Features
Bands
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BangleA stiff, ornamental watch band that slips or clasps on. This is a popular style with women's fashion and dress watches. |
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BraceletA metallic watch band that fits loosely like an ornamental band. Bracelet bands are common with both men's and women's dress and casual watches. |
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ExpansionComfortable band with linked, expandable metal pieces that widen to fit your wrist. Found on dress and casual watches. |
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LeatherA durable band that offers a casual look and comfortable feel. |
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MetallicA band that is made of or contains lustrous metal. |
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NylonTough, elastic synthetic fibers found in some sport watch bands. |
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Open-LinkTypically made of stainless steel. Comes in a variety of styles and patterns. Generally uses a fold-over buckle closure. This band type is common on fashion and dress watches. |
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ResinA natural or synthetic compound that is lightweight, transparent and tough. Resin bands are popular in sport watches. |
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RopeUsually found in bands that have an open-link, weave style. Rope bands are popular in dress watches. |
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WrapConvenient wraparound style, usually with a Velcro® closure. Wrap bands are most popular in sport watches. |
Case
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BezelThe bezel of a watch is the ring that holds the protective crystal in place. Some watches have rotating bezels that you can use for timing purposes. If a watch has more than one rotating bezel and numeric scales, it can be used for certain types of calculations. |
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Analog DisplayA nondigital display used to tell time. One or more hands rotate around a dial with numbers or number markers. This feature is most popular with dress watches, but is easily found in all styles of watches. Also, almost all mechanical, light-powered and kinetic watches are only available with analog display. |
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CalendarThe calendar is one of the more popular features in all styles and power types of watches. It's most commonly available with either just the date displayed or the date and month displayed. |
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CompassA compass is an excellent safety feature to have on your watch, especially for outdoor enthusiasts. It helps determine direction with a magnetic needle(s) that points to the magnetic north. This feature is most often found in sport-style watches and is available in all power types of watches. |
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ChronographA chronograph acts as a stopwatch by measuring and recording time, i.e., lap time. It usually appears as a smaller dial on analog displays and is accessible at the touch of a button for digital displays. Chronograph features are available in all power types of watches and are most popular in a sport watch. |
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CrystalThe watch crystal is the clear, hard material that covers the watch face. Watch crystals come in many different materials. For example, there is scratch-resistant mineral crystal, non-reflective crystal (popular with sport watches) or the sapphire crystal used in light-powered watches, which is the one of the most expensive and durable. |
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Digital DisplayA digital watch displays time in actual numbers on an LCD or LED screen, instead of a hand that rotates around markers or numbers. Digital watches are available in sport and casual styles. A digital display is most commonly found in battery-powered watches. |
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HandsWatch hands are the linear pieces attached to the center of the dial that rotate around the watch pointing at the numbers or number markers as time is measured. A typical watch has 2 to 3 hands: the hour hand is always the longest, the minute hand is shorter than the hour hand and the second hand is as long as the hour hand but thinner. |
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Lighted DialsThe dial, or face, of the watch lights up for better visibility in the dark. This light is usually activated by a button on the side, such as the Indiglo® by Timex®. Lighted dials are more common in casual and sport styles than dress and are only available in battery-powered watches. |
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LuminousMany watch styles may not have lighted dials but they may offer luminous parts, such as hands or markers, for better visibility at night. A self-illuminating material or paint is used on the hands and/or markers that causes these objects to glow in the dark. Luminous parts are common in all styles and power types of watches. |
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Perpetual CalendarA perpetual calendar appears to be just like a regular calendar feature, except it is automatic. You never have to reset the calendar, it's always right — it even adjusts for leap years! The perpetual calendar was trademarked by Seiko®, but similar technologies can be found in other models. |
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SubdialSubdials are smaller dials on the larger main dial used to keep time in a different time zone or measure elapsed time. Sometimes the subdial is simply the second hand. This feature can be found on all styles and power types of watches. |
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TachometerThis feature allows the wearer to calculate the speed of travel using the numeric scale on the bezel. Tachometers are not extremely common and are usually found on flight-style watches. |
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Watch WinderA rotating device used by watch collectors, or people with several different automatic or kinetic watches, so the watches continue to keep accurate time. |
Components
Dual Timer (Dual Time Zones)
A watch that has dual timers is able to keep local time along with time from another time zone. This can be displayed with two dials, an extra hand or switched over to a different zone with a button depending on the type of watch. The dual-timer feature is available in all power types of watches.
Power Reserve
You may hear or see this phrase when shopping for a mechanical, automatic or quartz watch. The power reserve indicates how long your watch will keep accurate time once fully charged.
Shock Resistant
This feature can most often be found in sport watches. Shock-resistant watches are able to be worn during vigorous activities without jarring the small parts inside the watch.
Quartz
Quartz is a crystal whose properties make it the perfect source for an accurate frequency used for timing in watches. The quality of the cut and the crystal itself do make a difference in how accurate your watch is. Quartz pieces in watches are usually tuning fork-shaped. Quartz is most commonly used in battery watches but can also be used in automatic or kinetic watches as well.