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  • FHH Academy
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  • 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 00

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  • Glossary

    • Agate

      A variety of the quartz group that exists in many different colours and is opaque. This ornamental gemstone is sometimes used for watch dials.

    • Brace (Bridle)

      Part that holds or retains. Clamp, Winding-stem brace, Mainspring bridle, Slip spring, pivoting brace

    • Chronograph

      A watch indicating hours, minutes and seconds combined with a mechanism whose hand can be started, stopped and returned to zero on demand to measure a duration to one fifth, tenth or even...

    • Display lighting

      A means of lighting the dial and/or hands, using either an electroluminscent substance or an electrical system.

    • Enamel

      A vitreous substance whose main component is silica mixed with oxides (transition metals) that create a vast palette of colours. Enamel is used to decorate metal surfaces, in particular gold,...

    • Fine stone

      The name given to a non-precious stone. The term "semi-precious stone" is no longer...

    • Goldsmith

      A craftsman who produces decorative objects in precious metals, as well as in pewter and copper.

    • Hunter

      A watch whose case has a front and back cover.

    • Incabloc®

      A resilient bearing to dampen shocks on the balance-staff pivots. Also known as shockproofing. The majority of watches today use the Incabloc® system. Designed to absorb shocks...

    • Jeweller

      In its original, eighteenth-century meaning, a jeweller is an expert in the art of mounting precious stones in gold, silver and, later, platinum so as to bring out their full beauty and sparkle....

    • Kunzite

      A transparent pink or light purple gemstone and is a variety of spodumene. The colour of some kunzite can be enhanced by irradiation. Kunzite has a hardness of 6-7 and a specific gravity of 3.1 -...

    • Lunation

      The period of time elapsing between two successive new moons.

    • Manufacture

      The Swiss watch industry uses this term to differentiate between a company that manufactures a watch almost in its entirety as opposed to finishing shops which only assemble and time the watch,...

    • Niello

      An enamel-like alloy of lead, copper, silver, sulphur and sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride). Niello paste is applied over incised gold or silver then fired in the enamellist's furnace. Excess...

    • Oignon (watch)

      A style of watch made in France in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Its fat, bulbous form suggests an onion. Most oignon watches featured a chased brass case, very occasionally...

    • Pawl (Click)

      A lever with a "beak" which, activated by a spring, engages with the teeth of a wheel, usually to allow the wheel to turn in one direction only.

    • Quartz oscillator

      The regulating organ in a quartz clock or watch.

    • Rock setting

      Baguette-cut diamonds of the first water are positioned so as to accentuate their fire without showing any of the metal underneath. This technique was developed in 2004 by...

    • Snailing

      A decoration of compact spirals on a dial, created using a rose engine.

    • Thermal compensator

      A device, generally made from two metals that dilate differently, used in clocks and watches to compensate the effects of heat and cold on rate.

    • Ultra-complicated watch

      Any function other than the indication of hours, minutes and seconds, regardless of whether the mechanism is hand-wound or self-winding, mechanical or electronic, and of movement height. The...

    • Vermeil

      Silver covered with a thin layer of gold.

    • 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!