Balance wheel
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A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, b
Balance wheel in a 1950s alarm clock, the Apollo, by Lux Mfg. Co. showing the balance spring (1) and regulator (2)
Modern balance wheel in a watch movement
Bimetallic temperature-compensated balance wheel, from an early 1900s pocket watch. 17 mm dia. (1) Moving opposing pairs of weights closer to the ends of the arms increases temperature compensation. (2) Unscrewing pairs of weights near the spokes slows the oscillation rate. Adjusting a single weight changes the poise, or balance.
Low-temperature-coefficient alloy balance and spring, in an ETA 1280 movement from a Benrus Co. watch made in the 1950s
Mechanical watch
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A mechanical watch is a watch that uses a clockwork mechanism to measure the passage of time, as opposed to quartz watches which function using the vibration modes of a piezoelectric quartz tuning for
Balance wheel
…A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned toward its center…
The hand-winding movement of a Russian watch
Mechanical wrist watch disassembled
A chronograph watch, with stopwatch functions
Cutaway drawing of pocketwatch, with parts labeled