Does the Number of Watch Jewels in a Movement Make a Difference?

 In the 1950's, The Waltham Watch Company of Waltham, Mass introduced a 100 jewel watch. Only 17 of the jewels were functional meaning those 17 jewel were placed between the gears of the watch to reduce friction, hold lubricant longer, reduce the amount of lubricant needed, increase temperature stability and reduce corrosion. (All reasons jewels are used in movements today).

 There were two cap jewels, two pivot jewels, an impulse jewel for the balance wheel, two pivot jewels, two pallet jewels for the pallet fork, and two pivot jewels each for the escape, fourth, third and center wheels. The remaining 83 jewels were simply placed at the edge of the automatic rotor (seen above). These jewels had absolutely no function and so created the watch with the most amount of non-functional jewels. Although there is a space for a 101th jewel on the automatic rotor, the space is vacant as 101 jewels does not sound as marketable as 100 jewels.
The Walthman Watch Company closed its doors in 1957 as a result of financial stress and less than perfect craftsmanship, it seems the 100 Jewel Watch was its last desperate attempt to make a sale. The company relied on the fact that many people believed the more jewels the more precise the watch movement. People may have believed the jewels were actually worth something.

In fact most jewels are synthetic costing very little and the jewels themselves are worth very little.

In the 1940's and 1950's many companies were upping there non-functional jewel count without increasing the complications. Between 1902 and 1965 it was "anything goes" in regard to the amount of jewels in a watch movement. In addition the amount of jewels were stated on the dial as a marketing ploy. Then in October 1965, the Swiss organization NIHS - Normes de I'industrie Horlogre Suisse, whose function was to develop the standards for the Swiss Watch Industry, published a standard (NIHS 94-10) in order to control the way in which the number of jewels in a movement are used in advertising and any sales related to horology and timekeepers. In 1974, the NIHS and ISO 1112 which was recently updated in ISO 1112:2009 specifies the technical definitions of functional and non-functional horological movement jewels. In addition it describes the different types of jewels used, and how this is to be marked on a timekeeping instrument or used in advertising. In this way the type of jewels used, the amount of jewels used and the way in which the jewels can be used to increase the jewel count of the watch is outlined.

De Grisigono Otturatore DL 19-89 Movement

Today the more jewels indicate more complications as there are more moving parts. The more jewels used, the less the wear and tear on the watch parts. Many watch companies use 21 jewels and some ETA movements use 25 jewels. The jewels themselves are valued at very little since most are synthetic; however, it is the well placed functionality in conjunction with superior craftsmanship of the watch part that attract watch enthusiasts and horology admirers.

Watch Maintenance 101

A new watch when purchased is in optimal condition and with correct maintenance can remain that way for years to come.  A watch can be crafted by the most prestigious watch company, but if not taken care of can run into ruin. I have listed a couple of good tips to keep the watch you just purchased from ZULUTIMEZONE.COM in tip top shape:

1) The Watch Crystal - Glass Covering and Protecting the Dial

There are three main types of materials used in covering and protecting the dial.

Offshore Limited Commando Black-Red Chronograph

•  Acrylic - Inexpensive plastic prone to scratches, but  shallow scratches easily buffed out. Acrylic is used on kids watches and low range fashion watches.
•  Mineral Crystal - a type of glass, oftentimes heat treated to further harden the surface and increase scratch resistance. Mineral Crystal is relatively cheap and keeps the overall cost of the watch down.  Even hardened mineral crystal are prone to scratches and therefor the precautions ,listed below, must be taken. Mineral crystal is the most widely used crystal on the OFFSHORE LIMITED BRAND found exclusively at ZULUTIMEZONE.COM
• Sapphire crystal is a transparent form of synthetic corundum , used in high mid range and high range watches. Sapphire crystal is an extremely hard substance: Three times harder than mineral crystal -  9 on the Mohs Scale - silver being 2.5 and a diamond being 10,  thus Sapphire Crystal is scratch resistant but not Scratch Proof. In addition if struck with a sharp blow at a certain angle, sapphire crystal can shatter. Learn more about Sapphire Crystal

 To avoid any type of scratches or damages to your watch crystal follow these guidelines:

a) Wrap your watch in a soft cloth before placing it on a hard surface.

b) When not wearing place your watch in its original box. Do not place your watch in a jewelry box with your other jewelry. Keep in mind diamonds have a Moh of 10, harder than sapphire crystal and thus can scratch the watch.

c) Do not wear your watch with other jewelry on the same hand. For the same reasons listed above.

d) Avoid wearing the watch during high risk activities like rock climbing or bob sledding unless of course you own a watch specifically designed for these type of activities.

e) Avoid scraping your watch against corridor walls or on furniture. Some new man made materials used to make simulated stone surfaces contain incorporated silicon carbide, an extremely hard material that can cause damage to your sapphire crystal.

