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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 As technology progressed, the mechanisms used to measure time have, in some cases, been replaced by use of quartz vibrations or electromagnetic pulses.^[1] The first digital electronic watch was developed in 1970.^[2]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

Danny MacAskill

Personal information
Full name	Danny MacAskill
Born	(1985-12-23) 23 December 1985 (age 26) Scotland
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Team information
Discipline	Trials
Role	Rider
Rider type	Street Trials

Danny MacAskill, (born 23 December 1985) also known as 'Danny MegaSkill', is a Scottish trials cyclist, from Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. He works professionally as a street trials pro rider for Inspired Bicycles Ltd.^[1] He released 'April 2009', a five-and-a-half-minute street trials video, filmed by his flatmate Dave Sowerby, on YouTube on the 19th April 2009. The video quickly gained popular acclaim and widespread media attention. The video features stunts performed by MacAskill set to 'The Funeral' by Band of Horses.^[2]

As of April 2009, MacAskill, who was brought up in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye,^[3] had been practising for more than 12 years. He gave up his job as a mechanic so he could ride full time.^[2] He now lives in Edinburgh.^[4] In June 2009, MacAskill appeared in the music video for Doves' single "Winter Hill".^[5] MacAskill also appeared in a TV-commercial for the new Volkswagen Golf Estate.^[6]

On 16 November 2010 MacAskill released a new video "Way Back Home" produced by Red Bull Media House. The video showcases locations around Scotland including Edinburgh Castle, North Berwick, wartime bunkers on the island of Inchgarvie beneath the Forth Bridge and a hydro-electric power station in the Scottish Highlands.^[7] In May 2011 Leica Cameras released a "Go Play" promo video featuring him doing tricks in the city of Cape Town. In August 9 of 2011 Cut Media released a video named "Industrial Revolutions". The video, set to 'The Wolves' by Ben Howard, features MacAskill doing tricks in an abandoned Scottish iron works. It was created for Channel 4's documentary Concrete Circus.^[8]

On 19 October 2011 MacAskill along with Inspired Bicycles released his signature trials frame, the Inspired Skye, to the public making him a full fledged professional rider.^[9]

In 2012 Danny MacAskill was nominated for the 2012 Adventurer of the Year Award. Danny MacAskill was nominated for changing the way a street trials rider can redefine how we view urban landscapes—and become a global icon in the process. The award is organised by the National Geographic.

Macaskill is currently managed by the German agency Rasoulution.^[10][11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• dannymacaskill.co.uk

Jason Sudeikis
Sudeikis at the premiere of Horrible Bosses, 2011
Born	Daniel Jason Sudeikis (1975-09-17) September 17, 1975 (age 36) Fairfax, Virginia, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, writer
Years active	1998–present
Home town	Overland Park, Kansas
Spouse	Kay Cannon (2004–10; divorced)

Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( /sʉˈdeɪkɨs/ sə-DAY-kis; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor and comedian best known for starring as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. He also has had a notable breakthrough in the film industry in 2011, starring that year in Hall Pass, Horrible Bosses, and A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.

Early life[link]

Sudeikis was born Daniel Jason Sudeikis^[1] in Fairfax, Virginia. He is the son of Kathryn (née Wendt), formerly a travel agent at Brennco who was president of the American Society of Travel Agents, and Daniel Joseph "Dan" Sudeikis, a vice president of business development.^[2][3][4][5] His uncle is actor George Wendt, who is best known for his role as Norm Peterson from Cheers.^[6] His maternal grandmother's father was photographer Tom Howard.^[7] He is of Lithuanian descent on his father's side and German and Irish on his mother's.^[8]

As a child, Sudeikis moved with his family to Overland Park, Kansas, which he considers his hometown.^[9] He attended Brookridge Elementary School before transferring to Holy Cross Catholic School, both of which are located in Overland Park. He began high school at the Jesuit Rockhurst High School in 1990, later transferring due to academic reasons to Shawnee Mission West High School, where he won the state title in forensics with Drew Keiter, and was a point guard for the boys' basketball team, and graduating in 1994.

Sudeikis occasionally and proudly references Kansas in Saturday Night Live sketches.^[9] He is also a longtime Kansas Jayhawks fan^[9][10] and has worked University of Kansas themes and well known Lawrence, Kansas, locations into several sketches on SNL.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Sudeikis began his comedy career performing at ComedySportz (now Comedy City) in Kansas City. While there, he co-founded a sketch comedy troupe called Der Monkenpickel.^{[citation needed]} After moving to Chicago, Sudeikis studied at the Annoyance Theatre and ImprovOlympic, where he was one of the founding members of the long-form team J.T.S. Brown.

He was later cast in The Second City's National Touring Company, and also performed with Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. In the early 2000s, he became a founding member of Second City Las Vegas. He continues to frequently perform at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre's weekly improv show ASSSCAT 3000 in New York City.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

In 2003, while a regular performer at Second City Las Vegas, he was hired as a sketch writer for Saturday Night Live, and would occasionally make bit appearances as audience members or extras. In May 2005, became a featured player on the show, and was upgraded to repertory status at the beginning of the show's 32nd season on September 30, 2006.

He became famous for his impersonation of American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, as well as one-half of the Two A-Holes with Kristen Wiig.

Sudeikis at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.

