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Early wrist watch by Waltham, worn by soldiers in World War I (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 47-3352)

A watch is a small clock, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket; wristwatches, however, are the most common type of watch used today. Watches evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were strictly mechanical. As technology progressed, the mechanisms used to measure time have, in some cases, been replaced by use of quartz vibrations or electromagnetic pulses.^[1] The first digital electronic watch was developed in 1970.^[2]

Before wristwatches became popular in the 1920s, most watches were pocket watches, which often had covers and were carried in a pocket and attached to a watch chain or watch fob.^[3] In the early 1900s, the wristwatch, originally called a Wristlet, was reserved for women and considered more of a passing fad than a serious timepiece. Men, who carried pocket watches, were quoted as saying they would "sooner wear a skirt as wear a wristwatch".^[4] This changed in World War I, when soldiers on the battlefield found pocket watches to be impractical and attached their watches to their wrist by a cupped leather strap. It is also believed that Girard-Perregaux equipped the German Imperial Navy with wristwatches in a similar fashion as early as the 1880s, to be used while synchronizing naval attacks and firing artillery.^[4]

Most inexpensive and medium-priced watches used mainly for timekeeping are electronic watches with quartz movements.^[1] Expensive collectible watches, valued more for their workmanship and aesthetic appeal than for simple timekeeping, often have purely mechanical movements and are powered by springs, even though mechanical movements are less accurate than more affordable quartz movements. In addition to the time, modern watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions. Watches that provide additional time-related features such as timers, chronographs and alarm functions are not uncommon. Some modern designs even go as far as using GPS^[5] technology or heart-rate monitoring^[6] capabilities.

The study of timekeeping is known as horology.

History[link]

The earliest dated watch known, from 1530

This section requires expansion.

Watches evolved from portable spring driven clocks, which first appeared in 15th century Europe. Watches weren't widely worn in pockets until the 17th century.

Movement[link]

Different kinds of movements move the hands differently as shown in this 2 second exposure. The left watch has a mechanical 1/6 s movement, the right one has a "1 s" quartz movement

A Russian mechanical watch movement

A movement in watchmaking is the mechanism that measures the passage of time and displays the current time (and possibly other information including date, month and day). Movements may be entirely mechanical, entirely electronic (potentially with no moving parts), or a blend of the two. Most watches intended mainly for timekeeping today have electronic movements, with mechanical hands on the watch face indicating the time.

Mechanical movements[link]

Compared to electronic movements, mechanical watches are less accurate, often with errors of seconds per day, and they are sensitive to position, temperature^[7] and magnetism.^[8] They are also costly to produce, require regular maintenance and adjustment, and are more prone to failure. Nevertheless, the craftsmanship of mechanical watches still attracts interest from part of the watch-buying public. Skeleton watches are designed to leave the mechanism visible for aesthetic purposes.

Mechanical movements use an escapement mechanism to control and limit the unwinding and winding parts of a spring, converting what would otherwise be a simple unwinding into a controlled and periodic energy release. Mechanical movements also use a balance wheel together with the balance spring (also known as a hairspring) to control motion of the gear system of the watch in a manner analogous to the pendulum of a pendulum clock. The tourbillon, an optional part for mechanical movements, is a rotating frame for the escapement, which is used to cancel out or reduce the effects of gravitational bias to the timekeeping. Due to the complexity of designing a tourbillon, they are very expensive, and only found in "prestige" watches.

The pin-lever escapement (called the Roskopf movement after its inventor, Georges Frederic Roskopf), which is a cheaper version of the fully levered movement, was manufactured in huge quantities by many Swiss manufacturers as well as Timex, until it was replaced by quartz movements.^[9][10][11]

Tuning-fork watches use a type of electromechanical movement. Introduced by Bulova in 1960, they use a tuning fork with a precise frequency (most often 360 hertz) to drive a mechanical watch. The task of converting electronically pulsed fork vibration into rotary movement is done via two tiny jeweled fingers, called pawls. Tuning-fork watches were rendered obsolete when electronic quartz watches were developed. Quartz watches were cheaper to produce and even more accurate.

Traditional mechanical watch movements use a spiral spring called a mainspring as a power source. In manual watches the spring must be rewound periodically by the user by turning the watch crown. Antique pocketwatches were wound by inserting a separate key into a hole in the back of the watch and turning it. Most modern watches are designed to run 40 hours on a winding and thus must be wound daily, but some run for several days and a few have 192-hour mainsprings and are wound weekly.

Automatic watches[link]

Automatic watch: An eccentric weight, called a rotor, swings with the movement of the wearer's body and winds the spring

A self-winding or automatic watch is one that rewinds the mainspring of a mechanical movement by the natural motions of the wearer's body. The first self-winding mechanism was invented for pocket watches in 1770 by Abraham-Louis Perrelet,^[12] but the first "self-winding", or "automatic", wristwatch was the invention of a British watch repairer named John Harwood in 1923. This type of watch allows for constant winding without special action from the wearer; it works by an eccentric weight, called a winding rotor, which rotates with the movement of the wearer's wrist. The back-and-forth motion of the winding rotor couples to a ratchet to automatically wind the mainspring. Self-winding watches usually can also be wound manually so they can be kept running when not worn or if the wearer's wrist motions are inadequate to keep the watch wound.

