Complications
Superior" alarm watch, circa 1900.
The back of the watch has a glass dome to see the alarm setting disk marked with the hours and quarters, and a wheel protrudes from under the glass dome to set the alarm time. No similar watch, with this style of alarm setting, has been seen in any references. (The mechanism is described in Watkins "Practical Watch Collecting")
- A detailed explanation of how to make and repair quarter repeater mechanisms.
- The French explanation of how to make and repair quarter repeater mechanisms.
- A detailed description of 18th century watchmaking methods including the quarter repeater and its faults.
- A study of drunken fusees, fusees that can be wound both clockwise and anti-clockwise.
Watkins: "Confabulations, a humorous look at complications" (2007)
- A serious article looking at the usefulness or uselessness of watch complications.
Watkins: "The Origins of Self-Winding Watches, 1773-1779" (Second Edition, 2016)
- A comprehensive, historical and technical study of the origins of automatic watches.
- Detailed technical description of repeater mechanisms.
- Videos of continental quarter, minute and decimal repeater mechanisms striking.
Watkins and Suiza: Antigua sonería continental de repetición a cuartos (2015)
- Spanish translation of Part 1 of "The Repeater".
Illustration: Superior" alarm watch, circa 1900.
The back of the watch has a glass dome to see the alarm setting disk marked with the hours and quarters, and a wheel protrudes from under the glass dome to set the alarm time. No similar watch, with this style of alarm setting, has been seen in any references. (The mechanism is described in Watkins "Practical Watch Collecting")