Timeless Ticks
Topics
Ten subject areas covering everything we publish. Start where your question lives.
Topic
Accuracy and standards
Accuracy in watchmaking is a measured quantity with published tolerances attached, not a feeling. These pages set out what the certification schemes test and on what
Topic
Buying
Almost every expensive mistake in watch buying is made before any money changes hands, in the questions nobody thought to ask. These pages cover how to work out what
Topic
Care and servicing
A mechanical watch is a machine running on a film of oil that ages whether or not you wear it. These pages cover what a service really involves, when one is warrante
Topic
Complications
A complication is anything the watch does beyond hours, minutes and seconds. Each one buys you a function and charges you in thickness, fragility and service cost. T
Topic
Fit and sizing
Case diameter is the number everyone quotes and the least useful one. These pages cover the measurements that decide whether a watch actually sits well on your wrist
Topic
History
Where the wristwatch came from, and why it looks the way it does. These pages trace the object from jewelry to military instrument to tool watch to considered purcha
Topic
Materials
Steel, titanium, ceramic, sapphire, acrylic, lume, coatings. These pages compare what each material does on the wrist rather than on a specification sheet: what scra
Topic
Movements
A movement is the engine, and almost every other decision follows from it. These pages cover what is inside the case: how a mainspring, gear train, escapement and ba
Topic
Water resistance
The most misread specification on any watch. A depth marking describes a static pressure test in a laboratory on a new watch, not a license to take it that deep. The
Topic
Brands
Brand questions are really questions about three things: who actually makes the movement, what the warranty and the service network are worth where you live, and wha