B |
Balance
Oscillating device that, together with the balance spring makes up the movement's heart inasmuch as its oscillations determine the frequency of its functioning and precision.
The heart of a mechanical watch movement is the balance. Fed by the energy of the mainspring, a tirelessly oscillating little wheel, just a few millimeters in diameter and possessing a spiral-shaped balance spring, sets the rhythm for the escape wheel and lever with its vibration frequency. Today the balance is usually made of one piece of anti-magnetic glucydur, which expands very little when exposed to heat. |
Balance Spring
Component of the regulating organ that, together with the balance, determines the movement's precision. The material used is mostly steel alloy (e.g. Nivarox), an extremelly stable metal compound. In order to prevent the system's center of gravity from continuous shifts, hence differences in rate due to the watch's position, some modifications were adopted. These modifications included Breguet's overcoil (closing the terminal part of the spring partly on itself, so as to assure an almost perfect centering) and Philips curve (helping to eliminate the lateral pressure of the balance-staff pivots |
Barrel
Component of the movement containing the mainspring, whose toothed rim meshes with the pinion of the first gear of the train. Due to the fact that the whole - made up of barrel and mainspring - transmits the motive force, it is also considered to be the very motor. Inside the barrel, the mainspring is wound around an arbor turned by the winding crownor, in the case of automatic movements, also by the gear powered by the rotor. |
Bearing
Part on which a pivot turns, in watches mostly a jewels. |
Beveling
Chamfering of edges of levers, bridges and other elements of a movement by 45∞, a treatment typically found in high-grade movements. |
Bezel
Top part of case, sometimes holds the crystal. It may be inegrated with the case middle or a separate element. It is snapped or screwed on to the middle. |
Bracelet
A metal band attached to the case. It is called integral if there is no apparent discontinuity between case and bracelet and the profile of attachments is similiar to the first link. |
Bridge
Structural metal element of a movement - sometimes called cock or bar - supporting the wheel train, balance, escapement and barrel. Each bridge is fastened to the plate by means of screws and locked in a specific position by pins. In high quality movements the sight surface is finished with various types of decoration. |
Breguet Hands
A particular type of hands in a traditional elegant shape. |
Brushed, Brushing
Topical finishing giving metals a line finish, a clean and uniform look. |
|
