Why do watches say iii

Thank you Brice! Thank you Monochrome. My favorite blog by far. It might be a rare Roman striking clock. Very fun read! Most interesting is the cost and ease argument for clock makers using casts and molds for their parts.

What this excellent article has missed is that the mold for IX can be turned upside down to give XI and save effort and money but this is not possible for IV. That is to say using IX for 9 saves money and time but using IV for 4 does not. So the cost of casting argument is actually stronger than presented here.

Yes you can use the mould of VI for IV. Just mirror it not upside down but left to right horizontally. I heard of another explanation. You cannot do the same with IV.

This was told to us in school. Actually, the lazy and smart clockmaker option is likely the better of the lot. The way the author describes the moulds would lend credence to his opinion and if the moulds were made as he envsioned, I would agree with him.

However, considering the materials availble in the time period most clockmakers made clocks and also those who wanted clocks made like royalty and rich people, I think that they would create as few molds as possible yet small enough to be workable. Using I I I I instead of IV allows the casting of this mold only 4 times to not only give the least number of pours but also, and likely the most important, least amount of waste.

Would this not apply to other numbers too? Conceited for sure but there were clocks with IIII long before him and I doubt clock makers in countries outside France would adhere to anything he demanded. Disaster continues in this list of theories. This goes beyond iconic personalities, and is about the devastating loss of innocent lives, with lifetimes of medical problems that many others faced because of it.

People theorised that is what we see in pictures because that was the time when one of the two bombs was dropped. The truth is that the atomic bombs were dropped at am and am, on August 6 and 9, , on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively.

World War II contributes to this theory as well. Most of them just follow the norm, no questions asked. Some follow exact guidelines set by the brands that the watches belong to. Such is the case with Timex watches.

Timex is said to have claimed that the industry norm at one point was to photograph all watches at However, this made the face of the watch appear as though it was frowning.

Hence, this was reversed to have all Timex watches in pictures to tell the time as to be exact. In fact, this is the guideline they follow even when it comes to depicting their digital watches.

The one reason that most of them would probably agree with is the fact that shows practically every element on the face of the watch as clearly as possible. Even design elements in the counterweights of the hands can be seen clearly at These Breitling Aviator 8 Curtiss Warhawk watches have the time set to about , which works on all three dials, without obstructing the view of the sub-dials in both chronograph versions. The time set to also seems to be Omega's go-to, as seen in these classic Constellation watches in steel, for women and men.

Even these jewelled Omega Constellation pieces in rose gold, paved with diamonds, tell the time as in this official brand visual. So the truth is simple. The time at shows you the dial of the watch in the best possible way it can be seen. This is obviously true for most analogue watch dials. However, when Apple launched their now widely popular Apple Watch in , they too chose to depict their dials at Although, Apple has never called the Apple Watch a smartwatch, as they like for it to be seen as just a timepiece with additional and advanced technical features—a natural evolution of the wristwatch.

In a world where norms are followed, there are bound to be exceptions. Of course historic and pioneering brands choose to follow tradition, since they regard traditions so highly. Their brand guideline is to show their watches at exactly , as will be noticed in any official depiction of their timepieces.

However, some brands choose to do things differently for various reasons. The most common reason is obviously the same as why is the norm—aesthetics. In this case, the time displayed is , so as to proudly frame their power reserve display. Even in Carl F. Even in the Graham Swordfish watches seen above, the time is maintained in the visual such that the busy upper half of the dial stays clear of the moving parts.

The date in date display pieces, such as these Toric watches, is set to his date of birth, the 2nd of December. Oris is another brand that does not adhere to the general norm of It is fixed to the band. An example of a digital watch with a metallic band C-1 LCD panel Panel that digitally displays the time, calendar and other functions.

This part corresponds to the dial on analog watches. C-2 Case Part that includes the crystal, the case body and the back of the case. The parts inside the case are often called module.

C-3 Push button Button that can be pushed to set the time, the calendar, and other functions. The watch in the figure shows four buttons. C-4 Lug Part attaching the case to the band. C-5 Panel cover This part covers the display section and determines the panel view.

Generally, it includes indications and marks for time display. The level of precision, engineering, and detail that goes into fabricating some of the world's most complicated mechanical watches is difficult to comprehend. The true value of a mechanical watch in the modern world, however, is the craftsmanship and the story.

