ASTRONOMICAL COMPLICATIONS

The term watch complication refers to the display or indication of any additional information beyond the hour, minute and second. This may include the display of astronomical information, such as calendar information, the measurement of differentiated time, such as the chronograph, or watches with a sound signal, such as the Minute Repeater.

This differs from the so-called complicated mechanisms, such as the tourbillon, the resonance or the retrograde display.

DATE

Date is the display of a number from 1 to 31. It can be displayed in different ways.

WEEK DAY

Display shows the seven days of the week. It can be displayed in different ways.

MONTH

Display of the 12 months of the year.

MOON PHASE

Moon phase shows the progress of the lunation, sometimes for both hemispheres of the planet.

COMPLETE CALENDAR

This type of calendar displays the date, day, month and sometimes the moon phase. This mechanism goes to the end of each month on the 31st and requires manual correction of the date five times a year.

ANNUAL CALENDAR

Annual calendar is a mechanism that normally displays date, day, month and sometimes moon phase and automatically adjusts the length of the 30 and 31 day months.

PERPETUAL CALENDAR

Perpetual calendar is a mechanism that normally displays the date, day, month and sometimes the moon phase and automatically adjusts the length of each month taking into account leap years.

SECULAR CALENDAR

Perpetual secular calendar takes into account all the irregularities of the calendar, even those that occur three times every 400 years.

EQUATION OF TIME

Equation of time indicates the difference in minutes between the noon of the mean time of a watch and the noon of solar time, i.e. when the shadows are actually shorter.

TIDE DISPLAY

Tideograph watches show the time of high and low tides for a specific location according to the date.

INDICATION OF THE SEASONS, EQUINOXES, SOLSTICES & ZODIAC SIGNS

Indication normally has a hand that makes one turn in a year that indicates the four seasons and points to the two equinoxes and the two solstices, as well as sometimes the signs of the zodiac.

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