Watches and Wonders Geneva 2021
A 100% digital Salon
built on unity and openness.
FHH Academy
Discover the world of Fine Watchmaking through workshops, conferences and training courses.
News
The Pont de la Machine is now home to the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and the Michelangelo Foundation.
Watch Trends 2019/2020
Tell me who you are,
I’ll tell you which watches to wear!
Sustainable development
The FHH is by your side on the road to sustainable development.
Trends 2019
The cream of the crop, selected for you
by our experts at the SIHH and at Baselworld.
HH Journal
Catch up on the latest news, watches,
trends, exclusives, and more.
Training
Understanding luxury watches is only one click away !
Information is the key to understanding the specificity of Fine Watchmaking, whether for the general public or an enlightened audience. Information also creates interest among younger generations who envisage a career in watchmaking.
Magazines, books and exhibitions play an important role in "spreading the word". With this in mind, the Foundation creates content, and develops print or digital media intended to further interest in the watchmaking professions.
Encyclopaedia
The world of watches in all its wealth and diversity.
Through its FHH Academy, the Foundation educates about watchmaking and recognizes levels of competency. All year round, classes ranging from beginner to expert provide essential knowledge for understanding and exploring the many aspects of watchmaking, as well as safeguarding expertise.
The Foundation also has partnerships with the main universities and institutes that prepare students for careers in the various fields of watchmaking and luxury.
FHH Academy
The FHH Academy values the transfer of knowledge through trainings. Its mission is to unlock understanding and deliver knowledge to improve business performance for the watch industry sales professionals.
The Foundation has developed proven competencies in the organization of events where specialists and the general public can discover watchmaking and its major trends, such as Watches and Wonders - a globally renowned event mainly for professionals.
Events
Standout events that showcase Fine Watchmaking all over the world.
Innovate, inspire, amaze! Take a closer look at the Fine Watch brands, and share in the creativity and vision that bring their timepieces to life. These brands give form to centuries of expertise and an avant-garde spirit in tune with tomorrow's world. They are the bridge between tradition and modernity.
Timepieces
Velvet Amethysts and SpinelsRock and roll spirited and playing on the different tones of light and shade, the Velvet Amethysts and Spinels watch has a kaleidoscope of colours that are both deep and strong. On the dial, numerals and appliques darkened by...
History
1822A patent was granted for a "timepiece or measurer of distance covered", named a "seconds chronograph" by its inventor Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec, watchmaker to the King, who was born in Paris in 1781.
a
A
b
B
c
C
d
D
e
E
f
F
g
G
h
H
i
I
j
J
k
K
l
L
m
M
n
N
o
O
p
P
q
Q
r
R
s
S
t
T
u
U
v
V
w
W
y
Y
z
Z
Glossary
Argand burner
An oil lamp once used by watchmakers as lighting.
Bow lathe
The bow is a band of steel strung with a cord, generally gut, which drives the watchmaker's lathe.
Côtes or vagues de Genève
A decoration of undulating lines, like waves, frequently used to embellish superior quality movements.
Digital
A system controlled by the watch movement to indicate the time. An alphanumerical (or numerical) display uses letters and numerals (or just numerals) to show the time.An...
Engage
To set in motion, to connect two mechanical systems by means of a mechanical, electrical or other device. When a watch is set to the right time, the winding stem engages with the sliding pinion...
Fusee
A more or less conical part with spiral grooves for gut, and after circa 1640 chain, which connects to the barrel. It regulates the power transferred to the gears. Almost all sixteenth,...
Gears
A set of wheels and pinions whereby the movement of one sets all the others in motion.There are different types of gears, e.g. winding gears, strike-train, etc.
Hour-wheel
The wheel that carries the hour hand.
Invar
Alloy of iron and nickel whose low coefficient of thermal expansion was discovered by Charles Edouard Guillaume. Invar (abbreviation of invariable) belongs to the Elinvar family of metals...
Jumping seconds
On a chronograph, a hand that makes one rotation every second, pausing four, five, even eight times to indicate quarters, fifths or eighths of a second. Also called foudroyante.
Knot
A raised mineral inclusion in a diamond found at the surface.
LumiNova®
A new-generation luminous substance, used to coat hands and numerals. It stores light which it then emits in the dark causing the hands and numerals to glow and continue to be visible. Previously,...
Melee
A small diamond that weighs under 1/5 carat or 0.20 carat.
Nephrite
A family of the jade group of ornamental gemstones. Nephrite is slightly softer that jadeite and is often veined.
Oiling
A process used for enhancing a gemstone's colour and transparency. Gemstones that have fissures that touch the surface are often oiled; emeralds are an example.
Period
An interval of time defined by the regular and repeated occurrence of a given phenomenon.
Quartz
Silicon dioxide. Also called rock crystal. Quartz has the specific property of vibrating at a very high frequency (32 MHz) placed under electric current. Under certain conditions, it...
Retrograde
An hour, minute, seconds or calendar hand which moves across a scale and, at the end of its cycle, returns immediately to zero to begin again.
Self-winding (Automatic)
Describes a mechanism that winds the mainspring by using the movement of the arm to cause a rotor to rotate and which, via specific gears, winds the mainspring.
Telemeter
A chronograph or subdial featuring a telemeter scale with which to measure the distance between an event and an observer based on the speed of sound.See complication.
Universal hour
One twenty-fourth of the universal day which begins at midnight at the Prime Meridian at Greenwich. Following the 1884 International Meridian Conference in Washington, the Earth was divided...
Vermeil
Silver covered with a thin layer of gold.
Watchmaker's cabinet
A small chest of drawers for storing the watchmaker's tools and often part of the bench. A cabinet can also be a separate piece of furniture with any number of drawers for sorting and...
Year
A four-digit indication of the current year that changes automatically at midnight on December 31st.
Zinc
A metal applied by electrodeposition (electroplating) to protect iron and steel.
From A to Z, we've got watchmaking covered!
