Complications in the Watch World: From Basic to Advanced

What is a Complication?

• Complication is any additional function that a watch offers other than hours, minutes and seconds.
• Some functions are useful (date, alarm), while others are works of technical art (tourbillon, minute repeater).
• Complications can affect the functionality and collection value of the watch.
  increases.

Basic Complications

• Date: Displays the date only (1–31).
• Day-Date: Date + day of the week (e.g. Mon, Tue).
• Small Seconds: The seconds rotate in a separate display on the sub-dial.
• Central Seconds: The second hand is in the center.
• 24-Hour: Shows the 24-hour time period in a single round.

High Complications

• Chronograph: It works like a stopwatch, measuring time.
• Perpetual Calendar: Processes the calendar without the need for manual correction. No adjustments are required until 2100.
• Annual Calendar: Requires adjustment once a year, at the end of February.
• Tourbillon: Reduces the effect of gravity, works in a rotating cage.
• Minute Repeater: a mechanical complication that tells the time with a chime
• Moonphase: Shows the phases of the moon.
• GMT / Dual Time: Displays a second time zone.
• World Time: 24 cities/time zones are displayed simultaneously.
• Big Date: Displays the date in a large, clear window.
• Mechanical Alarm: Gives an audible warning at the specified time.

Grand Complications

It's a watch that combines multiple major complications. These three features are usually found together:

1. Chronograph (timer)
2. Perpetual Calendar (leap year calendar)
3. Minute Repeater (announces time with sound)
   

These types of watches are considered the pinnacle of mastery in haute horlogerie. They are extremely difficult to produce and are typically handcrafted in limited editions. Brands such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet are prominent in this field.

1. Complications are the intelligence and soul of a watch—it shows not only the time, but also the art.
2. Each complication is a miniature engineering marvel of master watchmakers.
3. High complications transform the collection's watches into timeless symbols of prestige.
4. A complication is the most elegant way to carry the ingenious solutions of the past on your wrist.

1. World Time displays the time of 24 different cities simultaneously.
2. The Annual Calendar requires adjustment only once a year, at the end of February.
3. Power Reserve indicates how long the watch will continue to run.
4. Retrograde, when the needle reaches a certain point, it jumps back to the beginning.
5. Jumping Hour, the hour display on the watch changes with sudden jumps.
6. Equation of Time shows the difference between true solar time and clock time.
7. Tachymeter is a chronograph scale used for measuring speed.
8. The Split-Seconds Chronograph can measure two separate times simultaneously.
9. Skeleton is an open dial design that reveals all the details of the movement.
10. Sonnerie is a system that automatically rings the clock at regular intervals.