Watch family · Complication
Calendar Watches
VerifiedWatches that display calendar information — typically date, and in more complex forms day, month and moon phase — in addition to the time.
How the mechanism works
The mechanism behind these watches — how it is built, how it developed and its variants — is explained on the Simple calendar page and the related pages below. This page covers what is particular to the watches themselves: identification, terminology and collecting.
Movement & mechanism
- A date ring or disc advanced once per 24 hours by a jumper mechanism connected to the going train
- Simple calendars require manual correction at the end of short months
- More complex calendars add day and month indications, each with their own advancing mechanism
Identification
- Date aperture, typically at 3 o'clock in classic designs
- Additional subdials or apertures for day/month on triple-calendar watches
- Quickset correctors (recessed pushers) on many modern designs for rapid date adjustment
Terminology
- Simple calendar — a calendar requiring periodic manual correction
- Triple calendar — day, date and month display without automatic leap-year correction
- Jumper — a spring mechanism giving a crisp, instantaneous date change
Known variations
- Simple date
- Day-date
- Triple calendar
- Triple calendar with moon phase
Pocket-watch ancestry
Calendar complications were long established in pocket watches before the wristwatch existed; early wrist calendar watches were frequently adapted or directly descended pocket calendar calibres.
Collecting notes
A large mainstream collecting category; vintage triple-calendar watches (particularly with moon phase) from the mid-twentieth century are especially sought after.
Photographs
Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.
Sources & references
- Daniels, G., Watchmaking
Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.