Tourbillon Complication: A Prestigious Function In the most basic terms, watches are simply timekeeping devices. However, many luxury watches go far beyond that function. They feature complications. In horology, a complication refers to any feature that goes beyond the display of hours and minutes. This could
Watch Anatomy: How a Mechanical Watch Differs So, you just bought your first luxury watch. It’s a bit different than the digital you were sporting, but you were ready for the upgrade. A Swiss timepiece can have up to 400 parts. These parts, or the watch
The name Henry Graves, Jr. is one that inspires a great deal of awe among watch collectors. And for Patek Philippe, he's a savior. Graves, a wealthy American banker of the late 19th/early 20th century, had obsessions with several high-ticket items—think boats, art, real estate. But watches
Like a high-performance sports car, your mechanical watch needs to be serviced now and then. In timepiece argot such treatment is called a “complete overhaul,” and although that’s mostly accurate, it’s also a little misleading. It refers, in essence, to a tune-up, but what does
A minute repeater is one of the most elaborate watch complications ever invented. Its name is pretty self-explanatory—the mechanism “repeats” the hours and minutes back to the wearer on demand. While it's largely a decorative (but still absolutely fascinating) mechanism on the modern wristwatch, the
Have you ever wondered: “What is a helium escape valve?” Although many think that the helium escape valve looks cool, it’s function is not well known. While the helium escape valve is a common feature on professional dive watches, you might not know a lot about
If you travel a lot–whether for business or pleasure–a worldtimer watch is a must-have. To give you a brief history, the world time complication was invented in the 1930s by an independent watchmaker named Cottier, who gave out his design to a number of watch companies, most
The History of the Chronograph Ask three different watch collectors who produced the world’s first automatic chronograph, and you’ll receive three different answers. Some will insist it was Zenith, who announced their El Primero movement in January of 1969. This marked the first automatic chronograph announced
Watches and sports have always gone hand in hand. Whether a particular brand is the official timekeeper for a tournament or a particular model is designed with an athlete in mind, the two have been a longstanding pair, which comes as no surprise, since most
Watch complications can be rather complicated, even to the most well-versed timepiece aficionado. A watch complication includes any function on a watch other than the time, such as a chronograph, a tourbillon, or a moonphase. One of the most common is the date display. However,