Electronic movements[link]

Electronic movements have few or no moving parts, as they use the piezoelectric effect in a tiny quartz crystal to provide a stable time base for a mostly electronic movement. The crystal forms a quartz oscillator which resonates at a specific and highly stable frequency, and which can be used to accurately pace a timekeeping mechanism. For this reason, electronic watches are often called quartz watches. Most quartz movements are primarily electronic but are geared to drive mechanical hands on the face of the watch in order to provide a traditional analog display of the time, which is still preferred by some consumers.

Prototype of a Quartz Wristwatch, CEH Switzerland, 1967

In 1959 Seiko gave an order to Epson (a daughter company of Seiko and the actual brain behind the quartz revolution) to start developing a quartz wristwatch. The project was codenamed 59A and by the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Seiko had a working prototype of a portable quartz watch which took part in time measurements throughout the event.

The first prototypes of an electronic quartz wristwatch (not just portable quartz watches as the Seiko timekeeping devices at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964) were made by the CEH research laboratory in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. From 1965 through 1967 pioneering development work was done on a miniaturized 8192 Hz quartz oscillator, a thermo-compensation module and an inhouse-made, dedicated integrated circuit (unlike the hybrid circuits used in the later Seiko Astron wristwatch). As a result, the BETA 1 prototype set new timekeeping performance records at the International Chronometric Competition held at the Observatory of Neuchâtel in 1967.^[13]

Quartz Movement of the Seiko Astron, 1969 (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 2010-006)

The first quartz watch to enter production was the Seiko 35 SQ Astron, which hit the shelves on December 25, 1969. One particularly interesting decision made by Seiko at that time was to not patent the whole movement of the quartz wristwatch, thus allowing other manufacturers to benefit from the Seiko technology. This played a major role in the popularity and quick development of the quartz watch, which in less than a decade was dominant in the watch market, nearly ending an almost 100 years of mechanical wristwatch heritage. The modern quartz movements are produced in very large quantities, and even the cheapest wristwatches typically have quartz movements. Whereas mechanical movements can typically be off by several seconds a day, an inexpensive quartz movement in a child's wristwatch may still be accurate to within half a second per day—ten times better than a mechanical movement.^[14]

After a consolidation of the mechanical watch industry in Switzerland during the 1970s, mass production of quartz wristwatches took off under the leadership of the Swatch Group of companies, a Swiss conglomerate with vertical control of the production of Swiss watches and related products. For quartz wristwatches, subsidiaries of Swatch manufactured watch batteries (Renata), oscillators (Oscilloquartz) and integrated circuits (Ebauches Electronic SA). The launch of the new SWATCH brand in 1983, was marked by bold new styling, design and marketing. Today, the Swatch Group is the world's largest watch company.

Seiko's efforts to combine the quartz and mechanical movements bore fruit after 20 years of research, leading to the introduction of the Seiko Spring Drive, first in a limited domestic market production in 1999 and to the world in September 2005. The Spring Drive manages to keep time within quartz standards without the use of a battery, using a traditional mechanical gear train powered by a spring, while at the same time doesn't have the need of a balance wheel either.

Radio time signal watches are a type of electronic quartz watch which synchronizes (time transfer) its time with an external time source such as in atomic clocks, time signals from GPS navigation satellites, the German DCF77 signal in Europe, WWVB in the US, and others. Movements of this type may -among others- synchronize not only the time of day but also the date, the leap-year status of the current year, and the current state of daylight saving time (on or off). However, other than the radio receiver these watches are normal quartz watches in all other aspects.

Electronic watches require electricity as a power source. Some mechanical movements and hybrid electronic-mechanical movements also require electricity. Usually the electricity is provided by a replaceable battery. The first use of electrical power in watches was as a substitute for the mainspring, in order to remove the need for winding. The first electrically powered watch, the Hamilton Electric 500, was released in 1957 by the Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Watch batteries (strictly speaking cells, as a battery is composed of multiple cells) are specially designed for their purpose. They are very small and provide tiny amounts of power continuously for very long periods (several years or more). In most cases, replacing the battery requires a trip to a watch-repair shop or watch dealer; this is especially true for watches that are designed to be water-resistant, as special tools and procedures are required to ensure that the watch remains water-resistant after battery replacement. Silver-oxide and lithium batteries are popular today; mercury batteries, formerly quite common, are no longer used, for environmental reasons. Cheap batteries may be alkaline, of the same size as silver-oxide cells but providing shorter life. Rechargeable batteries are used in some solar powered watches.