Humankind has been captivated by feats of elegance and precision f or hundreds of years, and mechanical watches represent the epitome of beauty in function. The romance involved with quality mechanical watches continues to infect more people each year, even as the role that watches play in our lives evolves into something much more than keeping time.

The terms manual wind and automatic refer to the method in which the watch is wound. Quartz watches run continuously when they have a battery inside of them, so they cannot be wound. Only mechanical watches have the distinction of being manually or automatically wound.

A manual wind watch needs to be wound every time the mainspring runs out i. Twisting the crown is the only way to wind a manual wind watch, and the crown will hit a distinct stopping point when the watch is fully wound.

Manual wind watches can be damaged if forcibly over-wound. An automatic watch has a weighted rotor that winds the watch by harnessing gravity. The rotor wants to be as close to the ground as possible, so when the watch is worn, the motion of your wrist causes the rotor to spin. This is important because when the rotor spins it winds the mainspring. Theoretically, if you wear an automatic watch every day then you will never have to wind it.

Automatic watches can also be wound by turning the crown just like a manual wind watch , but the crown on an automatic watch has no distinct stopping point and can be wound forever without damaging the mainspring. A watch complication is anything that performs a function above and beyond keeping time.

Below are images and descriptions of common complications. Advanced date complications take short and long months into account, and can be accurate for a year when running continuously called an annual calendar watch.

Ultra advanced date complications even take the leap year into account and will display an accurate date for many years called a perpetual calendar watch. Tourbillon - Pronounced "Tour-Be-Yon," a tourbillon is not necessarily a complication because its function is to improve the timekeeping of the watch. However, a tourbillon is still one of the most complicated mechanisms in the world of horology.

A tourbillon reduces the negative effects of gravity on the timekeeping of a mechanical watch by placing the balance wheel the most rapidly moving part of a mechanical watch in multiple positions, even while the watch is stationary.

This averages out the error due to gravity and makes the watch more accurate over time. A basic tourbillon rotates on one axis while double and triple tourbillon complications, often placed in the category of grand complications, rotate the balance wheel on two and three axes.

Chronograph - In its most basic form, a chronograph is a stopwatch. A chronograph watch usually has a hand or subdial to record the seconds elapsed and another subdial to record the minutes elapsed. Modern chronographs have two buttons surrounding the crown; a button to start and stop the chronograph and a button to reset it.

More advanced chronographs have variations on the way that the buttons actuate the chronograph, but the original chronographs had one simple button to start, stop, then reset the mechanism in that order. Power Reserve Indicator - A power reserve indicator watch has a subdial that shows how much wind or run time is left on the watch. Some of the highest-end railroad pocket watches had a power reserve indicator that was usually referred to as an up-down indicator it was either more wound up or more wound down.

Chronometer - A chronometer is an extremely precise watch that has passed a prescribed set of accuracy tests. The COSC is a testing institute that observes watches for multiple days in various orientations and temperatures. Marine chronometers are a specific category of chronometer that comes in the form of an extremely accurate clock suspended in a gyroscopic box. Marine chronometers were often used on ships to help determine location.

GMT - The name is derived from the term Greenwich Mean Time, created in the 's to be the center of time for the world. The GMT watch function allows users to track two time zones simultaneously. Normally, a GMT watch has an hour, minute, and second hand as well as a "GMT hand" that completes a full cycle in 24 hours rather than the normal 12 hours.

The GMT hand points to a separate hour dial and can be set to a different time zone than the regular hands. The earliest GMT watches simply geared the GMT hand to rotate at half the speed of the hour hand, and a rotating bezel with 24 hour markers on it was used to set the second time zone. The two-tone bezel on the watch below is meant to represent night and day for the GMT time. Moon Phase - A moon phase watch tracks the lunar cycle using a dial and curved aperture viewing window.

The cycle from new moon to waxing moon to full moon to waning moon then back to new moon, takes about The moon dial in a basic moon phase mechanism is turned by a gear with 59 teeth that gets rotated one notch every 12 hours. Technically the lunar cycle takes The more advanced a moon phase mechanism is, the longer it will be correct without the need to manually change it.

Repeater - Repeater mechanisms were created so that users could hear the time when unable to see the face of their watch.