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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Component record · Dial & hands

Minute Wheel

Verified

A wheel-and-pinion component in the motion works that connects the cannon pinion to the hour wheel.

What it does

Reduces the cannon pinion's once-per-hour rotation down to the hour wheel's once-per-twelve-hours rotation, driving the hour hand.

How it works

The minute wheel meshes with the cannon pinion on one side and, through its own pinion leaves, with the hour wheel on the other, providing the 12:1 gear reduction that keeps the hour hand at one-twelfth the angular speed of the minute hand.

It is mounted on a separate stud pressed or screwed into the pillar plate rather than being coaxial with the centre arbor, distinguishing it structurally from the cannon pinion and hour wheel, which do share the movement's central axis.

Evolution

Essentially unchanged in principle since the standardisation of separate motion works.

Known variations

  • Minute wheel and pinion as a single component (most common)
  • Compound minute wheel arrangements in calendar or multi-function motion works

Identification for collectors

  • Visible on the dial side as the wheel positioned off-centre between the cannon pinion and hour wheel

Common failure modes

  • Worn pivot causing the hour hand to run unevenly
  • Broken or missing minute wheel stopping hour hand advance entirely

Photographs

Minute Repeater Ebauche back side
Minute Repeater Ebauche back side — Jjcasalo, CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Cylinder Watch Movement (48709170233)
Cylinder Watch Movement (48709170233) — Auckland Museum Collections from Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. de Carle, D., Practical Watch Repairing

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.