« Uhrinstinkt presents all the visible parts of a watch »
Most people know what a dial and hands are. Terms like rehaut, indices or bezel, on the other hand, are usually familiar only to watch enthusiasts and professionals. Reason enough for us to introduce our readers to the visible parts of a watch in detail.
The dial – the "face" of every watch
When someone looks at a watch, their eye almost always goes to the dial first. Together with the movement and the hands, it is one of the key components of a mechanical watch, which is why we discuss it before the rehaut. After all, it is on the dial that a timepiece fulfills its most fundamental purpose – displaying the current time. On more complex movements that provide additional information beyond hours, minutes and seconds, such as the date, day of the week, month, moon phase or remaining power reserve, these indications are shown on the dial as well.
Dial design is of such eminent importance to watchmaking that it has even given rise to a profession of its own: the cadranographer. The "face," as the dial is also called, is usually round, but other shapes such as square, rectangular or tonneau also occur.
Typically, the available surface is divided into twelve equal segments to display the hours; less commonly, you will also find watches with a 24-hour display. The minutes and – where present – the seconds are indicated on a scale divided into sixty increments, usually positioned around the outer edge of the dial and known as the minute track. On versions with a central seconds hand, this scale also serves to read the seconds.
The minute track can be designed in very different ways. Sometimes there are small lines or dots for each minute, alternating with larger lines for every five-minute increment. Older models and retro-style watches often feature a so-called railroad minute track, in which the individual minute markers sit between an inner and an outer circle like the ties of a railroad track. On women's watches with relatively small cases in particular, but also on elegant men's watches, a full minute track is often omitted; instead, these models feature only hour indices and sometimes even just a single index at twelve.
Few limits to the imagination: dial materials and design
Precisely because of their central practical function, dials also have a special aesthetic impact and shape the overall look of a watch like hardly any other component. Accordingly, many luxury watch manufacturers go to great lengths to design dials that meet the highest aesthetic standards.
A wide range of finishing techniques is used, from stamping and polishing to electroplating, printing, decorating and painting. For high-end manufacture models, more than one hundred different steps may well be required to give a dial its desired appearance.
Dials are often based on brass blanks, as this copper alloy is relatively easy to work. In some cases, however, iron is used.
This applies above all to watches that need special shielding against the disruptive effects of magnetic fields, where the dial is part of the so-called soft-iron cage that protects the movement. Frequently, a decorative pattern is first stamped into the blanks. If the watch is a chronograph or a model with small seconds, a power reserve indicator or similar complications, the necessary subdials must be worked into the blank in one of the first steps. This can be done by stamping, but also by other methods such as cutting or milling.
The blanks are often hardened afterward before the dials are punched out at their final diameter. Once the center hole and, if applicable, the date window have been made in the blank, it is ground down to its final thickness and polished. In further steps, the watch face receives lacquer finishes or guilloché work and is fitted with indices, brand logos and inscriptions.
Rehaut and bezel: the "frame" of the dial
Dials are often surrounded by a raised rim that frames them on all sides. In watchmaking terminology, this is called the rehaut; it is also sometimes referred to as the flange or inner bezel ring. From a purely structural point of view, this rim forms the transition between the dial and the case or crystal. It creates the necessary distance between the dial plane and the crystal – and with it the space required for the hands to move. Beyond this structural function, however, the raised dial rim is often put to other uses. In some cases, manufacturers use it to display their brand name, logo or model designation.
For example, the brand name is engraved on the rehaut of many Rolex watches. On many watches, the rehaut carries the minute track or additional scales – a tachymeter scale, for instance. This solution makes it possible to fit more information onto the watch face or to visually "declutter" it, so that adding extra scales doesn't make it look overloaded. Another advantage of scales on the rehaut is that they can be read more precisely than a scale positioned further inward, which is "tighter" overall. Some watch models have rotating rehauts, sometimes also called internal bezels. They can be used, for example, to set dive times or the time in another time zone.
The outer "frame" for the dial and crystal is formed by the bezel – in German, the "Lünette." That term derives from the Latin and French words for moon (luna and la lune, respectively) and means something like "little moon." Fixed bezels are part of the case and are sometimes engraved with tachymeter scales or decorated with gemstone settings.
On dive watches, pilot's watches and military watches, by contrast, the bezel is often fitted with a rotating ring. This may carry a 24-hour scale for displaying a second time zone, but it most commonly features a minute scale that lets you measure specific time intervals. This function is indispensable on dive watches, where it is used to set dive times.
For safety reasons, the bezel on these watches is required to rotate in one direction only, to prevent accidental adjustment that could put the diver at risk.
Lugs, pushers and crown – the controls and attachment points of wristwatches
Last but not least, there are a few more parts visible on the outside of a wristwatch – and they play anything but a minor role. Above and below the dial, the case features the so-called lugs. The strap or bracelet is attached to them, and they are usually designed as "horns" or as wire loops. A lug can be either straight or curved. The various controls of a watch are located on the side of the case. The crown is standard and usually sits on the right side of the case at three o'clock; occasionally, however, it is positioned on the left or elsewhere. The crown is used to set the time and, on hand-wound movements, also to wind the watch. In addition, the crown often allows further settings – such as the date or the day of the week.
Additional functions are often controlled by pushers, which are usually also located on the right side of the case, flanking the crown. They are a defining feature of chronographs, where they are used to start and stop timing and to reset the counters. Classic chronographs today usually have two pushers, while watches with additional complications may well have more. If there is a third or even a fourth pusher, it is generally placed on the left side of the case.