First, an introduction. My name is Jordan and I am the watchmaker at Beauchamp Jewelers. I received a diploma in Watchmaking and Micromechanics from the Lititz Watch Technicum, a not-for-profit watchmaking school fully funded by Rolex in partnership with the Watchmakers Of Switzerland Training and Education Program. I am an American Watchmaker’s-Clockmaker’s Institute Certified Watchamker for the 21st Century.

One of the most common questions I hear from somebody who is new to the world of fine mechanical timepieces is “what are the jewels?” and “what do they do?” When someone thinks about jewels they may picture a beautiful ring like the one pictured here, or they might picture the Queen Mother draped in the crown jewels. In watches, however jewels are more of a functional item, rather than a thing of beauty.

A mechanical watch is in the simplest terms a series of gears driven by a spring with a mechanism which manages the unwinding of the spring at a controlled rate so that it can illustrate the time of day. Although the parts are small the relative forces inside a watch are pretty large. Each of these gears rotate on an axle which is supported in two parallel plates. In order to keep the holes in which these axles rotate from wearing out and getting larger the pivots on the end of the axles are usually supported in a donut shaped “jewel.”

Jewels, as bearing surfaces in watches have been in wide spread use since the middle of the 19th Century. Originally the were fashioned from natural stones such as diamond, ruby, sapphire, quartz, or garnet. Today, nearly all jewels in watches are made from synthetic ruby.

By the middle of the 20th Century Jewels had become a symbol of quality in watches, but there is much more to quality then simply the number of jewels in a watch. Vintage pocket watches were often sold in 7, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 23 Jewel versions, but “dollar watches” usually had only 1 Jewel. With each increased jewel count the quality of the surrounding components usually increased as well. Today it is rare to find a watch with fewer than 17 Jewels. Most automatic wristwatches have at least 25 Jewels, and a chronograph might have up to 45 Jewels.

The jewels in your watch serve two very useful purposes. First, they make your watch more durable. A watch with no jewels will wear out in only a few years (even if serviced regularly) whereas a fully jeweled watch can run for generations if properly maintained. Second, they reduce friction, allowing the watch to run longer without winding, and allowing the watch to maintain for consistent time.

You can learn more about jewels in watches from Wikipedia. If you have questions for me, as a watchmaker related to jewels, or otherwise, feel free to comment on this post.

Cut – The forth “C”
In the 1200’s and prior diamonds were worn in their rough or natural octahedral shape because of the difficulty in cutting something so very hard. It wasn’t until 1375 in Germany where a guild of diamond cutters formed and developed the Point Cut. The point cut was an octahedron. Next came the Table cut in the mid 14th century. The table cut was a point cut diamond with some of the top cut off. By the end of the 14th century the single cut or 8/8 cut was introduced. The single cut was a table cut with the addition of four corner facets top and bottom. About the mid 16th century the Rose cut diamond was introduced. It had triangle facets arranged in a symmetrical radiating pattern with a flat bottom. The first brilliant cuts were known as Mazarins and were welcomed in the mid 17th century. They were cushion shape and had 17 facets on the crown as well as 17 facets below. Also in the 17th century came the Peruzzi cut. It has 58 facets like most modern round brilliant cut diamonds today. It had 33 facets on top and 25 below the girdle. Because bruting had not been developed yet all of these cutting styles had square or rectangular outlines. These were given a general name of cushions also known as Mine cuts. Bruting is the rounding of the diamonds girdle with a lathe. Sometime in the mid to late 18th century came the Old European Cut which also had 58 facets but a shallower pavilion, rounded outline and a different facet arrangement. The old European cut was the forerunner to our modern cut round brilliant cut diamond and was used throughout most of the 19th century. In 1919 Marcel Tolkowsky developed the model of today’s ideal cut diamond.