Some electronic watches are also powered by the movement of the wearer of the watch. For instance, Seiko's Kinetic powered quartz watches make use of the motion of the wearer's arm turning a rotating weight which causes a tiny generator to supply power to charge a rechargeable battery that runs the watch. The concept is similar to that of self-winding spring movements, except that electrical power is generated instead of mechanical spring tension.

Solar powered watches are powered by light. A photovoltaic cell on the face (dial) of the watch converts light to electricity, which in turn is used to charge a rechargeable battery or capacitor. The movement of the watch draws its power from the rechargeable battery or capacitor. As long as the watch is regularly exposed to fairly strong light (such as sunlight), it never needs battery replacement, and some models need only a few minutes of sunlight to provide weeks of energy (as in the Citizen Eco-Drive). Some of the early solar watches of the 1970s had innovative and unique designs to accommodate the array of solar cells needed to power them (Synchronar, Nepro, Sicura and some models by Cristalonic, Alba, Seiko and Citizen). As the decades progressed and the efficiency of the solar cells increased while the power requirements of the movement and display decreased, solar watches began to be designed to look like other conventional watches.^[15]

A rarely used power source is the temperature difference between the wearer's arm and the surrounding environment (as applied in the Citizen Eco-Drive Thermo).

Display[link]

Analog[link]

Poljot chronograph

Traditionally, watches have displayed the time in analog form, with a numbered dial upon which are mounted at least a rotating hour hand and a longer, rotating minute hand. Many watches also incorporate a third hand that shows the current second of the current minute. Watches powered by quartz usually have a second hand that snaps every second to the next marker. Watches powered by a mechanical movement appears to have a gliding second hand, although it is actually not gliding; the hand merely moves in smaller steps, typically 1/5 of a second, corresponding to the beat (half period) of the balance wheel. In some escapements (for example the duplex escapement), the hand advances every two beats (full period) of the balance wheel, typically 1/2 second in those watches, or even every four beats (two periods, 1 second), in the double duplex escapement. A truly gliding second hand is achieved with the tri-synchro regulator of Spring Drive watches. All of the hands are normally mechanical, physically rotating on the dial, although a few watches have been produced with "hands" that are simulated by a liquid-crystal display.

Analog display of the time is nearly universal in watches sold as jewelry or collectibles, and in these watches, the range of different styles of hands, numbers, and other aspects of the analog dial is very broad. In watches sold for timekeeping, analog display remains very popular, as many people find it easier to read than digital display; but in timekeeping watches the emphasis is on clarity and accurate reading of the time under all conditions (clearly marked digits, easily visible hands, large watch faces, etc.). They are specifically designed for the left wrist with the stem (the knob used for changing the time) on the right side of the watch; this makes it easy to change the time without removing the watch from the wrist. This is the case if one is right-handed and the watch is worn on the left wrist (as is traditionally done). If one is left-handed and wears the watch on the right wrist, one has to remove the watch from the wrist to reset the time or to wind the watch.

Analog watches as well as clocks are often marketed showing a display time of approximately 10:09 or 10:10. This creates a visually pleasing smile-like face on upper half of the watch, in addition to enclosing the manufacturer's name. Digital displays often show a time of 12:08, where the increases in the numbers from left to right culminating in the fully lit numerical display of the 8 also gives a positive feeling.^[16][17]

Analog watch displays can be used to indicate cardinal direction due to the relation between the position of the hour hand and the position of the Sun in the sky. By rotating the watch so that the hour hand points toward the Sun, the point halfway between the hour hand and 12 o'clock will indicate south when observing from a position in the Northern hemisphere. In the Southern hemisphere, the point halfway between the hour hand pointed at the sun and 12 o'clock on the dial indicates North.

Digital[link]

Cortébert digital mechanical pocket watch. 1890s

Cortébert digital mechanical wristwatch. 1920s

A silver Pulsar LED watch from 1976.

A digital display simply shows the time as a number, e.g., 12:08 instead of a short hand pointing towards the number 12 and a long hand 8/60 of the way round the dial. The digits are usually shown as a seven-segment display.

The first digital mechanical pocket watches appeared in late 19th century. In the 1920s the first digital mechanical wristwatches appeared.

The first digital electronic watch, a Pulsar LED prototype in 1970, was developed jointly by Hamilton Watch Company and Electro-Data. John Bergey, the head of Hamilton's Pulsar division, said that he was inspired to make a digital timepiece by the then-futuristic digital clock that Hamilton themselves made for the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. On April 4, 1972, the Pulsar was finally ready, made in 18-carat gold and sold for $2,100. It had a red light-emitting diode (LED) display.

Digital LED watches were very expensive and out of reach to the common consumer until 1975, when Texas Instruments started to mass produce LED watches inside a plastic case. These watches, which first retailed for only $20,^[18] reduced to $10 in 1976, saw Pulsar lose $6 million and the Pulsar brand sold to Seiko.^[19]

An early LED watch that was rather problematic was The Black Watch made and sold by British company Sinclair Research in 1975. This was only sold for a few years, as production problems and returned (faulty) product forced the company to cease production.

