What Does 17 Jewels Mean in a Watch?

For the most part, all watches are composed of 17 jewels. If a watch contains all 17 jewels, it is referred to as a fully jeweled watch. This refers to the fact that the watch uses jewel bearings in its mechanical movements. Several decades ago, however, watches only consisted of five to seven jewels. The jewel count also refers to the number of pivots with these jewels in them. Interestingly enough, each of these jewels serves a different purpose.

One impulse jewel for example, can be found in the assembly around where the escapement level is. Two other jewels make up the staff pivot, which are used as pivot bearings on staff pivot. There are also two jewels each in the center wheel, escape lever pallet, escape lever, fourth wheel, third wheel, and escape wheel.

What Does 21 Jewels Mean in a Watch?

An alternative to a 17-jewel watch is a 21-jewel watch. This is essentially the same thing, except that of 17 jewels, the watch relies on 21 jewels to run. These extra jewels are also added to reduce positional errors and for the most part, the extra jewels are found in more high-quality watches.