Q: What is movement finishing?
A: One of the favorite topics among watch enthusiasts is movement finishing. There are two types of finishing: those that improve the performance of the watch, and those that improve its appearance. The level of finishing varies depending on the price. It could be said that one of the reasons why the prices of mechanical watches that look similar vary so greatly is because of the different finishing.
1. Finishing to improve the performance of the watch
All analog watches, including mechanical and quartz watches, are powered by the rotation of gears. The less resistance there is in the gears, the less drive loss there is, so watchmakers use gears with as little resistance as possible and polish the gears to further reduce resistance. The balance wheel, the heart of a mechanical watch, may also be polished or filed to balance the weight.
Nowadays, there are more and more watches with beautifully-looking movements, but if these parts are not finished, you cannot expect any improvement in performance. Conversely, there are also movements that have polished gears and other parts but deliberately leave the appearance unfinished. Examples of such movements include movements made in the Soviet Union and Japan from a generation ago. It can be said that the costs of these movements were spent not for the sake of appearance, but to improve performance.
In-house movements that cost over several hundred thousand yen often have not only their appearance but also their functional parts finished. It is safe to say that movements that cost over several million yen also have their functional parts finished, without exception.
2. Finishing to improve appearance
Generally speaking, movement finishing refers to decorations that improve the appearance. For example, this applies to the finish on the movement bridges and main plate. A beautiful finish does not affect the performance of the movement, but many movements now have "Geneva finishing" with a wave pattern or "circular graining" with a scale pattern.
However, even if the Geneva finish looks the same, there is a difference in appearance and cost between one with a strong machine-applied pattern and one with a weak hand-applied pattern.The same goes for circular graining, where there is a difference in appearance and cost between one with a large circular pattern and one with a finely layered small pattern.
Furthermore, most industrially manufactured movements are only finished on the visible parts. As the price increases, the parts that cannot be seen are also finished, and it can be said that the higher the price, the higher the level of finishing.
An example of a well-finished watch
Of course, the higher the price, the higher the level of finishing required to improve performance. The following manufacturers currently produce movements (limited to three hands) that are said to have a good finish:
Moritz Grossmann
Chopard LUC (notably with Qualité Fleurier and Geneva Hallmark)
・Zeitwinkel
・Voutilainen
・Atelier de Chronometry
・Akribia
High-end models from brands like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Breguet, and A. Lange & Söhne also have excellent finishes, but are extremely difficult to obtain.