Even though many watch companies like Seiko and Invicta have developed signature watch crystals claiming exceptional hardness, the above precautions still apply. 

2) Watch Bracelet and Strap Maintenance

a) Metal bracelets should be carefully washed in water. If the bracelet is really grimy use a soft new toothbrush dunked in mild soapy water and gently brush away the dirt. Rinse with water (if your watch is not water resistance be careful to use only a minimal amount of water and do not get the case wet). Dry carefully with a soft cloth. Cases should be wiped gently with a slightly moistened soft cloth and carefully dried.

b) In hot weather, leather straps should be slightly loosened to prevent perspiration absorption. There are two reasons for this: Firstly a tight strap prevents the passage of air flow on the underside of the strap and secondly a tight strap may cause a perspiration rash on the wrist. When your watch becomes wet with perspiration, wipe it dry with a soft cloth. In addition, leather straps may begin to smell from bacteria trapped in the leather - Click here to read a Summer Caution for Leather Strap Watch Wearers.  

c) Finally when taking off your watch leave it in a well ventilated area. Never place it in a sealed air tight container when the watch is still damp with perspiration. Never leave your watch in direct sunlight this may cause your watch strap to fade.

Movement Maintenance - Either Quartz or Mechanical (Automatic or Hand Wound) - Click here to learn more about the definition of a mechanical watch movement.

Automatic mechanical watches:

Gold Piaget Rotor

 These Watches do not require manual winding, but are powered by the gentle swinging motion of ones arm.  This swinging motion moves a rotor or oscillating weight affixed to the back of the watch. The rotor transfers power to wind the mainspring. Thus in order for the watch to keep ticking, one needs to wear the watch everyday or ever second day depending on the power reserve of the watch. (Power reserve is the amount of time a watch can operate without winding).
Take note even though a automatic watch is powered by the natural swinging motion of ones hand, the watch should not need to be shaken vigorously like a cocktail. In addition, avoid undue shocks like dropping the watch on hard surfaces like a granite kitchen counter. Avoid wearing a mechanical watch while playing golf or tennis as arm speeds in excess of 70mph can damage the movement of the watch. Vigorous jagged motions can damage the movement. Many watches have undergone stringent testing and are Certified Chronometers, but still proper care is still necessary.

Listed Below are Maintenance 101 for Automatic Watch Movements:

 a)  If one has not worn the watch in a couple of days and not kept it on a Watch Winder, the watch

b) A Mechanical Watch requires servicing just like an automobile. Although mechanical watches are designed to provide a lifetime of accurate and reliable service, a mechanical watch requires servicing  every three or four years.  This time frame will ensure maximum efficiency and  prevent permanent damage. Every manufacturer has their own specific servicing recommendations for your watch. As a result of the complexity of the mechanisms within the mechanical watch, it is preferable the watch is serviced by an agent authorized by the watch manufacturer. During servicing your watch will be inspected for worn parts which require replacing; checked to see if  lubrication is required, and examined to determine if perspiration, dust or water has seeped into the watch. Dust and water is the most damaging to the watch movement and removal of these elements are crucial.

c) During servicing your watch is opened and the movement removed. If required the movement is taken apart to the very last screw. Each individual part is inspected for wear or tear. Old worn parts are replaced with identical parts. Every part is cleaned, reassembled and lubricated. Then the movement is regulated, so the watch will run with precision. If the watch is water resistant, water tightness is checked and worn cracked gaskets are replaced. The final step is polishing the case and the bracelet. After these steps the watch will be good as new.
d) Quartz Watches require a battery change once every one to two years. If the back of the watch is a snap back type, one can use a blunt knife to remove the cover and change the battery; however, if the watch is the screw back type (noticable by usually 6 equally spaced slots), one may require a special tool to remove the back. Click here for an excellent article on tips for changing your watch battery.

