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Mainspring, Manual, Manufacture, Marine Chronometer, Markers, Meantime, Micrometer Screw, Module, Moonphase, Movement
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Mainspring
This and the barrel make up the driving element of a movement. It stores and transmits the power force needed for its functioning. |
Manual
A mechanical movement in which winding is performed by hand. The motion transmitted from the user's fingers to the crown is forwarded to the movement through the winding stem, from this to the barrel through a series of gears and finally to the mainspring. |
Manufacture
A watch company that uses a movement" in at least one of its models that it has manufactured itself on its own premises. |
Marine Chronometer
A large-sized watch enclosed in a box (therefore also called box chronometer) mounted on gimbals and used, on board of ships, to determine the respective longitude. |
Markers
Elements printed or applied on the dial, sometimes they are luminescent, used as reference points for the hands to indicate hours and fifteen- or five-minute intervals. |
Meantime
The mean time of the meridian of the Greenwich Observatory, considered the universal meridian, is used as a standard of the civil time system, counted from midnight to midnight. |
Micrometer Screw
Element positioned on the regulator, allowing to shift it by minimal and perfectly gauged ranges so as to obtain accurate regulations of the movement. |
Minute Repeater
A striking mechanism with hammers and gongs for acoustically signalling the hours, quarter hours, and minutes elapsed since noon or midnight. The wearer pushes a slide, which winds the spring. Normally a repeater uses two different gongs to signal hours (low tone), quarter hours (high and low tones in succession), and minutes (high tone). Some watches have three gongs, called a carillon. |
Module
Self-contained mechanism, independent of the basic caliber, added to the movement to make an additional function available: chronograph, power reserve, GMT, perpetual or full calendar. |
Moonphase
A function available in many watches, usually combined with calendar-related features ~ The moonphase disc advances one tooth every 24 hours. Normally, this wheel has 59 teeth and assures an almost perfect synchronization with the lunation period, i.e. 29.53 days (in fact, the disc shows the moonphases twice during a single revolution). However, the difference of 0.03 PAWL days, i.e. 44 minutes each month, implies the need for a manual adjustment every two and a half years to recover one day lost with respect to the real state of moonphase. In some rare case, the transmission ratio between the gears controlling the moonphase are calculated with extreme accuracy so as to require manual correction only once in 100 years. |
Movement
The entire mechanism of a watch. Movements are divided into two great families: quartz and mechanical; the latter are available with manual or automatic winding devices. |
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