Watch

A watch is a timepiece ( clock ), with the aid of a tape ( watch band ) is worn around the wrist.

• 3.1 Chronometer
• 3.2 Range of watches
• 3.3 Electronic Watches

History

Portable clocks were shown to initially built as early as the early 15th century in the form of pocket watches, among others, by Peter Henlein. They were made possible by the invention of the mainspring (still with rotating pendulum ) allowed the drive and the balance as a substitute for the hanging pendulum clock as a crucial element; thus the clocks could shrink to a manageable size. In 1773 Christiaan Huygens received a French patent for the use of a coil spring with a balance, which he had developed after a suggestion by Jean de Hautefeuille. Abraham Louis Breguet built the first wristwatch for Caroline Murat in 1812. Until the 20th century, however, there was the pocket watch before.

Further miniaturization of the movements that fell on the size bracelet watches. At the turn of the 20th century, it gradually became fashionable to wear the wrist watch great ladies pocket watches on chains or bands on the wrist. This fashion was considered initially as " effeminate " - men used initially continue the pocket watch on the watch-chain. This proved for some uses, however, as unwieldy, for example, soldiers who want to keep their hands free for other activities or for pilots who were instructed in its then sparsely equipped with instruments on board aircraft in a fast and precise timekeeping. From 1880, Girard-Perregaux produced a series of wrist watches for the German Navy. The Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont was Louis Cartier build by the friendly Parisian watchmaker clock for a flyer that was worn on the bracelet.

After the officers in the First World War found that their pocket watches in the winter and generally proven under combat conditions to be impractical, the watch sat in the military and eventually in civil society quickly and had become at war's end as standard.

The first automatic watch ( as a wrist watch with a pendulum oscillating weight ) was built in 1923 by John Harwood. Harwood apparently did not know that Abraham Louis Perrelet had already designed a watch with rotor and changer ( ie bi-directional winding ) around 1770. Later built a Rolex automatic winding rotor with single-sided and left this patent. An Automatic draws the energy for tensioning the spring of the arm movements of the wearer.

The first electronic wristwatch with a miniature quartz as taktgebendem element, was presented by the Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH ) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1967 and in August 1967 as a chronometer in the Observatory of Neuchâtel certified ( IEEE Milestone ). This clock had a classic, mechanical pointer display. In the following years, was created by the displacement of mechanical watches, quartz watches by the quartz crisis, which lasted until about 1985.

In 1970 the prototype of the first digital watch with an LED display was developed by Peter Petroff. This was further developed by the company Hamilton Watch Company and Electro -Data and was known commercially as Pulsar, because the digital display was readable only by pressing a button for a few seconds due to the high power consumption.

First digital wrist watches with permanent liquid crystal display ( LCD) came in the period from 1973 to 1975 to the market. The company Gruen and Timex in the U.S., Nepro and Mondaine in Switzerland and Seiko and Casio with the clock CASIOTRON (IEEE First - hand) in Japan in 1974 were the pioneers. The first time this permitting liquid crystal displays were of the Suwa Seikosha company in Japan and Brown, Boveri & Cie. ( BBC ) produced in Switzerland for the watch manufacturer Nepro, Mondaine, Casio and Ilixco in USA.

Today, wristwatches with analog pointer or digital numeric display or used in combination of the two forms of representation. Here, different types have developed, in addition to the classical time display various additional functions - offer - not only for everyday use but also from jewelry and prestige. We are thinking of chronographs, divers watches, sports watches, military watches and so-called military watches of all kinds Moreover watches find a particular provenance customer interest, such as watches from the territories of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries. Recently, smartphone manufacturers try to establish so-called smart watches that combine the classic features of a watch with the communications capabilities of a smartphone ( email, SMS, etc. ) in one unit.

Usually, a wrist watch is worn on the left arm. Left-handed they also carry the right arm.

Components

Mechanism

Every mechanical watch has a vibrating body a balance. This resonates with a given by the spiral spring impact rate in classical watches amplitudes 18,000 per hour ( equivalent to 2.5 Hz ), in modern watches usually 21,600 ( 3 Hz) or 28,800 (4 Hz) semi-oscillations per hour. Some Quick Schwinger reach even 36,000 vibrations per hour (5 Hz), for example, the Longines Ultra -Chron that. Gyromatic RF Girard- Perregaux and El Primero Zenith The balance wheel turns with each pass around the anchor. Due to this change, it is the escape wheel possible, a tooth to continue. The armature and gear wheel prevent the free discharge of the tension spring force on the wheels (see also isochronism ).

