the knob used to set the time and/or other functions such as the date for standard quartz and mechanical watches. Crowns are either push-in (non-locking) or screw-down (locking). With some mechanical watches, the crown is also used to wind the watch (hacking).

a locking crown does not prevent water from entering the case without the help of one to two gaskets on the crown stem, but it does reduce the chance of a crown opening accidentally.

sports watches tend to have locking crowns whereas dress watches typically have push-in crowns.