Jewel Movement.......higher better?

[Krayfish]

I see things like 15, 17 21, 27 Jewels what does it mean??

Is a 15 not as good as a 27?

[offshore]

Jewels, are the "bearings" or pivot points for the shafts in watch movements.

Depending on the type of movement, you may have somewhere around 25- 30 points which will benefit from "jewels" as the bearing points.

The number of jewels in a movement, has for a long time been seen as a sign of "better quality"

In fact at various times, manufacturers have installed jewels in passive locations (non working) just to increase the number of jewels in the watch for advertising and promotional purposes.

So there have been "39 jewels".... "47 jewels", ...."52 jewels" but the extras only ever added to the appearance, not to the functional operation of the movement.

So more jewels, doesn't necessarily equate to better!

Offshore

[TagMatty]

......manufacturers have installed jewels in passive locations (non working) just to increase the number of jewels in the watch for advertising and promotional purposes.

I never really thought of them adding jewels solely for the promotion of the watch... but it makes sense! If someone in the market for a watch doesn't really know what they are looking at then they might think to themself ''52 jewels has to be better than 17... right!!!!!"

So can anyone confirm that something like the A7750 actually has 27 jewels used as pivoting points??

[Krayfish]

Nice one thanks mate, very interesting!

[offshore]

I have never really counted the required number for a 7750, although 27 sounds about right.

I have always thought that 27 was an optimum number, any more was just "gloss" but I could be wrong.

Offshore

[Shundi]

hxxp://www.timezone.com/library/workbench/workbench0025

Copy into your URL bar and replace the "xx" in http with "tt"

Enjoy

[Nanuq]

If maximum jewel count was all that mattered, this would be the epitome of good taste:

Jewels baby!