Watch and Mechanical Terms
Arbor: Axle or spindle on which something revolves.
Balance wheel: Part of a mechanical watch movement that oscillates, regulating timekeeping.
Barrel: Drum that contains the mainspring of a watch.
Bearings: Machine part that reduces friction between rotating and stationary parts.
Cam: Disk or cylinder with an irregular, curved surface, mounted on a rotating shaft, used to transform rotary motion into linear motion.
Case: Metal housing for the parts of a watch.
Gear train: In clockwork, the system of gears that transmit power from the mainspring to the rest of the watch. In machinery, a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears engage, designed to ensure that the gears roll on each other without slipping, providing a smooth transmission of rotation from one gear to the next.
Linkage: Assembly of rods for transmitting motion, usually in the same plane or in parallel planes.
Mainspring: Coiled spring that provides the power to drive a mechanical movement.
Mechanical movement: Movement based on a mainspring wound by hand; when wound, it slowly unwinds the spring in an even motion.
Movement: Inner mechanism of a watch that keeps time and moves the watch’s hand.
Pawl: Device used to prevent a toothed wheel (ratchet) from rotating backward, or a device that stops, locks, or releases a mechanism.
Pinion: Small gear or spindle engaging with a large gear.
Ratchet wheel: Mechanical device used to permit motion in one direction only.Spindles: Rod or pin serving as an axis that revolves or on which something revolves.
Winding Stem: Mechanism on the side or top of the watch case used to wind the mainspring; a winding crown.
Other Terms
Automaton: Moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being.
Blowlamp: (British) Fuel-burning tool used for applying heat and flame, usually for metalworking; a blowtorch.
Electromagnetics: Also known as classical electrodynamics, the branch of physics that deals with the interactions of electric, magnetic, and mechanical phenomena.
Hydraulic: Operated by, moved by, or employing water or other liquids in motion. The science that deals with the laws governing water or other liquids in motion and their applications in engineering.
Paraffin: (British) Colorless, flammable, oily liquid used as fuel; kerosene.
Phonograph: Early sound-reproducing machine that used cylinders to record as well as reproduce sound.
Schematics: Diagram, plan, or drawing.
Spanner: (British) A wrench.
Telegraphy: System of telecommunications involving any process providing reproduction at a distance of written, printed, or pictorial matter, without the physical exchange of an object bearing the message.