Watch Parts: Bezels and Regulators and Jewels-- Oh My!

Watch Parts: Bezels and Regulators and Jewels-- Oh My!

Ever taken an old watch apart? Hint: Don't do it, unless you either a)know exactly how to reassemble it or b)intend to make funky costume jewelry from the bits and pieces. Still, it's fascinating to know what's inside a watch and you may as well know what everything's named. Suppose for a minute that you're visiting your local watchmaker's bench and she asks you to please pass her a balance staff. You wouldn't want to hand the girl a bezel instead now, would you?

Let's begin with watch parts that you can see while the timepiece is still intact. The first thing we see is the watch face, or dial. Dials are usually a simple metal disk but can be made of other stuff as well. Some beautiful watch dials are made of thin slices of mother-of-pearl or semi-precious gemstones. Hours and minutes are shown via the display. Watches that indicate the time with hands, most watches have three- are called analog display, while watches that show the time with electronic numbers are called digital display.

The clear cover over the watch face is called the crystal and can be made of mineral glass or other transparent synthetic material. The purpose of the crystal is obvious: It simply protects the dial and keeps the watch parts inside where they belong. The crystal is attached to the watch body with a bezel. How about an aperture? Actually, an aperture is where there is nothing. See, an aperture is a tiny window on the dial, through which you view an indicator such as month or date. And a crown? Easy-- the crown is the little knurled stem-like gadget on the side that you pull out to wind or set your watch.

All in all, a watch looks fairly simple. If you dare open it --please see paragraph one again-- you will find a myriad of tiny wheels, gears, levers and springs that comprise the escapement. In a nutshell, the escapement is a set of watch parts that converts the rotary motion of the gear-train into the to-and-fro action necessary to run the watch. Confusing? It is! How amazing that the first mechanical clock was invented in the early 1300s; before this, time was measured by primitive means, like sundials. Hard to tell the time at night before Galileo, an Italian scientist, discovered the pendulum in 1581. The pendulum was an enormous improvement in timekeeping.

Yes, watches are a complicated deal. The first known wristwatch was invented by one Jacquet-Droz of Switzerland around 1790. It was, more or less, a small clock fixed to a bracelet. Over the next hundred years, the bracelet-watch evolved from a curious piece of jewelry to a wearable, somewhat dependable timepiece. The earliest known example belonged to Empress Josephine and was encrusted with emeralds and pearls. It now resides in a Paris museum.

So, if you really need to know what's inside your watch, do a Google search and see for yourself, without viewing your complicated watch parts in a pile.
 posted by Watches Giant