A digital watch displaying the time, seconds, and date

Most watches with LED displays required that the user press a button to see the time displayed for a few seconds, because LEDs used so much power that they could not be kept operating continuously. Usually the LED display color would be red. Watches with LED displays were popular for a few years, but soon the LED displays were superseded by liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which used less battery power and were much more convenient in use, with the display always visible and no need to push a button before seeing the time. Only in darkness you had to press a button to lit the display with a tiny light bulb, later illuminating LEDs. The first LCD watch with a six-digit LCD was the 1973 Seiko 06LC, although various forms of early LCD watches with a four-digit display were marketed as early as 1972 including the 1972 Gruen Teletime LCD Watch, and the Cox Electronic Systems Quarza.^[20] In Switzerland, Ebauches Electronic SA presented a prototype eight-digit LCD wristwatch showing time and date at the MUBA Fair, Basle, in March 1973, using a Twisted Nematic LCD manufactured by Brown, Boveri & Cie, Switzerland, which became the supplier of LCDs to Casio for the CASIOTRON watch in 1974.^[21]

From the 1980s onward, digital watch technology vastly improved. In 1982 Seiko produced a watch with a small television screen built in,^[22] and Casio produced a digital watch with a thermometer as well as another that could translate 1,500 Japanese words into English. In 1985, Casio produced the CFX-400 scientific calculator watch. In 1987 Casio produced a watch that could dial your telephone number and Citizen revealed one that would react to your voice. In 1995 Timex released a watch which allowed the wearer to download and store data from a computer to their wrist. Some watches, such as the Timex Datalink USB, feature dot matrix displays. Since their apex during the late 1980s to mid 1990s high technology fad, digital watches have mostly become simpler, less expensive time pieces with little variety between models.

Despite these many advances, almost all watches with digital displays are used as timekeeping watches. Expensive watches for collectors rarely have digital displays since there is little demand for them. Less craftsmanship is required to make a digital watch face and most collectors find that analog dials (especially with complications) vary in quality more than digital dials due to the details and finishing of the parts that make up the dial (thus making the differences between a cheap and expensive watch more evident).

Functions[link]

The Rolex Submariner, an officially certified chronometer

All watches provide the time of day, giving at least the hour and minute, and usually the second. Most also provide the current date, and often the day of the week as well. However, many watches also provide a great deal of information beyond the basics of time and date. Some watches include alarms. Other elaborate and more expensive watches, both pocket and wrist models, also incorporate striking mechanisms or repeater functions, so that the wearer could learn the time by the sound emanating from the watch. This announcement or striking feature is an essential characteristic of true clocks and distinguishes such watches from ordinary timepieces. This feature is available on most digital watches.

A complicated watch has one or more functions beyond the basic function of displaying the time and the date; such a functionality is called a complication. Two popular complications are the chronograph complication, which is the ability of the watch movement to function as a stopwatch, and the moonphase complication, which is a display of the lunar phase. Other more expensive complications include Tourbillon, Perpetual calendar, Minute repeater, and Equation of time. A truly complicated watch has many of these complications at once (see Calibre 89 from Patek Philippe for instance). Some watches can both indicate the direction of Mecca^[23] and have alarms that can be set for all daily prayer requirements.^[24] Among watch enthusiasts, complicated watches are especially collectible. Some watches include a second 12-hour display for UTC (as Pontos Grand Guichet GMT).

The similar-sounding terms chronograph and chronometer are often confused, although they mean altogether different things. A chronograph has a stopwatch complication, as explained above, while a chronometer watch has a high quality mechanical or a thermo-compensated movement that has been tested and certified to operate within a certain standard of accuracy by the COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres). The concepts are different but not mutually exclusive; so a watch can be a chronograph, a chronometer, both, or neither.

Timex Datalink USB Dress edition from 2003 with a dot matrix display; the Invasion video game is on the screen

Many computerized wristwatches have been developed, but none have had long-term sales success, because they have awkward user interfaces due to the tiny screens and buttons, and a short battery life. As miniaturized electronics became cheaper, watches have been developed containing calculators, tonometers, barometers, altimeters, a compass using both hands to show the N/S direction, video games, digital cameras, keydrives, GPS receivers and cellular phones. In the early 1980s Seiko marketed a watch with a television in it. Such watches have also had the reputation as unsightly and thus mainly geek toys. Several companies have however attempted to develop a computer contained in a wristwatch (see also wearable computer).

Braille watches have analog displays with raised bumps around the face to allow blind users to tell the time. Their digital equivalents use synthesised speech to speak the time on command.

Uses[link]

Fashion[link]

Wristwatches are often appreciated as jewelry or as collectible works of art rather than just as timepieces. This has created several different markets for wristwatches, ranging from very inexpensive but accurate watches (intended for no other purpose than telling the correct time) to extremely expensive watches that serve mainly as personal adornment (featuring jewel bearings to hold gemstones) or as examples of high achievement in miniaturization and precision mechanical engineering.

