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horology Chronometry or horology () is the science studying the measurement of time and timekeeping. Chronometry enables the establishment of standard measurements of time, which have applications in a broad range of social and scientific areas. ''Hor ...
, a movement, also known as a caliber or calibre (
British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
), is the mechanism of a
watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...
or
timepiece A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest Invention, human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, a ...
, as opposed to the ''case'', which encloses and protects the movement, and the ''
face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...
'', which displays the time. The term originated with mechanical timepieces, whose
clockwork Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement (clockwork), movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or wei ...
movements are made of many moving parts. The movement of a
digital watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...
is more commonly known as a module. In modern mass-produced clocks and watches, the same movement is often inserted into many different styles of case. When buying a quality pocketwatch from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, for example, the customer would select a movement and case individually. Mechanical movements get dirty and the lubricants dry up, so they must periodically be disassembled, cleaned, and lubricated. One source recommends servicing intervals of: 3–5 years for watches, 15–20 years for
grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, hall clock or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock, with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this styl ...
s, 10–15 years for wall or mantel clocks, 15–20 years for anniversary clocks, and 7 years for
cuckoo clock A cuckoo clock is a type of clock, typically pendulum clock, pendulum driven, that striking clock, strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and ope ...
s, with the longer intervals applying to antique timepieces.


Mechanical movements

A mechanical movement contains all the moving parts of a
watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...
or
clock A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest Invention, human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, a ...
except the hands, and in the case of
pendulum clock A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is an approximate harmonic oscillator: It swings back and forth in a precise time interval dep ...
s, the
pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...
and driving weights. The movement is made of the following components: ;Power source: Either a
mainspring A mainspring is a spiral torsion spring of metal ribbon—commonly spring steel—used as a power source in mechanical watches, some clocks, and other clockwork mechanisms. ''Winding'' the timepiece, by turning a knob or key, stores energy in ...
, or a weight suspended from a cord wrapped around a
pulley Sheave without a rope A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft. A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flan ...
. The mainspring or pulley has a mechanism to allow it to be wound up, which includes a
ratchet Ratchet may refer to: Devices * Ratchet (device), a mechanical device that allows movement in only one direction * Ratchet effect in sociology and economics * Ratchet, metonymic name for a socket wrench incorporating a ratcheting device * Ratc ...
to prevent it from unwinding. The barrel or pulley has gear teeth on it which drives the center wheel. ;Wheel train: A
wheel train In horology, a wheel train (or just train) is the gear train of a mechanical watch or clock. Although the term is used for other types of gear trains, the long history of mechanical timepieces has created a traditional terminology for their gear t ...
is a
gear train A gear train or gear set is a machine element of a mechanical system formed by mounting two or more gears on a frame such that the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each oth ...
that transmits the force of the power source to the escapement. Large gears known as ''wheels'' mesh with small gears known as
pinion A pinion is a round gear—usually the smaller of two meshed gears—used in several applications, including drivetrain and rack and pinion systems. Applications Drivetrain Drivetrains usually feature a gear known as the pinion, which may v ...
s. The wheels in a typical going train are the centre wheel, third wheel, and fourth wheel. A separate set of wheels, the motion work, divides the motion of the minute hand by 12 to move the hour hand and in watches another set, the keyless work, allows the hands to be set. ;Escapement: An
escapement An escapement is a mechanical linkage in mechanical watches and clocks that gives impulses to the timekeeping element and periodically releases the gear train to move forward, advancing the clock's hands. The impulse action transfers energy to t ...
is a mechanism that allows the wheel train to advance, or ''escape'' a fixed amount with each swing of the balance wheel or pendulum. It consists of a gear called an ''escape wheel'' which is released one tooth at a time by a lever that rocks back and forth. Each time the escape wheel moves forward it also gives the pendulum or balance wheel a push to keep it moving. ;Oscillator: The timekeeping element, either a
pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...
or a
balance wheel A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned toward its center position b ...
. It swings back and forth, with a precisely constant time interval between each swing, called the beat. A pendulum movement has a pendulum hangar usually attached to a sturdy support on the back, from which the pendulum is suspended and a ''fork'' which gives the pendulum impulses. The oscillator always has some means for adjusting the rate of the clock. Pendulums usually have an adjustment nut under the bob, while balance wheels have a ''regulator'' lever on the balance spring.


Types of movements

Watch movements come in various shapes to fit different case styles, such as round, tonneau, rectangular, rectangular with cut corners, oval and baguette, and are measured in '' lignes'', or in millimetres. Each specific watch movement is called a ''caliber''. The movement parts are separated into two main categories: those belonging to the '' ébauches'' and those belonging to the '' assortments''. In watch movements the wheels and other moving parts are mounted between two plates, which are held a small distance apart with pillars to make a rigid framework for the movement. One of these plates, the front plate just behind the face, is always circular, or the same shape and dimensions as the movement. The back plate has various shapes: ;Full plate movement: In this design, used in the earliest pocketwatches until the 18th century, the back plate was also circular. All the parts of the watch were mounted between the two plates except the balance wheel, which was mounted on the outside of the back plate, held by a bracket called the ''balance cock''. ;Three-quarter plate movement: In the 18th century, to make movements thinner, part of the back plate was cut away to make room for the balance and balance cock. ;Bridge movement: In modern watch movements, the back plate is replaced with a series of plates or bars, called bridges. This makes servicing the movement easier, since individual bridges and the wheels they support can be removed and installed without disturbing the rest of the movement. The first bridge movements, in Swiss pocketwatches from around 1900, had three parallel bar bridges to support the three wheels of the going train. This style is called a ''three finger'' or ''Geneva'' movement. Mechanical watch movements are also classified as manual or automatic: ;Manual or hand winding: In this type the wearer must turn the crown periodically, often daily, in order to wind the mainspring, storing energy to run the watch until the next winding. ;Automatic or self-winding: In an automatic watch, including in most mechanical watches sold today, the mainspring is automatically wound by the natural motions of the wearer's wrist while it is being worn, eliminating the need for manual winding. Additionally, a distinction is also sometimes made on whether or not the movement offers hacking, allowing the second hand to be stopped.


Caliber

In
horology Chronometry or horology () is the science studying the measurement of time and timekeeping. Chronometry enables the establishment of standard measurements of time, which have applications in a broad range of social and scientific areas. ''Hor ...
, "caliber" refers to the specific internal mechanism of a watch or clock, also known as a movement. Although the term originally was only used to refer to the size of a movement, it is now used to designate a specific model (although the same caliber can be used in many different watches or clocks). Different watch manufacturers tend to use their own identification system to number their calibers.


See also

*
Clockwork Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement (clockwork), movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or wei ...
*
Chinese standard movement The Chinese Standard Movement, also commonly known as the "Tongji" (Chinese: 统机, "unified") movement, is a mechanical watch, mechanical Movement (clockwork), watch movement that was developed in the People's Republic of China during its four ...
* Spring Drive


References


External links


Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry: Glossary

Easy Guide to Watch Movements

Caliber Guide

Titan Watch Movement Manufacturer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Movement (Clockwork) Movement (clockwork) Articles containing video clips