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A wristwatch or a watch is a kind of a timepiece that a person wears for referring to time. Watches first came into existence in 1600s as a modification of spring powered clocks. Modern watches have a lot of other functions like that of a calendar in addition to the display of time.

Most common type of wristwatch is worn on person`s wrist and is tightened with help of a watchband that is made up of nylon, leather, any other plastic strap, metal link or sometimes, even ceramic. Before this, watches were pocket watches which were carried separately.

Watch designed was greatly improved in the 21st Century due to technological advances in the field of metallurgy, physical vapor deposition and composite materials. Better materials are now used for making watches which are more durable, more accurate, more aesthetic and more reliable.

Escapement is a kind of mechanism that limits and controls the unwinding in the watch. It converts a simple unwinding into a periodic energy release. This is done by gear interlocking that switches among `driven` and `free` state.

Balance wheel along with the spring or Hairspring forms a harmonic oscillator. This oscillator controls the gear system motion in the watch. This is similar to a pendulum clock.

Tourbillon is a rotating type of frame used for escapement. It cancels out the effects of the bias in timekeeping using gravity. Otherwise, the watch would have to be kept in the same position for a lot of time.

Movement in a watch is the mechanism which measures the time and hence helps to display the correct current time. The movements can be mechanical, electronic and maybe, even both. Most of the watches use electronic timekeeping these days even if the face of watch has a mechanical hand.

Watches are mostly classified on basis of their movements. The classifications are Mechanical Movements, Tuning Fork Movement, Electronic Movement and Radio controlled movement. The source of power used can be a spring. There are Self Winding springs also present. Some modern watches off the movement of the wearer, some watches run with the help of the batteries, or electronic power. Some watches are light powered, while some of them are powered by the body heat.

Time display is generally done in the form of Analog or Digital display. Analog display is done using two hands, one each for hour and minute and sometimes another hand is used to display seconds. In digital display, usually there is a LCD screen on which the time in digital format appears.

All the watches show the time in atleast hours and minutes. Few watches also show the date, day and some of them even have alarms. Some more complicated watches have stopwatch, lunar phases, Perpetual Calendar, Minute repeater and equation of the time.

When the sales of Swiss watch makers went down, they redesigned it and produced a much cheaper version in end of 20th Century. With the help of some graphic designers, they also launched an array of Fashionable watches. Dual time watches for international travelers were designed. Collectable or Jewelry type watches were designed which had high miniaturization and precision along with nice aesthetic look. Some of the leading companies for this kind of watches are Papet Phillipe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Rolex. Mass production is done by companies like Omega, Tag Heurer and Breitling.

Other type of watches include computerized multifunction watches with electronic items like Calculators, Digital Cameras, Video Games, GPS receivers, Cellular Phones ad Keydrives were embedded in the watches. Some recent watches have also been marketed as Water Resistant as they are not as much affected by water as other watches and are categorized on the basis of their water repelling capability.

This article can also be accessed from page Wrist_Watch
Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for PoloMercantil

If you haven’t lived under a rock for the past few decades, then you surely know that Rolex stands for luxurious precision timekeeping, and you know that Timex is the premier name in inexpensive, reliable timekeeping. The vast area between the two, however, offers the widest selection of watches-in terms of function, fashion and price.

We’re all creatures of habit, and if one watch has served us well for years, it’s natural that we gravitate toward the same brand and design each time we purchase a new watch. If you’d like to adorn your wrist with a different type of watch, perhaps a Swiss-quartz or high-fashion watch, we offer you a cheat sheet below, to help you get up to speed quickly with the many offerings available today.

If you’ve always thought of a watch as a functional necessity, you might add a few fashionable watches to your collection of watches and bracelets. If you’ve always worn high-fashion watches, consider adding an elegant watch to your collection, perhaps one with a golden mesh band. Whatever your requirements for timekeeping and your sense of fashion, you’ll find a watch to suit your needs.

Impress Your Colleagues Watches

In the exclusive $5000-$2,000,000 range, you’ll find a variety of luxury watches with names that escape the average man or woman on the street, and you won’t find any of these online. Does Vacheron Constantin or Blancpain ring a bell?

Perception is everything, and a genuine Rolex brands you a person of discerning taste. If you live in New York City, you might be surprised to learn that you can buy a Rolex from a bona fide jeweler, most likely in the 10021 zip code. Forget all the hype about Rolex watches: people buy them for one reason. They are the most recognized status symbols in watches—everyone has heard of a Rolex, and a diamond and gold Rolex remains out of most everyone’s price range.

Rolex watches are the most popular, and ownership is not a requirement for popularity. It might surprise you to learn that Rolex watches are not THE most accurate. It is unlikely that they take a year to make, and their resale value is of little importance to their buyers. Ah, Madison Avenue strikes again. Still, a Rolex watch is a fine watch and an investment in time. Give me status; give me a Rolex.

Other fine high-end watches include Cartier and Omega.

Affordable Treats

If you’re a mere mortal with a penchant for arriving at your destination in style at the prescribed time (perhaps your job depends upon it), your idea of a good watch probably resides in the $100-500 range, and maybe even toward the lower end of that scale. You know the names Seiko, Swiss Army, Pulsar, and Citizen—just to name a few. The brands available in this price range offer a wide selection of choices ranging from simple and elegant leather bands, to mesh and link bands. You’ll find analog and digital displays, timers, calendar displays, water-resistance, etc. in this price range. In fact, this price range offers the widest variety in terms of elegance, precision time keeping, and fashion choices. You can select from a number of watches using Swiss-quartz movements in this price range.

For the Fun of it

You’ll find everything from designer-of-the-moment watches to household names such as Swatch and Fossil in the below-$100 range. The Fossil collections feature casual and dress watches in a dizzying array of choices, and provide dependable service as well. Fossil offers a lot of bang for the buck—fashion, dependability, variety.

Starting at $40, Swatch offers the most in up-to-the-minute throwaway watch fashion. The company began late in the 20th century as a consortium of Swiss watchmakers and worldwide graphical designers with one goal: to resurrect the analog watch. Swatch has come a long way since those days, and one of their newer creations, the Skin Diamond watch, can set you back a cool $2000. Of course, you won’t run into yourself coming and going if you sport this new status symbol. The rest of us can settle with wearing our moods on our wrists.

And, last but certainly not least—depending on your current age—this category satisfies the Abercrombie-and-Fitch, Top 40 crowd with an assortment of watches from the king of the teen designers, Tommy Hilfiger himself.

Whatever your pleasure in marking time, find it, get it, own it, wear it. Mere mortals like us can browse and purchase the watches of our choice right here—online