Retrograde Time Displays

A retrograde, i.e. reversing, display on a watch is a complication in which a hand, for example for the time or date, moves over a segment of a circle. Instead of turning completely in a circle, the hand jumps back to the starting position in a sudden manner as soon as it reaches the end of the segment scale.

Sea-Gull M171S with retrograde date and day of the week [Source: Sea-Gull] 

Do you need it and is it useful? Not necessarily! Why do you do it then? Because it is possible!

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American Pocket Watch Movements

Movements of American pocket watches differ in many details from their Swiss counterparts. Here we look at some basics about them, without getting lost in the many deviations from the standards. American pocket watches are a topic with a lot of interesting things to discover.

Pocket watch with Hamilton 12 size Model 1 Grade 900
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System Glashütte – What’s that?

Glashütte was famous for its watch industry more than a hundred years ago, producing pocket watches of the highest quality. Ferdinand A. Lange was certainly the most renowned Glashütte manufacturer, but watches by Großmann or Assmann were also sought-after and expensive.

Movement System Glashütte, unknown manufacturer, diameter 13 1/4´´´
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Regulating a watch movement for beginners

Mechanical watch movements consist of a large number of individual parts whose manufacturing precision determines, among other things, how accurate a movement is. In addition, external influences such as shocks or temperature changes contribute to the fact that a movement always shows a certain deviation from the real time. And aging processes of the lubricants and materials used also have their share.

ETA 6497-1 [source: eta.ch]

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