Watch complications: Everything you need to know

A watch ‘complication’ simply refers to a function that a watch has. While these complications are loved for their aesthetic beauty and intricate mechanisms, these complications have interesting histories and are worth delving into:

Tourbillon

The tourbillon is one of the most distinctive watch complications. The tourbillon style escapement is recognised by its cage which spins the balance wheel and associated parts around on their own axis (usually once each 60 seconds).

The origins of the tourbillon lie on the high seas of the 18th century. There was a critical need for precision time-keeping then, as sailors depended on the accuracy of their ship’s deck watch to ensure safe passage to their destinations. The earth’s gravitational pull accelerates or slows the balance over distance of vertically placed timepieces, affecting the accuracy of the chronometer. This was a challenge to seafarers of that time which led to the invention of the tourbillon.

The tourbillon was created by placing a balance wheel, escape lever, and escape wheel in a cage which rotated a full 360 degrees, making a complete revolution back to its original position in 1 minute. Thus, the overall effects of gravity balanced out as the escapement of the movement meant it did not spend prolonged amounts of time in one vertical position.

The tourbillon is an astronomical term referring to the regular rotations of planets around the sun. Although the tourbillon is no longer a critical component in ensuring accuracy in time-keeping, it remains a prized feature in watches.

Minute Repeater

Ever since the first patent for a repeater pocket watch was granted to English watchmaker Daniel Quare by King Jacob II in 1687, minute repeaters have captured the imaginations of watch-lovers everywhere with their delicate chimes that mark the time.

In 1710, minute repeaters were made in Friedberg, Germany, but signed off as “Maquch, London”, in an attempt to anglicise the name for better sales opportunities in England. However, it was only around 1792 when bells were replaced by gongs in the movement (allowing for miniaturisation) that the minute repeating mechanism became widely used in watches. In 1892, the first minute repeater gong was made, which was a milestone in technical complication.

While the definition of a minute repeater is simplistic- it is a complication on a watch that can strike the time in hours, quarters or seconds by means of a push piece- actually, it is a complex mechanical movement with hundreds of parts that sound out the hours, quarters and minutes.

Originally designed more than 200 years ago for the specific purpose of telling time at night and for the visually impaired, it meant people no longer had to light lamps or wait for the town crier to announce the time- the minute repeater did the job.

A hallmark of the minute repeater is two hammers which strike a pair of gongs resulting in a chime. The first hammer strikes the number of hours; quarters are denoted by an alternating of both hammers on their respective gongs; and the second hammer strikes the minutes that have elapsed after quarters.

When the slide is activated, the hammers strike, the gears and levers automatically configure themselves to chime a different combination with every passing minute in the 12-hour cycle. It is a very intricate horological complication and means, as many experts agree, that no two repeaters will sound alike, even if they are made in an extremely limited series or assembled by the same watchmaker.

Perpetual Calendar

Perpetual calendars have been around since 1615, initially as pocket watches. The first to appear on a wristwatch was based on a lady’s pocket watch calibre in 1925. The perpetual calendar is a mechanism that automatically factors in the varying number of days in each month, including during leap years, and most also possess a moon phase function.

Chronograph

The chronograph was invented by Englishmen George Graham in 1720. Known as the ‘Father of the Chronograph’, Graham built a clock which allowed the measurement of an event’s duration, apparently with accuracy up to 1/16 of a second.

The term ‘chronograph’ worked its way into the watch lexicon despite being somewhat of a misnomer. As the Greek origins of the word suggest, chronos means “time”, and grapho means “to write”. Yet, technically speaking, such pieces are, in fact chronoscopes in that they show elapsed time without recording it.

A chronograph is a watch with two independent time systems: one that indicates the time of the day; another that measures brief intervals. Counters registering seconds, minutes and hours can be started and stopped as and when required.

The layout of the dials on the chronograph depends on the number of subsidiary dials, which can range from two to four, giving chronographs its distinctive sporty look. One dial is usually situated at the nine o’clock position and shows continuous seconds. When the chronograph is activated by pushing a button- usually on the case itself- the central second’s hand starts moving. After one full circle is completed and the hand returns to 12 o’clock, the minute-indicator dial will jump one position. With this basic chronograph model, a period of 30 or 45 minutes can be measured.

The first automatic chronograph was presented in 1969 simultaneously in Geneva, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and beirut- the same year that Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.

Jumping Hour

The jumping hour movement came to the fore in the 1820s in the form of a pocket watch. Though no single person is attributed with its creation, this novel manner of reading time has been interpreted by watch manufacturers who continued to make them in small numbers through the years.

What is characteristic of the jumping hour is that the hour is indicated by a numeral through a window or aperture instead of an indication with an hour hand. This quirky movement is called “jumping hour” because the numeral changes suddenly on the hour instead of gradually, through an hour hand. Such a movement has allowed for the incorporation of a number of design and technical surprises.