The wheels (also called Schwingungszählwerk ) is a speed increasing ratio (seen from the spring ). Switching the passages of the inhibition are therefore divided down until the center wheel makes a 1/60 revolution per minute.

The Movement, the force on the Minutenradwelle and shares the revolutions of the minute a change gear with AC drive on the hour tube, which makes the reduction Reducing 1/12 revolution per hour.

The hour hand is on the hour tube, the minute hand is mounted on the so-called quarter- pipe (which the pointer points allows ) is the Minutenradwelle or the cannon pinion connected via a slip clutch.

The crown is used to adjust the pointer and date as well as to wind the clock.

Watch strap

Watch bands can generally be distinguished by the following properties:

• Material: metal (stainless steel, titanium, gold alloy ), leather ( alligator, crocodile, horse, shark, skate or ostrich ), plastic, rubber, fabric, ceramic etc.
• Style: link belt, trim or solid material
• Clasp: buckle or clasp ( single or double, as a strap or handle ) and no buckle
• Attachment of the bracelet at the clock: attachment to the lugs of the watch case, with a pin buckle is mounted at 12 clock; Integration into the watch case or looping through spring bars at the lugs. A flexible system for seamless connection of bracelet and clock is the so called Leonardo approach.
• Expression: two sections (top and bottom ) and one piece: for example, in which NATO Strap band, washers watchband with a shim under the housing and wide bracelets, into the watch case is integrated
• Bracelet Length: Standard length for wearing around the bare wrist or long length to be worn over clothing ( eg, diving suit, flying suit )
• Processing techniques: In Rembordé method or by the Rembordieren the upper leather is wrapped around the edges of the lining leather and bonded seamlessly and fiber- deep under a defined combination of heat and pressure with this. When Turned Edge Technology leather upper is hit on the inlay. The leather lining is then applied to the underside of the inlay and sewn to the upper. In addition, as part of a cut edged finishing the coupe Franc, the upper and the lining leather joined together, let the edges open. The cut edges are sealed with a flexible paint. If your watch bracelets made of leather, a distinction between upper and leather lining. The vamp is the visible side of the bracelet. According to the particular species reach different skin sections for processing. The leather lining is the inside of the bracelet. The quality of the leather lining is essential for the life of the band, as this is exposed by wearing the skin constantly moisture, abrasion, perfumes, creams and perspiration. For people with skin allergies Bracelet manufacturer offer leather bracelets with anti-allergic coating on the lining Leather page.

Bracelets for watches can be equipped with different functions. On a IDentification Bracelet eg personal data, access permissions or money values ​​are stored. Just for the sport a high resistance is required. In addition to plastic bands here have bracelets made ​​of machined natural rubber, which are highly resilient and yet extremely stable, waterproof and skin friendly, enforced. There are now also bracelets made of leather, which are extremely water resistant. The invention of Rembordier technology, it is possible to also manufacture luxury leather bracelets with very high water resistance, such as a water-resistant to 10 bar Alligator bracelet.

Various types of

Chronometer

As a chronometer (Greek " timer " ) wrist watches may be marked with works that have been proven in a test at an official testing center a specified accuracy.

Military watches

Military watches are specially designed for military or other (eg police, divers and firefighters ) forces watches. Special features of this type of timepieces, depending on the application, robustness against vibration and ambient temperatures, water tightness, night readability and display the elapsed operating time.

Electronic watches

Various approaches have been made by means of electronic components to build more accurate clocks, such as the tuning fork, in which the predetermined one of electrically driven tuning fork is used as a clock frequency. Enforced has been on the market, however, the quartz watch, which represents the major part of the world watch market by the terms of sales today. In her a quartz crystal that oscillates under current flow, for clocking provides. Quartz watches can have a digital display ( beginning with LEDs, later with power -efficient liquid crystals ) or via an indication by hands ( analog ), with increasingly mixed forms (hybrid ) come onto the market. After a boom in the 1980s, the digital display was increasingly displaced again by the analog display. At the beginning of the 21st century, however, an increase in the production of digital watches can be seen again, this is due to additional functions with measurement data and novel fashionable LC displays. 1990 was presented by Junghans MEGA 1, the first radio-controlled wristwatch (atomic clock ) so that the race for the ganggenaueste clock has come to an end.

