Watch movement

"Mechanical" movements are generally used on the more expensive
watches. There are two main types of "mechanical" watch movements:

1-"Automatic mechanical" (self-winding) watch movements make up the majority of
mechanical watches that are sold today. This type of movement is power by the wearer's
wrist movements and then stored for generally a few days or more. In order to keep these
watches constantly going, you either need to wear them all the time or buy a watch winder.

2-"Manual mechanical" (hand-wound) watch movements represent the original form of
watchmaking and are used mostly for watches that are targeted at collectors. These
watches have to be wound, generally every day and are not compatible with watch winders.

"Quartz" movements are generally used at the lower end of the
market, although some watchmakers such as Breitling use SuperQuartz movements
because of their extreme accuracy. Quartz movements are more accurate, more affordable
and much easier to maintain than a traditional watch with a mechanical movement.

1-"Battery-powered quartz" watch movements use a battery that can last from 2- 10
years, depending on what type of battery is used.

2- "Light-powered quartz" (solar) watch movements let light in through the dial to charge
the permanent battery cell. These watches need virtually no maintenance except cleaning
and replacement of water resistant gaskets and seals.

3- "Motion-power quartz" (kinetic) watch movements, much like a mechanical watch,
generates power from the wearer's wrist movements, the power is then stored in a
permanent battery cell.

Display type

1-"Analog displays" are the most common form of watch display, generally using 3 hands to
display hours, minutes and seconds.

2-"Digital displays" are less common and generally found on entry priced watches, used on
watches such as the Casio G-Shock line.

3-"Ana-Digi displays" are a combination of both analog and digital watch displays. They do
not look as pure as an analog display or as technical as a digital display, but they do
provide the best of both worlds in terms of functionality and readability.

Case material

Cases come in a wide variety of materials, including a mixture of multiple materials.

1-Gold, White Gold, Rose Gold
2-Stainless Steel
3-Titanium
4-Platinum
5-Ceramic
6-Palladium
7-Tungsten
8-Carbon
9-Carbon Fiber
10-Alloy
11-PVD treated steel or titanium
12-DLC coated steel or titanium

Case size

Commonly measured in millimeters, cases for women were traditionally very small, but now
women are starting to wear cases as big as men in the 40 mm range or even bigger. The
biggest men's watches are over 55 mm. In general cases haven gotten bigger, although
many of the traditional watch companies, like Rolex, still prefer to stay in the lower 40 mm
range. The design of many watches is so good now, that with form fitting lugs, watches
can fit many different sized wrists, comfortably.

Bracelet/Strap

1-"Metal Bracelet" use metal links that are connected together to form a bracelet.

2-"Leather Straps" generally use cow or crocodile leather with a clasp to form a strap.

3-"Rubber straps" are very popular now because they look sporty and are very comfortable.

4-"Natural rubber straps" are very popular and comfortable, like rubber straps, except they
are less likely to irritate you skin and they are butter soft. This type of strap is much more
expensive than traditional rubber straps.

5-"Resin straps" are used on G-Shocks and other less expensive watches. They are fairly
comfortable, but do not last nearly as long as any of the bracelets or straps listed above.

Functions

Watches have many cool functions with the most common being the ability to display the
time in hours, minutes and seconds as well as the date by day, month and year. Here are
some more functions available on watches:

1-Chronograph (stopwatch)
2-Countdown Timer (yachting timer)
3-GMT (world time)
4-Tachymeter (racing)
5-Alarm (ability to set audible alarm)
6-Moonphase (lunar phases)
7-Tourbillon (most advanced function-$$$)

Brand

Brand Directory

Stores

Watch Stores

(References: PW Watch Glossary / Wikipedia: "Watch")