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.

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.