What are the purple stones in watches?

The jewels are typically made from the mineral corundum, usually either synthetic sapphire or synthetic ruby. Jewel bearings are used in precision instruments where low friction, long life, and dimensional accuracy are important. Their largest use is in mechanical watches.

What do the rubies in a watch do?

Essentially, the small rubies (also sometimes referred to as jewels) in mechanical movements are used as bearings for the pivots to reduce friction. Being strong and hard, they help to reduce friction and wear and tear amongst the mechanical parts.

What gems are used in watches?

What are Watch Jewels? Watch jewels, sometimes known as jewel bearings, are tiny pieces of synthetic ruby or sapphire set into holes within a watch movement. These gems primarily help to reduce friction and provide a hard, smooth surface to allow metal components such as the wheel train to rotate freely.

What are the pink gems in watches?

In some cases ruby (corundum). The jewels you can see in watch movements are usually red/pink in color. The jewel bearings are used in mechanical movements for parts that have a lot of friction. Jewel bearings for watches were invented in 1704 by Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, Peter Debaufre, and Jacob Debaufre.

Are jewels in watches worth anything?

The higher the jewel count of your old watch, the higher its value. A 17-jewel watch is considered to be fully jewelled. Historically, rubies were most used as the functional jewels in antique watches because they are hard and wear down slowly.

Why are precious gems used in watches?

Watches are no different and also use bearings and these bearings that are found in the higher-end automatic and hand-wound watches are made out of jewels. These precious stones are smooth and don’t allow much friction and are therefore used in order to make the movement of these metal and precious metal gears easier.

What are the 21 jewels in a watch?

What does 21 jewels mean in a watch? Similar to a 17-jewel watch that has a fully jeweled movement, but also has a few extra capstones added which are used to reduce positional errors. These extra stones are often found in higher-quality watches.