Traditionally, men's dress watches appropriate for informal (business), semi-formal, and formal attire are gold, thin, simple, and plain, but increasingly rugged, complicated, or sports watches are considered acceptable for such attire. Some dress watches have a cabochon on the crown and many women's dress watches have faceted gemstones on the face, bezel, or bracelet. Some are made entirely of facetted sapphire (corundum).^[25]

Many fashion and department stores offer a variety of less-expensive, trendy, "costume" watches (usually for women), many of which are similar in quality to basic quartz timepieces but which feature bolder designs. In the 1980s, the Swiss Swatch company hired graphic designers to redesign a new annual collection of non-repairable watches.

Most companies that produce watches specialize in one or some of these markets. Companies such as Patek Philippe, Blancpain and Jaeger-LeCoultre specialize in simple and complicated mechanical dress watches; companies such as Omega SA, Ball Watch Company, TAG Heuer, Sinn, Breitling, Panerai and Rolex specialize in rugged, reliable mechanical watches for sport and aviation use. Companies such as Casio, Timex, and Seiko specialize in watches as affordable timepieces or multifunctional computers.

Trade in counterfeit watches, which mimic expensive brand-name watches, constitutes an estimated US$1 billion market per year.^[26]

Space[link]

The Omega Speedmaster, selected by U.S. space agencies

Zero gravity environment and other extreme conditions encountered by astronauts in space requires the use of specially tested watches. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin wore a Shturmanskie (a transliteration of Штурманские which actually means "navigator's") wristwatch during his historic first flight into space. The Shturmanskie was manufactured at the First Moscow Factory. Since 1964, the watches of the First Moscow Factory have been marked by the trademark "ПОЛЕТ", transliterated as "POLJOT", which means "flight" in Russian and is a tribute to the many space trips its watches have accomplished. In the late 1970s, Poljot launched a new chrono movement, the 3133. With a 23 jewel movement and manual winding (43 hours), it was a modified Russian version of the Swiss Valjoux 7734 of the early 1970s. Poljot 3133 were taken into space by astronauts from Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine. On the arm of Valeriy Polyakov, a Poljot 3133 chronograph movement-based watch set a space record for the longest space flight in history.^[27]

Astronaut Nancy J. Currie wears the Timex Ironman Triathlon Datalink model 78401 during STS 88.

Through the 1960s, a large range of watches were tested for durability and precision under extreme temperature changes and vibrations. The Omega Speedmaster Professional was selected by NASA, the U.S. space agency. Heuer became the first Swiss watch in space thanks to a Heuer Stopwatch, worn by John Glenn in 1962 when he piloted the Friendship 7 on the first manned U.S. orbital mission. The Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute was designed with a 24-hour analog dial to avoid confusion between AM and PM, which are meaningless in space. It was first worn in space by U.S. astronaut Scott Carpenter on May 24, 1962 in the Aurora 7 mercury capsule.^[28] Since 1994 Fortis is the exclusive supplier for manned space missions authorized by the Russian Federal Space Agency. China National Space Administration (CNSA) astronauts wear the Fiyta^[29] spacewatches. At BaselWorld, 2008, Seiko announced the creation of the first watch ever designed specifically for a space walk, Spring Drive Spacewalk. Timex Datalink is flight certified by NASA for space missions and is one of the watches qualified by NASA for space travel. Both the Casio G-Shock DW-5600C and 5600E are Flight-Qualified for NASA space travel.^{[30][31][32][33]} The various Datalink models were used both by cosmonauts and astronauts.

Scuba diving[link]

Seiko 7002-7020 Diver's 200 m on a 4-ring NATO style strap

Watches may be crafted to become water resistant. These watches are sometimes called diving watches when they are suitable for scuba diving or saturation diving. The International Organization for Standardization issued a standard for water resistant watches which also prohibits the term "waterproof" to be used with watches, which many countries have adopted.

Water resistance is achieved by the gaskets which forms a watertight seal, used in conjunction with a sealant applied on the case to help keep water out. The material of the case must also be tested in order to pass as water resistant.^[34]

None of the tests defined by ISO 2281 for the Water Resistant mark are suitable to qualify a watch for scuba diving. Such watches are designed for everyday life and must be water resistant during exercises such as swimming. They can be worn in different temperature and pressure conditions but are under no circumstances designed for scuba diving.

The standards for diving watches are regulated by the ISO 6425 international standard. The watches are tested in static or still water under 125% of the rated (water)pressure, thus a watch with a 200 metre rating will be water resistant if it is stationary and under 250 metres of static water. The testing of the water resistance is fundamentally different from non-dive watches, because every watch has to be fully tested. Besides water resistance standards to a minimum of 100 metre depth rating ISO 6425 also provides eight minimum requirements for mechanical diver's watches for scuba diving (quartz and digital watches have slightly differing readability requirements). For diver's watches for mixed-gas saturation diving two additional requirements have to be met.

