Pick a watch, switch its complications on and off, and take it apart. Follow a guided tour, or work it yourself: wind and set it by the crown, swing the rotor, press the pushers. Turn it over, flatten it into a plan that traces the flow of power, peel it away layer by layer, and select any part to see what it does. Then put it on the timing bench and regulate it.
Select a part in the movement to read what it does.
A timing machine listens to the watch and prints a dot for every tick. A watch that keeps perfect time draws a level line. A line that climbs is gaining, one that falls is losing, and two parallel lines mean the tick and the tock are unevenly spaced. Change something below and watch the trace answer.
| Position | Lever escapement | Tourbillon |
|---|
Rates are in seconds a day at the present settings. On edge, gravity pulls on the slight imbalance every balance has, and the error depends on which way is down. A tourbillon carries the balance through every direction once a minute, so that error averages out. The gap between lying flat and standing on edge remains in both: it comes from friction at the pivots, not from direction. The view does not tilt when you change position; only the direction of gravity does. Warmth softens a hairspring: plain steel loses about 11 s/day for every degree, which is why balance springs are made of alloys that compensate. A magnetic field draws the coils together and the watch gains.
The wheel's angle is not keyframed. For every fork position it is solved as the furthest the tooth outlines can turn before they touch a pallet, which is why recoil and drop appear on their own.
| Part | Teeth | One turn |
|---|
Teeth are given as pinion leaves / wheel teeth. Counts are typical of a 3 Hz calibre, not copied from one. The table follows the mechanisms you have switched on.