Complication · Display
Asthmometer Scale
Partially verifiedA scale converting counted breaths into a respiration rate.
Definition
A scale converting counted breaths into a respiration rate.
Historical origin
A companion to the pulsometer in medical chronographs, less commonly encountered.
How it works
Graduated for a stated number of breaths, so the hand's position reads respiration per minute after counting them.
Pocket watch context
Found on some medical stop watches.
Wristwatch context
Occasionally paired with a pulsometer on doctors' chronographs.
Identification
- A second graduated medical scale alongside a pulse scale
Servicing notes
This is specialist work. Levers, springs and cam profiles in complicated work are calibre-specific, and incorrect reassembly commonly damages parts that cannot be bought. Refer the movement to a watchmaker experienced with this mechanism.
General guidance only. Complicated mechanisms should be assessed and serviced by a qualified watchmaker or clockmaker specialist, not adjusted at home.
Related photographs
No confidently matched photograph of this subject has been found yet. These photographs show a closely related record, and are not examples of the type described on this page.
Sources & references
- de Carle, D., Watch and Clock Encyclopedia
- Britten, F. J., Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers
- Horological Journal (British Horological Institute), technical articles
Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.