These pages document some of the more esoteric and often-misunderstood terms in watchmaking. Most are French, since they are rooted in traditional Swiss watchmaking, but the specific meaning in the industry is not obvious even to native speakers.
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Assortiment
A set of components that are designed to go together is called an assortiment in French
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Calibre
The French word calibre is commonly used to refer to a specific type of watch movement
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Compax
Compax was a model name used by Universal Genève to refer to a chronograph watch with minute and hour counters and small seconds at 3, 6, and 9
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Ebauche
An ebauche (“blank”) is a basic, unfinished watch movement kit
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Ligne
Ligne is an old French unit of distance traditionally used to measure watch movements
