04/24/2023
Watch Movements In General…
Watch movements can come in many different shapes and sizes in order to fit into the different shapes and sizes of watch cases that are available. As such, a watch movement could be round, rectangular, oblong, elliptical, and so on. The thickness of a watch movement is measured either in millimeters or in an old French unit called Ligne, in the case of French and Swiss watchmakers. One Ligne is equal to about 2.256 millimeters.
The individual parts of a watch movement are situated between two plates; the front plate which sits just behind the face of the watch has the same shape as the movement overall as well as the case, in general. The backplate, however, can have a few different shapes. It can be a full plate to match the front one, a ¾ plate or a series of smaller plates referred to as bridges. In the case of these latter two, it’s so that the individual parts of the movement can be more easily accessed when the watch needs to be repaired.
