: I'm sure others here could go into greater
: technical detail, but jewels are typically
: added to a movement in places where reduced
: friction is desired. More jewels does not
: necessarily equal a better movement if the
: movement does not require a lot of them. The
: co-axial escapement is designed to run with
: minimal friction and less lubrication than a
: traditional watch, so adding jewels to it
: wouldn't be necessary.
: I found this in the Owner's Zone of this
: website: Jewels are elements used in
: mechanical watches. Usually a very
: inexpensive form of synthetic ruby, these
: are used for virtually frictionless pivots
: or hubs at certain critical places in the
: watch mechanism. These jewels are worth only
: pennies and do not add any monetary value to
: a watch. It is also important to understand
: that more jewels does not necessarily make a
: better watch. While too few can certainly be
: a problem, the exact number needed for
: optimal performance depends on the specific
: design and features of the movement.
: Overall, 17 jewels is the lowest number
: needed for most standard mechanical watch
: movements. Others movements that implement
: different designs, or complications such a
: chronographs, may use more. But a novice
: cannot derive useful basis of evaluation or
: comparison from whether a watch has 17, 21,
: 25 or more jewels.
: I hope this helps.
: -John
John, Does this apply to family jewels?
