Horological Meandering 

Horological Phonetics – General Terms

John Marx 1 Comment

With a history spanning centuries, the horological industry has seen more patents, inventions and concepts than most industries. With this constant innovation comes a plethora of terms to learn. Twentytwoten.com pronounce and a few of the more common ones…

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General Terms

Horology [haw-rol–uh-jee, hoh-]

  1. The art of making timepieces
  2. The science of measuring time

Tourbillon [tour-bee-ohn]

  1. An 1801 patent from Abraham Louis Breguet that aims to counter the effect of gravity on a timepieces accuracy when left dormant in the same position.
  2. About an extra $15K to your purchase price.

Sonnerie [sohn-ur-ee]

  1. Translates to “Strike”
  2. This complication in a mechanical timepiece strikes a gong on the quarter hour.

Tachymeter [tak-ih-muh-ter, -tuh]

  1. An incremental scale inscribed around the perimeter of a watch used primarily to calculate speed based on elapsed time or, in other cases, distance based on speed.
  2. Speed = Distance/Time. As long as you have two of these criteria, you can calculate the unknown.

Novelties [as you would expect]

  1. A term used in the watch industry meaning a new-release.