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  • FHH Academy
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  • Watches and Culture
  • FHH Academy

    Train and Certify, The Academy masters, delivers and measures watchmaking knowledge worldwide.

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  • FHH Forum

    The Watch Forum provides a platform for debate to help craft the industry of tomorrow.

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  • Watches and Culture

    Attract new audiences and present watchmaking in a new light.

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Who are we

A not-for-profit foundation set up under private law in 2005 by Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux and Richemont, the objective of the FHH is to promote and spread the reputation of watchmaking excellence around the world.

It provides information on the latest news, history and skills within the watchmaking professions. It trains, assesses and certifies horological knowledge. It organises events and encounters intended for both the general public and professionals. A creator of content, competencies, connections and experiences, the FHH is supported by leading names in the watch industry and independent creators, all actively contributing to its activities.


Head office

Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie

Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie

Pont de la Machine 1

1204 Geneva | Switzerland

T +41 22 808 58 60

Watches and Culture: Did you know?

  • Timepieces

    Limelight Exceptional Pieces

    First secret watch Case set with 481 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 2.8 ct) and 207 baguette-cut diamonds (approx. 31.9 ct)Exceptional center emerald-cut diamond (approx 3.35 ct) on the top of the...

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  • Famous watchmakers

    Jacques Frédéric Houriet

    Swiss clockmaker and chronometer maker. Served his apprenticeship with his uncle, Abraham Gagnebin, then was apprenticed to Abraham Louis Perret-Jeanneret, master watchmaker in Le Locle, under the terms of a notarial letter of...

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  • History

    1755

    The Parisian watchmaker Caron created, for Madame de Pompadour, a ring-watch that was wound by rotating the bezel and set using a key.

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  • Glossary

    • Alarm

      A pocket watch, wristwatch or clock that automatically sounds at a preset time. The alarm function regained in popularity with the launch, by Eterna in 1908, of a wristwatch with alarm.

    • Brilliant cut

      A round diamond that is cut with 57 or 58 facets or 32 facets + plus the largest facet called the table, 24 are below. The 58th facet is optional and is polished at the point of the diamond.

    • Cloud

      A cluster of tiny inclusions in some gemstones that has a milky appearance.

    • Daylight Saving Time

      Legal time in certain countries that is one hour ahead of winter time, itself one hour ahead of solar time.

    • Enamellist

      A person who creates enamelwork.

    • Finishing (Finissage)

      The final operation in a process. On a watch case, the last stage in assembling the parts so that they function.

    • Girdle

      The girdle is the widest perimeter of a gemstone that separates the top (crown) and the bottom (pavilion) of a cut gem.

    • Horology

      The science of measuring time.

    • Integrated circuit

      A group of electronic components and their connections, performing one or more functions. Integrated circuits for watches measure just a few square millimetres.

    • Jewels

      The international term for the jewels (rubies) in a watch movement that are used as bearings for pivots to reduce friction. The movement of a quality watch has between 15 and 21 jewels.

    • Knot

      A raised mineral inclusion in a diamond found at the surface.

    • Lunation

      The period of time elapsing between two successive new moons.

    • Micron

      A metric unit of length equal to one thousandth of a millimetre or one millionth of a metre. The watch industry often expresses tolerances in microns.

    • Nacre

      The iridescent substance secreted by molluscs around a foreign object. Pearls and cultured pearls are covered with nacre by certain species of oysters and mussels.

    • Oscillator

      A device such as a pendulum or balance that produces the oscillations that divide time into equal units: a balance spring in a mechanical watch; a quartz in a quartz watch.

    • Pavé

      A group of gems set closely together to cover an entire surface.

    • Quartz

      Silicon dioxide. Also called rock crystal. Quartz has the specific property of vibrating at a very high frequency (32 MHz) placed under electric current. Under certain conditions, it...

    • Repeater

      A watch that strikes the hour on demand by activating a pushpiece or a slide (bolt). There are several types of repeater: Half-quarter and quarter...

    • Screw

      A fastening comprising a cylindrical shaft, grooved along part or all its length, and a head with a slot for the screwdriver.

    • Time zone

      In order to standardise time measurement in each country, since 1883 the Earth has been divided into twenty-four time zones, the first of which is intersected by the Greenwich meridian,...

    • Under-dial work

      Collective term for the mechanisms, such as for striking, a calendar or motionwork, between the dial and the dial plate.

    • Vane

      Uses air friction to slow a moving part, for example the arm on a gravity escapement.

    • Watch

      A portable timepiece that functions in all positions. A watch comprises three essential parts: The movement made up of the different mechanical components required to keep...

    • Year

      A four-digit indication of the current year that changes automatically at midnight on December 31st.

    • Zinc

      A metal applied by electrodeposition (electroplating) to protect iron and steel.

    Expand Glossary

Glossary

From A to Z, we've got watchmaking covered!