Glossary N-S

NO BACK	one piece a caseback.
NON-MAGNETIC	see anti-magentic.
NON SCREW LOCKED CROWN	easier to set than a screw locked crown, but it is less water resistant.
OSCILLATING SYSTEM	hairspring and balance form the oscillating system. Two vibrations of the balance make the tick-tack sound of a mechanical watch known as oscillation. The travel of the balance wheel from one extreme to the other and back again.
PALLET	meshes with the teeth of the escapement wheel and transmits an impulse to the balance.
PEDOMETER	function that counts the number of strides taken by the wearer.
PULSIMETER	a chronograph with an extra dial or timer that gives the rate of pulse per minute.
PERPETUAL CALENDAR	extremely elaborate complication that keeps track of the day, month, date, and sometimes even the moon phase, zodiac signs, decade, century, and which adjusts for the length of the month and for leap years. (Accurate until 2100)
PINION	toothed wheel usually made of steel with a small number of teeth.
PLATE	metal piece that holds up the bridge and other parts of the movement. The bottom side is the dial side the top side is the bridge side.
PLATINUM	one of the rarest precious metals as well as one of the strongest and heaviest.
PLEXIGLASS	a clear lightweight type of plastic. Used for watch crystals it is least likely to shatter and most likely to scratch.
POINTER CALENDAR	hands point to the date as opposed to appearing in an aperture.
POLISHED	brilliant meal surface obtained on the watchcase with a fine abrasive.
POWER RESERVE INDICATOR	a sub dial used to show how much power remains before the watch stops.
PULSOMETER	scale on the dial or bezel of a watch that works in conjunction with the seconds hand to measure pulse rate. A reference number tells how many pulse beats to count. If the reference number is 15, the operator counts 15 pulse beats. At the last beat the seconds hand shows the pulse beat per minute.
PVD	Physical Vapor Deposition method of coating thin watch cases by integrating titanium particles and then depositing gold for color. (Usually comes in black finish)
QUARTZ	a natural or synthetic silicon dioxide crystal used in quartz analog or solid state digital watches when activated by a battery or solar power, the thin silver of the crystal very predictably vibrates at an extremely high frequency (32,768 times per second) step motor, electric circuit block.
QUICK SET DATE	mechanism to set the date directly to avoid having to turn the hands over 24 hours.
RADIO CONTROLLED WATCH	quartz watch that is controlled by a radio signal from a cesium atomic clock.
RATCHET BEZEL RING	bezel ring which can either turn one way or both ways and generally clicks into place.
RATTRAPANTE	addition of a second hand to measure split times.
REGULATOR	device inside a watch that speeds it up or slows it down to allow the more precise setting of the watch.
REPEATER	strikes the hour, half hour, minutes, seconds, or some combination of the two.
RETROGRADE	mechanism that lets a hand quickly return to its original position, usually used to return to one after 60 seconds.
REVERSO	dual dial reversible watch.
ROMAN CALENDAR	calendar used in ancient Rome until 46 B.C. when it was replaced with the Julian calendar.
ROTOR	part of an automatic watch that winds the mainspring. A flat piece of metal swivels on a pivot with the motion of the wrist. Its rotation continually winds the mainspring of the watch. It turns freely in both directions and uses the force of gravity to wind the mainspring. Some rotors only turn in one direction or less than 360 degrees. Each time it moves it advances the ratchet wheel, which keeps the spring wound.
RUBIES	ruby is a very hard stone usually synthetic, which prevents the wear of gear train parts. Also called jewels.
SAND BLASTING	creating a granular metal finish by using a high-pressure jet of sand.
SAPPHIRE	synthetic corundum crystal with a hardness second only to a diamond. Transparent sapphire is used for a scratchproof watch glass. Made of crystallizing aluminum oxide at very high temperatures. Chemically the same as natural sapphire, but colorless. It is hard and brittle so it shatters easier than plexiglass or mineral glass. 9 on a mohs scale, a diamond is 10.
SAPPHLEX CRYSTAL	combination of sapphire and hardlex crystals.
SCREW BACK	caseback has a thread so that it can be screwed into the case.
SCREW DOWN CROWN	seals the crown against the case to prevent water penetration.
SEAL	synthetic gaskets that seal the joints between parts of the case and keep out the water.
SHOCK ABSORBERS	spring devices in balance wheel bearings that divert shocks away from the fragile pivot to the sturdier parts of the balance staff. The springs allow the balance wheel to return to its original position after shocks.
SHOCK RESISTANCE	ability to withstand accidental fall or shocks without being damaged.
SHOT BLASTING	a satin finish obtained by using tiny glass pellets, one or two microns in diameter.
SKELETON MOVEMENT	movement on a watch where the plates have been removed or trimmed so that you can see the gears and other parts.
SKELETON WATCH	crystal on the front and back.
SLIDE RULE BEZEL	a rotating bezel that is printed with a logarithmic scale and assorted other scales and is used in conjunction with fixed rules of mathematics to perform general mathematical calculations or navigational computations.
SOLAR DAY	the length of time it takes the earth to rotate in one day using the sun as fixed reference point.
SOLAR POWERED	batteries are recharged via solar panels on the watch face. (Citizen ECO-Drive)
SOLAR YEAR	earth completes its orbit about the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds.
SOLID STATE	a timepiece with no moving parts. All digital watches are 100% solid state. Analog watches combine solid state circuits with moving parts.
SPLIT SECOND CHRONOGRAPH	a split seconds chronograph or rattrapante (catch up in French) or doppelchrono (double chrono is German) has two seconds hands, the first push starts both hands together, the second push stops one hand while the other continues, and another push allows the stopped hand to catch up with the moving seconds.
SPRING BAR	a spring loaded metal bar mounted between the case lugs used to attach the strap or bracelet.
STAINLESS STEEL	extremely durable metal alloy consisting of steel, nickel, and composed mainly of chromium. It is virtually rustproof. It is also antimagnetic.
STANDARD TIME	the time that is kept locally in each time zone when daylight savings time is not in use.
STEM	the shaft that connects to the movement’s winding mechanism, the crown is fitted to the opposite end.
STEPPING MOTOR	part of a quartz movement that moves the gear train which in turn moves the watches hand.
STOP SECOND	(same as hacking) crown which can be pulled out to set the seconds on a watch accurately.
STOP WATCH	a watch with a seconds hand that measures intervals of time. When a stopwatch is incorporated into a standard watch, both the stopwatch function and the timepiece are referred to as a chronograph.
SUMMER SOLSTICE	the summer solstice is the longest day of the year.
SUPER ACCURATE	a watch that is accurate to +/- 10 seconds per year. A technology that uses quartz crystal oscillators working with an integrated circuit, assuring up to 10 times more accuracy than a conventional quartz watch.
SUB DIALS	auxiliary dials.
SUPERLUMINOVA	photo-luminescent non-radioactive material with a long period of phosphorescence.
SWISS MADE	legally protected indication of Swiss origin. Under terms of the Swiss Federal Council ordinance of December 23, 1971, it can apply only to watches with:  -Swiss Movement –Assembled in Switzerland – Final inspection must be done in Switzerland
SWISS MOVEMENT	in order for a watch to state that it has Swiss Movement it must:  -be assembled in Switzerland -be tested in Switzerland -have 50% of the parts from Swiss origin