Take Note: Servicing is crucial as the oil that keeps the watch running breaks down over time. Parts of the watch that are no longer lubricated will cause friction. The problem will be confounded if the friction creates microscopic fine dust that will act as a damaging abrasive to the movement. In addition, the watch case expands in response to periods of hot and cold. This expansion allows dust to enter the case to microscopic fine cracks. Dust is the most detrimental element to the movement of a watch.

I know what you are thinking. This seems like an awful lot of instructions for a watch; however, most of it you are probably doing anyway. Please bare in mind if you treat your watch with respect it will be your great grand child's heirloom.

If you have any other tips or personnel experiences. Please feel free to comment. I love feedback.

The Power Behind a Mechanical Timepiece

• A mechanical watch has one source of power - YOU! What powers you? Coffee perhaps? You may have just rolled out of bed, rubbed your eyes and fumbled for your watch. If the watch is manual wind, you wind it without much thought, but you unleash a series of remarkable actions performed by numerous components housed within the watch case.

The majority of mechanical watches, like the STØLÅS Mens Harbormaster Genoa Swiss Automatic Diver Watch, available at ZULUTIMEZONE,  are automatic and wound by the swinging motion of ones arm thereby setting an oscillating weight ,at the back of the watch, in motion.

The oscillating weight or rotor in an automatic watch or the crown in a manual watch winds the mainspring - the power source in mechanical watches. The mainspring is a spiral spring of metal ribbon coiled around an arbor (the central axle); the inner end of the mainspring is attached to the arbor with small hooks or tabs, and the outer end to the barrel ( a cylindrical box).
The mainspring is wound by turning the arbor, but drives the watch movement by the barrel. This ensures that the watch is still being powered during winding. A ratchet with a click mechanism  is attached to the arbor so  the force of the spring will not turn the wind the arbor. Once the arbor is wound it no longer moves. The pull of the stored energy of the mainspring turns the barrel. The barrel has a ring of gear teeth around it. The ring of teeth interlocks with the center wheel pinion and drives the wheel train. In most watches the barrel rotates once every eight hours, thus the 40 hour spring needs five turns to fully unwind.


Some useful facts pertaining to the mainspring of your Mechanical Watch.

• The Mainspring is wound around the arbor with great force. Disassembling the mainspring without the "know how" could cause the mainspring to suddenly release, causing injury. The mainspring should be 'let down' gently first by holding the winding knob and pulling the click back. This allows the spring to unwind slowly. In general ,the disassembling of any luxury watch, should be done by a watch professional.
• Older watches, such as those made before the 1960, had mainsprings that broke quite frequently. This was due to the constant stress cycles endured by the metal, causing the metal to weaken and then snap. The stress was the strongest directly around the arbor, where there was no space between the coils, this point could quite easily be reached, while winding. Although, metallurgy has improved, broken mainsprings although rare can occur.
  
• Some watches will no longer work when fully wound. This led to many theories of over winding. Over winding is a myth and does not validate the reason for fully wound watches to stop. Winding a watch all the way, does not damage the watch; however, over time the watch movements collect dust and the oil dries up. The dust and oil causes enough friction so the smooth running of the mainspring is hampered, leaving little force for the mainspring to turn until the end of its running period. If the owner continues to wind the watch, without servicing the watch, the friction reaches the flat part of the torque curve and the watch will stop, even though the watch is fully wound.
• Mainsprings can become tired or deformed, and lose some of there force. This will cause the running time between winding to be decreased. At this point your watch needs to be serviced, and your mainspring replaced if necessary.
  
• Power reserve indicator: Some watches are equipped with an aperture on the dial indicating the amount of power left in the mainspring.  To achieve this, a differential gear is required to determine how far the arbor has been turned compared to the barrel. 

Tritium vs SuperLuminova Two Very Different Lumes

Imagine you are lost in a pitch dark labyrinth desperately seeking an exit. Your only source of comfort is the glowing hands and numbers on the dial of your wrist watch indicating the passage of time. Imagine your horror as the glow  begins to fade, and you are plunged into complete darkness and growing panic.  Your watch is probably coated in Super-Luminova and needs exposure to an external light source to glow again. In this labyrinth ,you unfortunately happened upon, has no source of external light.
Now imagine if your watch continues to glow strong and steady indicating the time and allowing you to keep your wits about you.  You can  plan a strategic way out. Your H3 Tactical Watch  watch contains Tritium filled tubes and is guaranteed to stay illuminated for the next 12.5 years without exposure to additional light.

