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Mechanism of a watch or clock From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In horology, a movement, also known as a caliber or calibre (British English), is the mechanism of a watch or timepiece, as opposed to the case, which encloses and protects the movement, and the face, which displays the time. The term originated with mechanical timepieces, whose clockwork movements are made of many moving parts. The movement of a digital watch 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 clocks, 10–15 years for wall or mantel clocks, 15–20 years for anniversary clocks, and 7 years for cuckoo clocks, with the longer intervals applying to antique timepieces.[1]
A mechanical movement contains all the moving parts of a watch or clock except the hands, and in the case of pendulum clocks, the pendulum and driving weights. The movement is made of the following components:[2]
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.[3] The movement parts are separated into two main categories: those belonging to the ébauches and those belonging to the assortments.[2]
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:
| Mechanical movement, Deutsches Museum, München |
Mechanical watch movements are also classified as manual or automatic:
Additionally, a distinction is also sometimes made on whether or not the movement offers hacking, allowing the second hand to be stopped.
In horology, "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.[4]
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