A mechanical watch is a little machine on your wrist composed of screws, plates, springs, gears, and other various components. The power source is the so-called mainspring which needs to be wound in order for the watch to run and tell time.
Generally speaking, there are two common ways to wind the mainspring in a wristwatch, one is by hand (classically via the crown of the watch), the other one is by a weighted rotor which is winding the spring through the movement of the wrist and arm. This is why automatic watches are also called “self-winding” watches. There have been other systems in order to achieve this self-winding effect, but the weighted rotor prevailed.
In the case of a classical quartz watch, the mainspring is replaced by a battery to power the watch.
A chronometer (creek word for timekeeper) is a mechanical timepiece meeting defined precisions standards in terms of timekeeping. Globally, different institutes are issuing such standards, but the most famous one is the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC). In Switzerland, only watches certified by this institute may use the word “chronometer” in conjunction with any marketing activities or prints on their dial. The COSC tests are carried out over 15 days during which the accuracy of the watch is measured in five different positions and at three temperature levels.
To get a COSC certification, the watch must not lose more than -4 or gain more than +6 seconds per day.
Complication described any watch feature which goes beyond measuring the standards time units, hours, minutes, and seconds. Classic three (or two) hand watches do not have any additional complications. A date function is already considered to be a complication.
Widely known complications are:
- Chronograph function
- Flyback chronograph
- Split second chronograph
- Day / Date function
- Anual calandre
- Perpetual calender
- Moon-phase
- Euqation of time
- Power reserve
- Alarm function
- Tourbillon
- Minute repeater
No. Compared to most manually wound watches (there are exceptions), automatic watches are equipped with a slipping spring which prevents the mainspring from overwinding, as the rotor will not stop its rotation when the watch is fully wound.
Please note that most automatic watches can also be wound manually via the crown.
Yes. We are happy to manage the service of your watch, even if it was not a direct purchase from us.
This strongly depends on how complicated the mechanical watch is. Please see our service atelier section for more details or contact us directly.
Of course, the best way to determine whether the desired watch fits is to try it on. As this is not always possible, two parameters need to be taken into consideration — the circumference of the wrist as well as the width of the wrist. Especially the latter is essential to determine how the watchcase would look like on your wrist. To get a clear picture, do not just take the diameter of the watch into consideration but the lug to lug length. This will tell you whether the lug to lug span does outsize your wrist.
Please do also consider the hight of the watch to determine how it will sit on your wrist.
Generally speaking, the water-resistance numbers on your watch are a littlest misleading when it comes to daily usage. When a watch is 30m (or 3atm) water-resistant, it means that it can withstand a static pressure without case leakage. In your daily life this means, the watch is maximum splash resistant and should not be worn while showing, let alone swimming in a pool.
Based on this measuring method, the following listing will show for which activities the corresponding waterproof marking is suitable:
- No water resistance: Please treat the watch like you would treat a piece of paper when it comes to exposure to water.
- 30m or 3atm: Splash or rain Do not swim with the watch
- 50m or 5atm: Suitable for showering and “light” swim activities
- 100m or 10atm: Suitable for regular watersports like swimming, snorkeling, surfing, etc.
- 200m or 20 atm: Suitable for serious water sports and skin diving
- 300m or 30atm: Suitable for scuba diving but not suitable for saturation diving
- Above 300m 30 atm: Suitable for saturation diving, most of the time occluding a helium escape valve
Your watch will loose water resistance over time, please have it checked regularly at least every 1-2 years. Of course, we are offering this service in our Service Atelier.
Only a few mechanical watch models are eligible for hefty and active sports activities as their movements are shock protected. In general, we do not recommend to perform activities that expose your watch to massive impacts and shocks like golf, tennis, or downhill biking.
Besides very intensive sports activities, please avoid exposure to strong magnetic fields (e.g., emitted by speakers), aggressive chemicals and extreme heat (e.g., sauna) which might also damage the caliber in your watch.
For full maintenance and cleaning tips, do not hesitate to contact our watchmaker.
A device stopping the running second of the watch as soon as the crown is pulled, allowing to set the watch precisely against a reference time, such as an atomic clock.
The term “finishing” – in conjunction with watches and watch parts – summarizes different kinds of decoration techniques, aiming to remove all traces of mechanical engineering of the watch, to transform the timepiece into a real work of art.
Besides aesthetic aspects, some finishing techniques do have a practical purpose, e.g. heating the screws of the caliber to harden them, with there lovely side effect that the screws take on s striking blue (or other color variations depending on the time they were exposed to the heat source).
Commonly known finishing techniques are:
- Perlage: These are circular grindings, most of the time applied in overlapping circles to larger (and sometimes hidden) metal surfaces in the caliber, such as the baseplate.
- Anglage (also mirrored anglage): Refers to bevel or chamfer the edges of metal pieces by polishing them. Commonly, this is applied to parts in the watch as well as the watch case itself.
- Black polishing: Refers to the highest existing polishing standard of metal pieces to create the “perfect” smooth surface reflecting the light only in one direction. Depending on the angle the light is reflected, pieces can appear to the “black”.
- Geneva (or German) stripes: Classical method of decoration, in which a kind of “wave pattern” is applied to the predominantly visible parts of the watch.
- Screws: Various kinds of finishings can be applied to screws within a watch, from high polishings to heatening methods, in order to color and harden the screws.
- Engraving: Depending on the manufacturer, various high-end engravings are applied to different parts of a watch. Especially engravings on small parts, like the balance bridge, proof how much experience and skill is necessary to produce such fine art.
No, we are not shipping outside of Switzerland.
In case you cannot visit our store during regular business hours, we will find a solution to get the timepiece to you.
No, we are not permitted to send the watches via postal or courier services.
Yes. We are happy to mange the service of your watch, even if it was not a direct purchase from us.
No. We are not accepting these kind of payments
