What Is A Person Called Who Repairs Watches

Fine art or science of measuring time

Clocks; a watch-maker seated at his workbench

Horology ("the study of time", related to Latin horologium from Greek ὡρολόγιον , "musical instrument for telling the hr", from ὥρα hṓra "hour; fourth dimension" and -o- interfix and suffix -logy)^[1] ^[2] is the study of the measurement of fourth dimension. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, timers, time recorders, marine chronometers, and diminutive clocks are all examples of instruments used to measure fourth dimension. In current usage, horology refers mainly to the study of mechanical time-keeping devices, while chronometry more than broadly includes electronic devices that have largely supplanted mechanical clocks for the best accuracy and precision in time-keeping.

People interested in horology are called horologists. That term is used both by people who deal professionally with timekeeping apparatus (watchmakers, clockmakers), as well equally aficionados and scholars of horology. Horology and horologists have numerous organizations, both professional associations and more than scholarly societies. The largest horological membership system globally is the NAWCC, the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, which is Usa based, but also has local chapters elsewhere.

History [edit]

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Museums and libraries [edit]

In Europe [edit]

There are many horology museums and several specialized libraries devoted to the subject. One example is the Royal Greenwich Observatory, which is likewise the source of the Prime number Meridian (longitude 0° 0' 0"), and the home of the outset marine timekeepers authentic enough to determine longitude (fabricated past John Harrison). Other horological museums in the London area include the Clockmakers' Museum, which re-opened at the Scientific discipline Museum in October 2022, the horological collections at the British Museum, the Science Museum (London), and the Wallace Collection. The Guildhall Library in London contains an extensive public collection on horology. In Upton, also in the United Kingdom, at the headquarters of the British Horological Institute, there is the Museum of Timekeeping. A more specialised museum of horology in the United kingdom is the Cuckooland Museum in Cheshire, which hosts the world'due south largest drove of antique cuckoo clocks.

One of the more comprehensive museums dedicated to horology is the Musée international d'horlogerie, in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, which contains a public library of horology. The Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle is smaller but located nearby. Other proficient horological libraries providing public access are at the Musée international d'horlogerie in Switzerland, at La Chaux-de-Fonds, and at Le Locle.

In France, Besançon has the Musée du Temps (Museum of Fourth dimension) in the celebrated Palais Grenvelle. In Serpa and Évora, in Portugal, there is the Museu do Relógio. In Federal republic of germany, there is the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, in the Black Woods, which contains a public library of horology.

In Northward America [edit]

The two leading specialised horological museums in North America are the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania, and the American Clock and Watch Museum in Bristol, Connecticut. Another museum dedicated to clocks is the Willard Firm and Clock Museum in Grafton, Massachusetts. One of the most comprehensive horological libraries open to the public is the National Watch and Clock Library in Columbia, Pennsylvania.

Organizations [edit]

Notable scholarly horological organizations include:

American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute – AWCI (Usa)
Antiquarian Horological Society – AHS (United Kingdom)
British Horological Establish – BHI (United kingdom)
Chronometrophilia (Switzerland)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie – DGC (Deutschland)
Horological Lodge of New York – HSNY (The states of America)
National Association of Sentinel and Clock Collectors – NAWCC (United states)
Britain Horology - Britain Clock & Picket Company based in Bristol

World exhibitions [edit]

BaselWorld
Geneva Time Exhibition
Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH)

Glossary [edit]

Term	Caption
Chablon	French term for a watch movement (not including the dial and hands), that is not completely assembled.
Ébauche	French term (commonly used in English language-speaking countries) for a motion blank, i.e., an incomplete watch movement sold as a prepare of loose parts—comprising the main plate, bridges, train, winding and setting mechanism, and regulator. The timing organisation, escapement, and mainspring, still, are not parts of the ébauche.
Établissage	French term for the method of manufacturing watches or movements by assembling their various components. It generally includes the following operations: receipt, inspection and stocking of the "ébauche", the regulating elements and the other parts of the movement and of the make-upward; assembling; springing and timing; fitting the dial and hands; casing; final inspection before packing and dispatching.
Établisseur	French term for a watch mill that assembles watches from components information technology buys from other suppliers.
Factory, works	In the Swiss watch manufacture, the term manufacture is used of a manufactory that manufacturers watches almost completely, every bit distinct from an atelier de terminage, which only assembles, times, and fits easily and casing.
Manufacture d'horlogerie	French term for a spotter mill that produces components (particularly the "ébauche") for its products (watches, alert and desk clocks, etc.).
Remontoire	French term for a small secondary source of power, typically a weight or spring, which runs the timekeeping mechanism and is itself periodically rewound by the timepiece's main power source, such every bit a mainspring.
Terminage	French term denoting the process of assembling picket parts for the account of a producer.
Termineur	French term for an independent watchmaker (or workshop) engaged in assembling watches, either wholly or in part, for the account of an "établisseur" or a "manufacture", who supply the necessary loose parts. See "atelier de terminage" above.