically wound as the it is worn through the daily movement of the watch.

Watch Display Types:
The display is the portion of the watch that you view to read time. There are two types; analog and digital. Analog has hands and digital displays the numbers on a screen.

Functions:
The calendar function gives the date and/or the day of the week. The chronograph is the stopwatch feature. The tachometer function measures the speed at which something is moving. There are other specialized functions that some professional models have including, compass, altimeter, barometer, alarm, time zones, GMT, power reserve indicator, and others.

Resistant:
Shock resistance is the watch’s ability to be worn under many active and strenuous conditions without affecting the accuracy. Water resistance is the watch’s ability to withstand exposure to water at different depths. If the watch has markings on it that states it is water resistant, it is able to withstand splashes of water. If the markings state a depth in meters then it can be worn to that depth of water. A watch should be water resistant to at least 200 meters if a person is to wear the watch while swimming. The term waterproof is never to be used. The term is forbidden by the FTC.

Watch Bands:
There are two basic types of bands, a strap or bracelet. The strap is made of leather, nylon, plastic, or rubber. The bracelet is made of metal. Bracelets can be made of the following, stainless steal stainless steal with gold plating, silver, gold, platinum, titanium, and ceramic.

Bezel:
The bezel is located on top of the case and can either be stationary, unidirectional, or bi-directional. If the bezel is stationary then it’s function is to either hold the crystal in place or for cosmetic reasons. If the bezel is unidirectional with numbers form 10 to 60, then it is a count down timer. This was original designed to allow tell divers the amount of time remaining in their tanks. A bezel that moves into both directions with numbers going from 5-24 is meant to be used for duel time zones.

Crystal:
The crystal is the transparent cover over the face of the watch. A crystal can be made from plastic, glass, or sapphire. A sapphire crystal is the best quality and the least likely to scratch.

Other Parts of the Watch:
The crown is the knob connected to the stem used to set the watch. The face or dial is the flat surface of the watch where time is displayed. The hands are the small pieces that are connected to the dial for the hours, minutes, and seconds. The case is the body of the watch where the movement, dial, hands, and other parts are contained. The lugs are at the ends of the case and connects case of the watch with the band.