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What Are The Jewels in a Watch For?
19 May 2022

What Are The Jewels in a Watch For?

If you wonder what the jewels in a mechanical watch are for and their purpose in the watchmaking craft, Atlanta Luxury Watches can help. Our watch store is filled with products from leading brands in the luxury watch industry, giving us sufficient expertise and knowledge regarding the use of jewels. Mechanical watches don't require a battery since they rely on spring-mound movements, which raises the question; what is the role of jewels in a watch? Like most mechanical devices, a luxury watch has bearings in the hand-mound, and higher-end watches are made out of jewels. The purpose of these precious stones is to reduce friction and ease the movement of metal gears.

The practice started back in the day when real rubies were used to make luxury watch bearings, before adopting rubies made in a lab and sapphires. These jewels act as bearings to several components in the watch, specifically parts that are in contact and susceptible to wearing out, like the impulse jewel and escape lever. Here are some of the jewels used by watchmakers to make most of the watches in our watch store.

Hole Jewels

This type of jewel is also referred to as a pierced jewel since it has a hole drilled into it, making it easy to mount on the wheel's axle or conical and cylindrical pivots. Hole jewels have a flat bottom or a slightly rounded top, creating a pivot bearing. When used on the balance staff, they have an anti-shock assembly held by springs to absorb shock, and when used in conjunction, they allow the axle to spin.

Cap Jewels

A cap jewel is different from the hole jewel because it lacks a hole bored into it, which is used to minimize the balance of the staff's movement. These jewels are used in conjunction with pivot jewels and have a spring at each end for shock protection. If you drop your luxury watch or it is hit by something, this protects it from damage.

Pallet Jewels

Pallet jewels are rectangular and are used at the end of each arm to hold them firmly on the pallet fork. They are found in most mechanical timepieces in our watch store, and any damage sustained can be repaired in-house.

Roller Jewels

Roller jewels are connected between the pallet and the escape wheel. This jewel is found inside the pallet fork, the last type of jewel found in a luxury watch. The total number of jewels found in most watches is around seventeen, and they are used in various areas, from the balance wheel, staff pivot, escape lever, and escape wheel, among other parts.

A luxury watch containing seventeen jewels is a fully jeweled watch, which uses jewel bearings in its mechanical movement. Higher caliber watches tend to have more jewels to reduce positional errors and enhance accuracy and quality. Call us today at Atlanta Luxury Watches for more information, or visit our watch store. We guarantee quality products from all the leading brands to meet your needs.