COMPLICATIONS
The term “Complication” commonly refers to any mechanism or piece of information added to those intended to display the time (hours, minutes, and seconds). They are classified here into major families. For each Complication, we detail its origin, history, various variants, construction, and operation.
ASTRONOMICAL INDICATIONS
Astronomical and calendar indications convey, within the horological Movement, celestial and civil cycles. The Date / Calendar indicates the day of the month, often paired with the day of the week. The Moon phase reproduces the 29.5-day lunar synodic cycle. The Equation of time indicates the discrepancy between true solar time and mean civil time. The Perpetual calendar automatically manages unequal months and leap years.
MEASURING SHORT PERIODS OF TIME
Measuring short periods of time is one of the most sought-after complications in sports and scientific watchmaking. The Chronograph allows a duration to be measured independently of the current time, with a simple press of a pusher. The Split-seconds chronograph adds a secondary hand allowing intermediate times to be recorded. The Flyback chronograph returns instantly to zero with a simple press, without needing to be stopped first.The “foudroyante” (flying seconds), finally, subdivides the second into equal fractions through rapid and regular jumps, offering a direct reading of fractions of a second.
TIME ZONES
Time zone complications meet the needs of travelers and professionals operating across multiple geographic zones. The Dual time zone (GMT) watch simultaneously displays local time and that of a reference city. Some watches allow the display of a third time zone, or even more. The World time / Universal time shows at a glance the time in all major cities around the world.
CHIMES
Chiming complications allow the watch to indicate the time acoustically, through strikes on one or more gongs. The petite sonnerie automatically chimes the hours and quarters as they pass. The grande sonnerie adds to this the repetition of the hours at every quarter hour. The minute repeater, activated on demand, chimes the hours, quarters and minutes with absolute precision. The carillon enriches these mechanisms with a melody played on several tuned gongs. The alarm, finally, triggers a chime at the previously set time.
PRECISION
The precision of a mechanical watch depends largely on the regularity of the energy delivered to the escapement and the stability of the regulation. Several complications address this: the tourbillon and the carrousel compensate for rate errors caused by gravity by rotating the escapement on itself; the Remontoir and the constant-force escapements guarantee a uniform impulse to the Balance regardless of variations in the mainspring; finally, Resonance makes use of the coupling of two balances to mutually stabilize their frequency.
DISPLAY
Display complications aim to present information in a more legible, more original, or better suited way for instant reading. The retrograde indications replace the circular motion of a hand with an arc sweep followed by an instant return to the starting point. The jumping hour displays the hours in discrete jumps rather than in a continuous progression. Satellite displays articulate discs or windows moving around a secondary axis. These mechanisms require precise energy management, particularly during jumps or sudden returns, which momentarily place significant demands on the movement.
OTHER COMPLICATIONS
Here we address horological complications that are not directly related to astronomical information, time zones, time measurement, or sound signals.
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