So what makes Tritium and SuperLuminova so different?
Although the ultimate result similar ie they illuminate the dial indices to display time in the dark, the process by which they achieve the final effect is completely different.

H3 Tactical Watch - Tritium Tubes

Discovered in 1934 by Ernest Rutherford, ML Oliphant and Paul Harteck, Tritium is the 3rd of Hydrogen's naturally occurring isotopes (variation of an atom of an element) which contains one proton and two neutrons in its nucleas (H3).  It is radioactive and decays into helium-3 through  β− decay with half-life of 12.32 years. Tritium alone does not glow in itself, but must react with phosphor.  The phosphor then releases photons and glows.  On dials of watches minute amounts of tritium are placed in tiny phosphor coated tubes.  The tubes will continue glowing as the Tritium decays and strikes the phosphor; however Tritium only has a half-life of 12.32 years which means when it reaches its half-life, it will cease to glow.   

H3 Tactical Watches available at ZULUTIMEZONE.COM  provide a 10 year warranty for a constant intense glow even though the watch may glow for up to 25 years (double its half life).  H3 tactical watches are known for their advanced technique in the use of tritium to maximize the luminescence capabilities. H3 Tactical Watches glow 100 times brighter than other luminescence - and eradicate any potential contact between the  tritium gas and wearer.  H3 Tactical Watches place Tritium Gas (produced in Switzerland by MB-Microtec) in hermetically sealed glass tubes coated with phosphorescent paint.  These glass tubes are resistant to water, oil and other corrosive material.

Bell & Ross - Superluminova coating

What is SuperLuminova? Superluminova is a brand name for a type of Luminescence. Luminescence occurs when the electrons within a molecule or crystal are excited by an external light source, either ultraviolet light ("black light"), a biochemical reaction (glow-stick) or radioactivity (Tritium).

Superluminova, comprised of strontium aluminate, requires stimulation from external violet or ultraviolet light which absorbs the light in the form of energy and releases it slowly in the form of light.  The actual science behind this process  involves study of quantum mechanics whereby the slower time scales are related to "forbidden energy" state transition in quantum mechanics. Simply put, energy absorbed by a substance is slowly released in the form of light. The most common phosphorescent pigments used today are zinc sulphide and strontium aluminate. Strontium aluminate -  marketed by the brand name Super-Luminova is non-radioactive and non-toxic photo luminescence. This technology was developed after the zinc sulphide substance. Being that strontium aluminate is ten times brighter than zinc sulphide, the latter substance was zoned out and currently is something of a novelty.
   

 If one exposes a watch dial ,whose indices are coated in Super-Luminova and another whose indices contain phosphor coated tubes filled with Tritium gas,  to an external  light source (unnecessary for the Tritium) and then walk into a darkened room, the SuperLuminova dial will shine brightly and the Tritium dial will be quite visible but slightly less brilliant.  After a couple hours though, the Tritium dial will still be visible - glowing with  the same intensity but the Superlumonova dial will be completely dark.  Super Luminova is acceptable for those who have a constant available light source however for those subjected to long periods of darkness without reliable light sources require a Tritium dial.

Is Tritium harmful to ones health? Tritium is a low energy beta emitter and thus its beta particles cannot penetrate the skin, but like many substances in the environment, it cannot be ingested or inhaled.  Tritium, being an Isotope of Hydrogen (HTO) has a short biological half-life (7-14 days) preventing long term bioaccumulation of HTO from the environment.  When tritium is used  for luminescence ,such as in H3 tactical Watches, it is hermetically sealed in glass tube in minute quantities.  The tubes are specifically designed to resist corrosion to many substances, thus making it  impossible for the Tritium Gas to escape.

UNDARK Dial - radium

Tritium must not be confused with the highly radioactive Radium (half life of 1601), which was painted on dials around World War I. Discovered in 1898 by Marie Currie, Radium was initially thought of as a  miraculous cure of common ailments. The danger of Radium became well publicized in a law suit between big company and the "Radium Girls". Click here to learn about the devastating effects exposure to radium had on the lives of these young girls.Radium is highly reactive when exposed to air forming radioactive Radon gas. Although Radium was an efficient lume, its health hazards soon became apparent terminating the use of Radium on Watch dials.

Although there are other Lumes in use today, Tritium and Super-Luminova are by far the most widely used and efficient.