Glossary

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- D -

Date
Ordinal number referring to a day of the month: the 10th February. Date-watch: watch indicating the date, the month and sometimes the year and the phases of the moon. Also called a calendar-watch or calendar. Perpetual calendar: watch indicating leap years as well as the date.

Dial
Indicating «face» or plate of metal or other material, bearing various markings to show, in ordinary watches and clocks, the hours, minutes and seconds. Dials vary verymuch in shape, decoration, material, etc. The indications are given by means of numerals, divisions or symbols of various types.

Direct-drive
Refers to a seconds-hand that moves forwards in little jerks. Trotteuse, French term for a direct-drive seconds-hand, especially a centre seconds-hand.

Display
Indication of time or other data, either by means of hands moving over a dial (analogue display) or by means of numerals appearing in one or more windows (digital or numerical display); these numerals may be completed by alphabetical indications (alphanumerical display) or by signs of any other kind. Example: 12.05 MO 12.3 = 12 hours, 5 minutes, Monday 12th March. Such displays can be obtained by mechanicalor electronic means.

Double chronograph
A watch with an additional short time measurement device with two second hands which can be stopped independently of each other.

- E -

Ebauche
French term (but commonly used in English-speaking countries) for a movement blank, i.e. an incomplete watch movement which is sold as a set of loose parts, comprising the main plate, the bridges, the train, the winding and setting mechanism and the regulator. The timing system, the escapement and the mainspring, however, are not parts of the «ébauche».

Escapement
Set of parts (escape wheel, lever, roller) which converts the rotary motion of the train into to-and-fro motion (the balance).

Etablissage
French term for the method of manufacturing watches and/or movements by assembling their various components. It generally includes the following operations: receipt, inspection and stocking of the "ébauche", the regulating elements and the other parts of the movement and of the make-up; assembling; springing and timing; fitting the dial and hands; casing; final inspection before packing and dispatching.

Etablisseur
French term for a watch factory which is engaged only in assembling watches, without itself producing the components, which it buys from specialist suppliers.

- F -

Factory works
In the Swiss watch industry, the term manufacture is used of a factory in which watches are manufactured almost completely, as distinct from an «atelier de terminage», which is concerned only with assembling, timing, fitting the hands and casing.

Fly-back Hand
In a chronograph with analogue display, an additional centre second hand which can remain superposed on the other one as it moves, can be stopped independently and then made to «fly back» so as to catch up with the other hand, can be stopped and reset to zero together with the other hand. In chronographs with numerical display, a «function» having the same effect.

Flying Tourbillon
The balance, the pallets and the escape wheel are contained within a one-sided cage which turns around 360° once a minute. This way, the gravity affecting the balance is compensated.