Watches are classified by their degree of water resistance, which roughly translates to the following (1 metre = 3.281 feet):^[35]

Some watches use bar instead of meters, which may then be multiplied by 10, and then subtracted by 10. This is because 1 bar is equal to one atmosphere or 10 metres of water (therefore 1 bar at the surface and one more each 10 metres). to be approximately equal to the rating based on metres. Therefore, a 5 bar watch is equivalent to a 40 metre watch. Some watches are rated in atmospheres (atm), which are roughly equivalent to bar.

See also[link]

• American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute
• List of watch manufacturers
• Marine chronometer
• National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors
• Tachymeter
• WatchTime Magazine
• Wristwatch computer

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• De Carle, Donald, (Illustrations by E. A. Ayres), Practical Watch Repairing, 3rd edition, New York : Skyhorse Pub., 2008. ISBN 978-1-60239-357-8. Significant information on watches, their history, and inner workings.
• Denn, Mark, "The Tourbillon and How It Works", IEEE Control Systems Magazine, June 2010, IEEE Control Systems Society, DOI 10.1109/MCS.2010.936291.

External links[link]

Look up watch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Watch

• Philadelphia Exhibition 1876 Report to the Federal High Council by Ed. Favre-Perret (1877)
• American and Swiss Watchmaking in 1876 by Jacques David
• The Watch Factories of America Past and Present by Henry G. Abbott (1888)
• Watchmaking and the American System of Manufacturing (2009)
• Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH
• UK patent GB218487, Improvements relating to wrist watches, 1923 patent resulting from John Harwood's invention of a practical self-winding watch mechanism.
• The Most Expensive Watches

Ben Stiller
Stiller filming Tower Heist, 2010
Born	Benjamin Edward Stiller (1965-11-30) November 30, 1965 (age 46)[1] New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, director producer, writer
Years active	1965–present
Net worth	$120 million[2]
Spouse	Christine Taylor (2000–present; 2 children)
Parents	Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara

Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.^[3]

After beginning his acting career with a play, Stiller wrote several mockumentaries, and was offered two of his own shows, both entitled The Ben Stiller Show. He began acting in films, and made his directorial debut with Reality Bites. Throughout his career he has since written, starred in, directed, and/or produced over 50 films including Heavyweights, There's Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, Zoolander, Dodgeball, Tropic Thunder, Greenberg and Night at the Museum. In addition, he has had multiple cameos in music videos, television shows, and films.

Stiller is a member of the comedic acting brotherhood colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.1 billion in Canada and the United States, with an average of $73 million per film.^[4] Throughout his career, he has received several awards and honors including an Emmy Award, several MTV Movie Awards, and a Teen Choice Award.

Early life[link]

Stiller was born in New York City. His father, Jerry Stiller, is Jewish; his mother, Anne Meara, who is of Irish Catholic background, converted to Reform Judaism after marrying his father.^[5][6][7] The family celebrated both Hanukkah and Christmas, and Stiller had a Bar Mitzvah.^[8][9] He has said that he is "half Jewish and half Irish Catholic."^[10] Stiller's parents frequently took him on the sets of their appearances, including The Mike Douglas Show when he was six.^[11] He stated in an interview that he considered his childhood unusual: "In some ways, it was a show-business upbringing—a lot of traveling, a lot of late nights—not what you'd call traditional."^[12] His sister, actress Amy Stiller, has made appearances in many of his productions, including Reality Bites, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and Zoolander.^[13][14][15]

Stiller displayed an early interest in filmmaking, and made Super 8 movies with his sister and friends.^[16] At ten years old, he made his acting debut as a guest on his mother's television series, Kate McShane. In the late 1970s, he performed with the New York City troupe NYC's First All Children's Theater, playing several roles, including the title role in Clever Jack and the Magic Beanstalk.^[17] After being inspired by the television show Second City Television while in high school, Stiller realized that he wanted to get involved with sketch comedy.^[17]

Stiller attended the Cathedral School and graduated from the Calhoun School in New York in 1983. He started performing on the cabaret circuit as opening act to the cabaret siren Jadin Wong. Stiller then enrolled as a film student at the University of California, Los Angeles. After nine months, Stiller left school to move back to New York City.^[9] He made his way through acting classes, auditioning and trying to find an agent.^[18]

Acting career[link]

Early work[link]

Stiller was cast in a role in the Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, alongside John Mahoney; the production would garner four Tony Awards.^[18] During its run, Stiller produced a satirical mockumentary whose principal was fellow actor Mahoney. His comedic work was well received by the cast and crew of the play, and he followed up with a 10 minute short called The Hustler of Money, a parody of the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money. The film featured him in a send-up of Tom Cruise's character and Mahoney in the Paul Newman role, only this time as a bowling hustler instead of a pool shark. The short got the attention of Saturday Night Live, which aired it in 1987, and two years later offered him a spot as a writer.^[18] In the meantime, he also had a bit part in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.^[19]

