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Common complications might include a calendar or alarm, moon phases, a stopwatch function, or the time of sunrise and sunset. The desire to have complications is as old as watches themselves - even Marie Antoinette's watch had an alarm. They're called complications because they "complicate" the watch and watchmaking process. If you have a traditional watch with a window for a date, you have a complication. Cigolini/ Getty Images)Ĭomplications in traditional watches are a lot like the ones on the Apple Watch - they are typically anything that adds information beyond the time. The interior of a watch illustrates how complications typically work. What complications are - and why they fascinate watchmakers The term has its heritage in traditional mechanical watchmaking, and the desire to improve them has obsessed watchmakers for years. They were on the Porsche watches Steve Jobs favored, and they're on the watch that continues in his legacy.
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They could be an alarm, weather, sunrise times, or any other little doodad.
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On the Apple Watch, the complications are the tiny widgets that sit next to or above the time.
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This "horological tradition" includes the "crown" (the wheel on the side) and the liberal use of the phrase "timepiece." But the most intriguing lingo might be in the "complications." If you've been monitoring the obsessive reviews of the Apple Watch, you've probably seen the advertising copy inspired by classic watchmaking terms.Īn example of "complications" in Apple Watch promotional material.
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