Mechanical Renaissance

With the advent of microelectronics, it was suddenly possible, very cheap to produce comparatively precise watches with quartz movement, which significantly altered the traditional watch industry. There was a concentration of movement manufacturers, which led to a monopoly position of the Swiss ETA SA. This is part of the Swatch Group, as well as the Movement Manufacturer Frédéric Piguet SA and Nouvelle Lemania SA, both largely for extensive luxury watch division of the Swatch Group (glass Uhrenbetrieb, Union Glashütte / SA, Breguet SA, Blancpain, Rado, Tissot, Omega, Longines and Hamilton) are working.

After the end of the quartz crisis in the 1980s, the high price segment of the elaborately carved mechanical clock as a luxury item became popular again. The micro-electronics and the associated improvements in the precision mechanical manufacturing methods provide new features that were not possible with traditional methods. The previously widespread simple mechanical watch, however, was almost completely replaced by the highly accurate and low-maintenance quartz watch.

The large number of currently available brands of mechanical watches must not obscure the fact that in many watches few works, so-called caliber are built, which are produced by movement manufacturers such as ETA SA. Only a few luxury watchmaker known watch manufacturers make almost all the essential parts of their watches himself forth. The division of labor in the production of the Rohwerks, the so-called Ebauche, the installation in the housing by établisseurs and sale under different own brand name, however, has a long tradition.

The luxury watch manufacturer can be divided on four main groups of owners: the Swatch Group, the French LVMH brands TAG Heuer, Zenith and Dior Watches, which also includes French PPR and the South African Richemont (formerly Vendôme Luxury Group ). Richemont took over last in 2000 for 3.0 billion Swiss francs LMH Holding Vodafone - Mannesmann, which included such well-known watch brands such as IWC, A. Lange & Söhne and Jaeger -LeCoultre. In addition, Richemont holds the watch brands Cartier, Piaget, Baume & Mercier, Panerai and Vacheron Constantin.

Independent manufacturers are still Audemars Piguet, Breitling, Chopard, Nomos Glashutte, Patek Philippe and Rolex, as well as some smaller, independent watchmakers establishments, which are organized in part in the Académie des Créateurs Horlogère Independants.

In addition to these major brands a number of smaller independent watch brands have established themselves in Germany, but they are largely from the rough movements of ETA SA or remnants from before the quartz crisis and this depends partly installed, with changes in their housing. Among other things, these are the manufacturer Meistersinger, Junghans, meaning, Stowa, Askania, Mühle Glashütte and Chronoswiss.

To escape the originally almost complete dependence on the ETA SA, develop some smaller manufacturers have their own manufacture caliber, such as Damasko and Momo Glassworks or soft effect on smaller manufacturers such as ébauche Soprod SA.

Complications

The simple watch has two or three pointers ( without or with second hand ). There are more so-called complications, ie technical features, like:

• Chronograph (stopwatch function), widely used in high-quality mechanical men's watches
• Indicator Power reserve
• Self-winding (Automatic)
• Date display (1 to 31)
• Perpetual calendar, always turns on the correct date, taking into account leap years and month length (28, 29, 30 or 31 days)
• Large date display
• Minute Repeater, a striking mechanism that displays the time acoustically
• Moon Phase
• Rattrapante: split-seconds chronograph, split times can show
• 7 -day work: a spring that has 7 days instead of 42h to 48h power reserve
• Retrograde
• Seconds disc: A usually transparent and printed thin disc instead of second hand. Here it is crucial that their weight does not have too great an influence on the amplitude of the movement and it collides with either the cover glass still with the minute hand
• Spielwerk
• Jumping date change
• Stopwatch
• Tourbillon or carousel, rotating storage of inhibition to increase the accuracy
• Full calendar with month, some with four-digit year
• Alarm clock
• Weekday
• Equation of Time
• Second time zone.

The Grande Complication (Grand Complication ) is considered the highest watchmaking, as several additional features such as perpetual calendar with moon phase, minute repeater and chronograph mechanism, or tourbillon be combined in a wristwatch.

Besides the technical refinement through many extra functions for final mechanical finishing and surface finishing (also finissage, French finissage ) a quality of movements.

Economy

The subsidiary of the Swatch Group's ETA SA has, according to the concluded on 19 November 2004 study of the Swiss Competition Commission ( Comco ) in the produced in Switzerland mechanical movement blanks up to a price of Rs 300 per piece of a dominant position. In addition, they dominate the world market for the higher priced products.