In 1989, Stiller wrote and appeared on a season of Saturday Night Live as a featured performer. However, since the show did not want him to make more short films for the show, he left after four episodes.^[18] He then put together Elvis Stories, a short film about a fictitious tabloid focused on recent sightings of Elvis Presley.^[20] The film starred friends and co-stars John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, Mike Myers, Andy Dick, and Jeff Kahn.^[20] The film was considered a success, and led him to develop another film titled Back to Brooklyn for MTV.^[21]

[edit] The Ben Stiller Show

MTV was so impressed with Back to Brooklyn that they offered Stiller a 13-episode show in the experimental "vid-com" format.^[22] Titled The Ben Stiller Show, this series mixed comedy sketches with music videos and parodied various television shows, music stars, and films. It starred Stiller, along with main writer Jeff Khan and Harry O'Reilly, with occasional appearances by his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and sister Amy Stiller.^[22]

Although the show was canceled after its first season, it led to another show titled The Ben Stiller Show, on the Fox Network in 1992. The Ben Stiller Show aired 12 episodes on Fox, with a 13th unaired episode broadcast by Comedy Central in a later revival.^[23] Among the principal writers on The Ben Stiller Show were Stiller and Judd Apatow, with the show featuring the ensemble cast of Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Andy Dick, and Bob Odenkirk.^[24] Both Denise Richards and Jeanne Tripplehorn appeared as extras in various episodes. Throughout its short run, The Ben Stiller Show frequently appeared at the bottom of the ratings, even as it garnered critical acclaim and eventually won the Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program" post-humously.^[23][25][26]

Ben Stiller in 2006, photographed by Jerry Avenaim

Directorial debut[link]

After a few minor film roles in the early 1990s, such as Stella, Highway to Hell, and a cameo in The Nutt House, Stiller devoted his time to writing, fundraising, recruiting cast members, starring in, and directing Reality Bites.^[18] The film was produced by Danny DeVito (who later directed Stiller's 2003 film Duplex and produced the 2004 film Along Came Polly).^[27] Reality Bites debuted as the highest-grossing film in its opening weekend and received mixed reviews.^[28][29]

Stiller joined his parents in the family film Heavyweights (1995), in which he played two roles, and then had a brief uncredited role in Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore (1996).^[30][31] Next, he had lead roles in If Lucy Fell and Flirting with Disaster, before tackling his next directorial effort with The Cable Guy, which starred Jim Carrey. Stiller once again was featured in his own film, as twins. The film received mixed reviews, but was noted for paying the highest salary for an actor up to that point, as Jim Carrey received $20 million for his work in the film.^[32] The film also connected Stiller with future Frat Pack members Jack Black and Owen Wilson.

Also in 1996, MTV invited Stiller to host the VH1 Fashion Awards. Along with SNL writer Drake Sather, Stiller developed a short film for the awards about a male model known as Derek Zoolander. It was so well received that Stiller developed another short film about the character for the 1997 VH1 Fashion Awards and finally remade the skit into a film.^[18]

Comedy career[link]

In 1998, Stiller put aside his directing ambitions to star in There's Something About Mary, alongside Cameron Diaz, which accelerated Stiller's acting career. That year, he also starred in several dramas, including Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, and Permanent Midnight. Stiller was invited to take part in hosting the Music Video awards, for which he developed a parody of the Backstreet Boys and performed a sketch with his father, commenting on his current career.^[33]

In 1999, he starred in three films, including Mystery Men, where he played a superhero wannabe called Mr. Furious. He returned to directing with a new spoof television series for Fox titled Heat Vision and Jack, starring Jack Black, however, the show was not picked up by Fox after its pilot episode and the series was cancelled.^[34]

2000 would be a better year for Stiller, as he starred in three more films, including one of his most recognizable roles, a male nurse named Greg Focker in Meet the Parents, opposite Robert De Niro.^[35] The film was well-received by critics, grossed over $330 million worldwide, and spawned two sequels.^[36][37] Also in 2000, MTV again invited Stiller to make another short film, and he developed Mission: Improbable, a spoof of Tom Cruise's role in Mission: Impossible II and other films.^[38]

In 2001, Stiller would direct his third feature film, Zoolander, which focused on the character Derek Zoolander (played by Stiller) that he developed for the VH1 Fashion Awards. The film featured multiple cameos from a variety of celebrities including Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Lenny Kravitz, Heidi Klum, and David Bowie, among others. The film was banned in Malaysia (as the plot centered on an assassination attempt of a Malaysian prime minister)^[39] while shots of the World Trade Center were digitally removed and hidden for the film's release after the September 11 terrorist attacks.^[40]

Stiller signing autographs before a screening for Tropic Thunder at Camp Pendleton on August 3, 2008.