Other work[link]

Sudeikis had a recurring guest role on the NBC series 30 Rock with friend Tina Fey in early 2007, appearing in a total of seven episodes. He played Floyd DeBarber, a love interest of Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon. He made another appearance as Floyd in a 2008 episode, and appeared again in the Valentine's Day episode airing February 11, 2010, along with Jon Hamm and Dean Winters. Sudeikis last appeared in three episodes towards the end of the show's 4th season in 2010.

Sudeikis did voice work for the videogame Grand Theft Auto IV, playing the role of right-wing radio host Richard Bastion. He also appeared in the 2008 comedy What Happens in Vegas, playing the role of Cameron Diaz's ex-fiancé. In July 2008, Sudeikis co-starred with Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio in the Lorne Michaels produced web-series The Line on Crackle.^[11]

Sudeikis appeared in the film The Bounty Hunter, released in March 2010. He co-starred alongside Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, playing a colleague of Aniston's character, who falls in love with her.^[12]

Sudeikis is currently a voice actor on the FOX animated comedy series The Cleveland Show. Sudeikis provides the voice for Holt Richter, Cleveland's wannabe hipster neighbor, as well as the voice of Terry Kimple, Cleveland's hard-partying high school buddy, who he now works with at the cable company. After previously being credited as a recurring guest in season one, Sudeikis was bumped up to a series regular beginning in season two.

In May 2010, Sudeikis joined the cast of the 2011 Seth Gordon comedy Horrible Bosses, which also starred Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Charlie Day, and Jason Bateman.^[13] Sudeikis co-hosted WWE Monday Night RAW with Going the Distance co-stars Charlie Day and Justin Long on August 16, 2010, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.^[14] Sudeikis also played his first lead film role, alongside Owen Wilson, in the 2011 Farrelly Brothers comedy Hall Pass. He had worked with Day when he played the role of Schmitty on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and reprised the role on that show's 7th season finale.

He hosted the 2011 MTV Movie Awards on the June 5, 2011, at the Gibson Amphitheatre.^[15][16][17]

In 2012, Sudeikis had a recurring role on the final season of the HBO series Eastbound & Down playing both Shane, Kenny Powers battery mate on the Myrtle Beach Mermen, and Shane's twin brother Cole.^[18]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Recurring characters[link]

• Vice President Joe Biden
• Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney^[19]
• Male A-hole of the Two A-Holes with Kristen Wiig
• Gil, a news anchor who treats his field correspondent Michelle Dison's (Kristen Wiig) misfortunes as amusement
• One of the guys from the "Song Memories" sketches who is the first to tell strange stories about where he was when he first heard a song
• Ed Mahoney, a brash man who often makes a fool of himself in public
• Officer Sikorsky, a police officer who brings in convict Lorenzo McIntosh (Kenan Thompson) in an attempt to "scare straight" the three delinquent teens (Bill Hader, Bobby Moynihan, Andy Samberg, and occasionally the week's guest host) that he often arrests. In the earlier sketches, Officer Sikorsky's last name was Matthews^{[citation needed]}
• Dancer on What Up With That?, an overzealous background dancer often dressed in a red and white Adidas tracksuit with a 1980s man perm. The Ed Helms/Paul Simon episode reveals that his real name is Vance.
• One half of Bon Jovi opposite band 'Jon Bovi' appearing on weekend update with Will Forte
• DJ Supersoak. Spoof on Psychopathic Records recording artist "DJ Clay." Emcee for Kickspit Underground Music with Lil' Blaster (Nasim Pedrad) and MC George Costanza (Jay Pharoah). He has appeared in the "Underground Rock Minute," the "Crunkmas Karnival," the "Kickspit Underground Easter Festival," and the "Columbus Day Assblast" sketches.
• Pete Twinkle, ESPN Classic host of obscure women's sports with dim-witted Greg Stink (Will Forte) as his co-host
• Jeff, a disgruntled film and theatre technician who starts unprovoked arguments with the star of the piece.
• The Devil, who often comes on Weekend Update to point out religious and moral hypocrisy on Earth. On the Emma Stone/Coldplay episode, the Devil gets so upset over the Penn State University sex scandal that he quits his job as The Prince of Darkness and returns to his old job as a customer service representative for Time Warner Cable.^[19]
• Jack Rizzoli, an anchor at WXPD News who always tells veteran reporter Herb Welch (Bill Hader) to do his job.
• Tommy, a strip club M.C. for Bongo's Clown Room
• Sensei Mark Hoffman, the faculty adviser and Japanese Studies teacher to Jonathan Cavanaugh-san and Rebecca Stern-Markowitz-san (Taran Killam and Vanessa Bayer, respectively), hosts of "J-Pop America Fun Time Now".

Celebrity impressions[link]

Personal life[link]

Sudeikis married actress and 30 Rock writer Kay Cannon in 2004 but they divorced in 2010. He has two sisters, Lindsay and Kristin. Lindsay is a teacher at Dominican Academy, an all-girls high school in New York. Kristin is an established choreographer and dancer in New York and has appeared on 30 Rock.^[1] Sudeikis is reportedly dating actress and fashion model Olivia Wilde.^[21]

On May 11, 2012, his father's family history was traced on the NBC program Who Do You Think You Are?^[22] It is the third and last season of the NBC series.^[23] The story of the Lithuanian immigrants on his father's side was enlightening to him and his father. They learned for the first time the effect of a good father's early death on succeeding generations.

Filmography[link]

Sudeikis at the New York Television Festival, October 17, 2009

References[link]