INCREMENT

To increment is to increase a quantity by successive steps of constant value; the reverse operation is to To decrement. In watchmaking, incrementation characterizes all displays and mechanisms that progress in regular jumps rather than continuously: the Date / Calendar increments the Date by one unit at midnight, an hour Counter of Chronograph increments by one notch at each Lathe of the minutes counter, a chiming totalizer increments the number of strikes. The value added at each step is the increment; when it equals one unit, the increment is said to be unitary. In a Movement mechanical, the regularity of these steps is ensured by components of Counting and jumping (Neck chain (sautoir), Finger, Star (wheel), Maltese cross) which accumulate energy and then release the movement all at once, so that each increment is clean and identical. This discontinuous progression contrasts with the continuous movement of a Hand and forms the basis of so-called “jumping” displays.