After Stiller worked with Owen Wilson in Zoolander, they joined together again for The Royal Tenenbaums.^[40] Over the next two years, Stiller continued with the lackluster box office film Duplex and several cameos in Orange County and Nobody Knows Anything!.^[41][42][43] He also guest-starred on several television shows, including an appearance in an episode of the television series King Of Queens in a flashback as the father of the character Arthur (played by Jerry Stiller).^[44] He also made a guest appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment's WWE Raw.^[45]

In 2004, Stiller appeared in six different films, all of which were comedies, and include some of his highest grossing films. They include Starsky & Hutch, Envy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, an uncredited cameo in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Along Came Polly, and Meet the Fockers. While the critically panned Envy only grossed $14.5 million worldwide,^[46] his most successful film of the year was Meet the Fockers, which grossed over $516.6 million worldwide.^[47] In 2005, Stiller would begin his first attempt at a computer-animated film with Madagascar, which performed so well at the box office that it resulted in a sequel released in 2008 and another in 2012.

In 2006, Stiller had cameo roles in School for Scoundrels, and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, for which he served as executive producer. In December, Stiller starred in the lead role of Night at the Museum. Although not a critical favorite, it earned over $115 million in ten days.^[48] In 2007, Stiller starred alongside Malin Åkerman in the romantic comedy The Heartbreak Kid. The film earned over $100 million worldwide despite receiving mostly negative reviews.^[49][50] Tropic Thunder, a film he directed, co-wrote, and co-produced, and in which he starred with Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, was released on August 13, 2008. In May 2009, he starred with Amy Adams in the sequel Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.^[51] In 2010, Stiller made a brief cameo in Joaquin Phoenix's mockumentary I'm Still Here and played the lead role in the comedy-drama Greenberg. Stiller again portrayed 'Greg' Focker in the critically bombed Little Fockers, the second sequel to Meet the Parents. Stiller had planned to voice a character in Megamind, but later dropped out while still remaining a producer.^[52]

Stiller at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2011, Stiller starred with Eddie Murphy and Alan Alda in Tower Heist, about a group of maintenance workers planning a heist in a residential skyscraper.^[53] Filming began in November 2010.

"Frat Pack"[link]

Stiller is the "acknowledged leader" of the Frat Pack, a core group of actors that has worked together in multiple films. The group includes Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Steve Carell, and Paul Rudd.^[54][55] Stiller has been acknowledged as the leader of the group due to his multiple cameos and for his consistent use of the other members in roles in films which he produces and directs.^[54] He has appeared the most with Owen Wilson, in eleven films including.^[54][56] Of the 35 primary films that are considered Frat Pack films, Stiller has been involved with 20, in some capacity.^[54] He is also the only member of this group to have appeared in a Brat Pack film (Fresh Horses).^[19]

Personal life[link]

Stiller in December 2008.

Stiller dated several actresses during his early television and film career, including Jeanne Tripplehorn, Calista Flockhart, and Amanda Peet.^[57][58] In May 2000, Stiller married Christine Taylor, whom he met while filming a never-broadcast television pilot for the Fox Broadcasting network called Heat Vision and Jack, which starred Jack Black.^[59] The couple appeared onscreen together in Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and Tropic Thunder. He and Taylor reside in New York City and have a daughter, Ella Olivia, born April 10, 2002, and a son, Quinlin Dempsey, born July 10, 2005.^[60]

Stiller is a supporter of the Democratic Party and donated money to John Kerry's 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign.^[61] In February 2007, Stiller attended a fundraiser for Barack Obama and later donated to the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaigns of Democrats Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton.^[62] Stiller is also a supporter of several charities including Declare Yourself, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation.^[63] In 2010, Stiller joined Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Robin Williams, and other Hollywood stars in "The Cove PSA: My Friend is... ", an effort to stop the slaughter of dolphins and protect the Japanese population from the toxic levels of mercury found in dolphin meat.^[64] Stiller and his wife have both adopted a vegan diet.^[65]

In a 1999 interview with GQ and later in a 2001 interview with Hollywood.com, Stiller stated jokingly that he had bipolar disorder, an illness he said that ran in his family.^[26] In interviews in November and December 2006, Stiller claimed that this earlier interview's comment about the disorder was misconstrued and false.^[66] In one interview he clarified, "I said jokingly in GQ that I was, like, crazy, and it came out as: Ben Stiller, bipolar manic-depressive!"^[67] He added in another interview that "Unfortunately, irony is never something that comes across well in a print interview."^[68]

Stiller frequently does impersonations of many of his favorite performers, including Bono, Tom Cruise, Bruce Springsteen, and David Blaine. In an interview with Parade, he commented that Robert Klein, George Carlin, and Jimmie Walker were inspirations for his comedy career.^[12] Stiller is also a self-professed Trekkie and appeared in the television special Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond to express his love of the show, as well as a comedy roast for William Shatner.^[69][70] He frequently references the show in his work, and named his production company Red Hour Productions after the original Star Trek episode "The Return of the Archons".^[71]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Director and producer[link]

Television work[link]