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regulator - Part of the watch movement used to speed up or slow down the beats, bringing the watch to more exact timing.
repeater - A function or complication of a watch which strikes (chimes) the hours by an internal mechanism operated by an external lever or button. Various types of repeater designs have been made. A minute repeater strikes the hours, quarter hour and minutes past the previous quarter hour. A quarter-hour repeater strikes the hours and quarter hour. A half-quarter-hour repeater strikes the hours and nearest half quarter hours. A five-minute repeater strikes the hours and five minute intervals past the hour.
reverso - A style of rectangular wrist watch case that can be turned over or reversed within the main frame of the case. One side shows the view of the normal dial, and one side either has the back of the case or another dial type, such as one for displaying dual-time.
rhodium - A hard, white, metallic element that is of the platinum element group. Often used to alloy with platinum. Often used in the manufacture of watch cases and bracelets.
rolled gold plate - A thin sheet of gold (normally at least 20 microns thick) which is bonded to one or both sides of a base metal.
Roman numerals - Style of numerals commonly used on watch dials (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII).
rotating bezel - Style of bezel which rotates to measure elapsed time, dual time and mathematical functions. These style bezels are normally designed for and used on aviation and scuba diving watches.
rotor - Half round shaped weight which rotates inside a mechanical automatic winding watch and winds the mainspring when the watch is worn. Rotors are normally made of non-precious metals. However, some high grade watches use precious metals like gold and platinum.
round - Style of watch case that is circular.
sapphire crystal - Synthetic watch crystal that is extremely hard and very scratch resistant.
self-winding - The watch mainspring is wound automatically by a device inside the watch which rotates during normal wrist motion when the watch is worn.
setting - Procedure of rotating the winding and setting crown to bring the hands of a watch to the position of correct time.
shock resistant - A watch movement in which the balance staff end stone jewels are sprung so that when the watch is subjected to a shock, there will be some “give.”
Sidereal Day - Actual time the earth takes to rotate once a day with the use of a fixed star as a reference point. The measurement interval of time is taken between two successive transits of the same star over the same meridian. A Sidereal Day is 3 hours and 56 seconds longer than the mean time of a solar day.
Sidereal Time - Primarily used in observatories for the study of astronomy. It is the time measured between two consecutive meridian transits of a fixed star.
skeleton - A mechanical watch movement that has had as much material cut away from the plates and dial as possible during the manufacturing process to render the greatest view possible of the watch wheels and escapement. It is normally cased in a watch case where the crystal is mounted on both the front and back to create a very decorative watch.
Solar Day - The actual time the earth takes to rotate once a day with the use of the sun as a fixed point of reference. The measurement interval of time is taken between two successive transits of the sun over the same meridian.
Solar Time - The time of day determined by the sun. Example: the use of a sun dial to measure solar time.
split-second chronograph - The feature or complication of a watch which allows you to measure fractions of a second and elapsed time by two separate recording hands, independently of the watch displaying normal time.
spring bar - A spring-loaded metal bar which mounts between the case lugs for attaching the strap or bracelet to the case.
square - Style of watch case in which each of the four sides are equal size.
stem - The winding shaft that connects into the movement’s winding and setting mechanism. The winding crown is fitted to the opposite end of this shaft.
stem wind - Refers to the winding of a manual wind mechanical watch with the use of a winding crown and stem attachment to the movement.
stop watch - A timekeeping instrument used for the measurement of time intervals in fractions of a second, such as those used at sporting events.
strap - A piece of leather or synthetic material used for securing a watch to the wrist.
sub-dial - A smaller dial on the main dial of a watch displaying a feature of the watch. Example: constant second hand, minute and hour counters, days, dates, months, leap years, etc.
sub-seconds hand - A smaller sub-dial on the main dial displaying constant seconds.
sweep seconds hand - A seconds hand mounted in the center of the dial displaying constant seconds.
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