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6/19/2025, 9:45:38 AM
>>18467378
Not really, at least not anymore.
It was important when really cheap mechanical movements were still on the market.
Jewels are a way to increase the durability of your watch by reducing friction : metal on metal has more friction than metal on ruby hence gear axles are placed in rubies. Added advantage is that the oil that eventually gunks up will only eat through the axle of an easily swapped gear instead of the gear AND the base plate or bridge (more expensive to replace).
Back in the pocket watch days, mass-produced low quality movements would have no jewels to cut costs. That transferred to wristwatches that had pin-pallet/Roskopf escapements. These types of movements just aren't made anymore. This very low end segment of the market is fully quartz now.
Even the crappiest chinese mechanical movements will have jewels at this point.
Unless you're buying antique watches, you don't really need to worry about the amount of jewels in a watch.
They're disclosed because there's lingering regulations in Europe and Switzerland that require it initially to let buyers have a rough idea of the quality of their watch : you have to disclose how many functionnal jewels there are, as in how many jewels are in contact with a moving metal piece. That used to give you a base idea of a movement's quality (no jewels : really low quality Roskopf or supercheap cylinder escapement pocket watch ; 4 to 6 jewels : low quality swiss-lever escapement ; above this you start seeing proper jeweled geartrains) and prevent fraud with some makers setting useless jewels in the baseplate to claim "100 jewels" while not having any functionnal jewels.
Nowadays, your jewel count will always be in the same ballpark and if anything it's just going to be a hint on whether a watch is automatic or manual wind.
Quartz watches don't have to disclose their jewel count, which is funny because that's where you can find some really crap movements with little to no jewels. Pic very related.
Not really, at least not anymore.
It was important when really cheap mechanical movements were still on the market.
Jewels are a way to increase the durability of your watch by reducing friction : metal on metal has more friction than metal on ruby hence gear axles are placed in rubies. Added advantage is that the oil that eventually gunks up will only eat through the axle of an easily swapped gear instead of the gear AND the base plate or bridge (more expensive to replace).
Back in the pocket watch days, mass-produced low quality movements would have no jewels to cut costs. That transferred to wristwatches that had pin-pallet/Roskopf escapements. These types of movements just aren't made anymore. This very low end segment of the market is fully quartz now.
Even the crappiest chinese mechanical movements will have jewels at this point.
Unless you're buying antique watches, you don't really need to worry about the amount of jewels in a watch.
They're disclosed because there's lingering regulations in Europe and Switzerland that require it initially to let buyers have a rough idea of the quality of their watch : you have to disclose how many functionnal jewels there are, as in how many jewels are in contact with a moving metal piece. That used to give you a base idea of a movement's quality (no jewels : really low quality Roskopf or supercheap cylinder escapement pocket watch ; 4 to 6 jewels : low quality swiss-lever escapement ; above this you start seeing proper jeweled geartrains) and prevent fraud with some makers setting useless jewels in the baseplate to claim "100 jewels" while not having any functionnal jewels.
Nowadays, your jewel count will always be in the same ballpark and if anything it's just going to be a hint on whether a watch is automatic or manual wind.
Quartz watches don't have to disclose their jewel count, which is funny because that's where you can find some really crap movements with little to no jewels. Pic very related.
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