Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to identify the caliber of the movement using The Watchmakers App?

Few tips:

• Take a good look at the movement and it's features. Tap on "Calibers" in the menu and tap on filters button to open the "Search filters" view. Starting from top mark the features with the checkmark (where applicable) which you know the movement has, and with the cross, which you know the movement doesn't have. Ignore everything you are not sure. Once you had narrowed the matching results to the reasonable amount (1-100 matches), you can go to the list of matching movements.
• Do not rely 100% just on provided photos in the list - some calibers can have different variations of bridge layouts and other parts.
  There is a warning sign on those images which are identified as suspected to be from similar movements. Be aware that most other online databases of similar coverage are using even more images from similar movements without even warning user.
• Use settings in calibers list view to rotate the images if needed. Best practice in watchmaking is to take photos of movements with stem (crown) facing up.
• To correctly specify the movement size, you need to measure the mounting diameter (which is the diameter the movement fits into the aperture of the case or mounting frame) and not the outer diameter (which is usually a bit bigger than mounting diameter). When searching by size, allow some error margin (1-2mm), as quite often realistic movement sizes don't match the sizes in technical sheets.
• When filtering by manufacturers name, you can use latin letters instead of diacritic (accents) letters or cyrillic letters. For example, "Cortebert" will match "Cortèbert" and "Pobeda" will match "Победа".

Is The Watchmakers App available on Windows or Android devices?

No, The Watchmakers App is available for Apple iPhone and iPad running iOS 17.4 or newer or a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later and macOS 14.4 or newer.

What is the difference between movement and caliber (or calibre)?

In watchmaking the term caliber denoted to the arrangement and dimensions of the different parts of the movement and its pillars, wheels, barell, etc. It was subsequently used to refer to the shape of the movement and bars, the origin of the watch, or the manufacturers name.

The movement is physical piece when it's caliber is description of it's dimensions/design/features/shape. Many movements can be of the same caliber. One movement can't belong to two different calibers.

If you are an IT person, consider caliber as class and movement as instance.

If you are a car person, consider caliber as car model (Ferrari F40, for example) and movement - as your car which you will get sooner or later.

I found incorrrect/incomplete/missing information or bug in the app. How can I help?

Please contact us. Please attach references or photos if possible. We are working hard to keep information as precise as possible.

I can't find some watch calibers in The Watchmakers App...

Even if this is one of the largest and most precise structured watch calibers database on the market we know it's not complete. Missing calibers are constantly being added to the database, usually released few times per month.

How is The Watchmakers App calibers database different from other watch movement databases?

Unlike free crowd-sourced or unmoderated databases that suffer from clutter and inaccuracies, our primary focus is information quality, reliability, and clarity.

Here is what sets us apart:

1. Unrivaled Historical Depth: While our database includes exceptional movements dating back even earlier, our primary focus starts with the late 19th century—the true dawn of industrial serial watch production. You will find thousands of unique calibers here from this pivotal era that simply do not exist in any other database.

2. Active, Expert Curation: Our database is a living resource. We continuously update entries, fix typos, and integrate newly discovered data from authoritative sources like historical manufacturer catalogs and reference books.

3. Guaranteed Visuals: Every single caliber listed in The Watchmakers App includes relevant, high-quality images to help you visually identify movements. Many calibers additionaly have technical sheets, links to relevant webpages and other relevant information linked.

4. We aim for zero "Ghost" entries: We cross-reference our data with official manufacturer records to rigorously audit and remove fictional or highly inaccurate entries.

5. Smart Noise Reduction: Other databases are cluttered with duplicate entries for the exact same movement under different names. We actively consolidate these to keep your search and filter results clean.

Why Quality Means More Real Content (The Numbers Illusion)

Other movement databases (Ranfft, EmmyWatch) advertise massive caliber and parts counts, but those numbers are artificially inflated by thousands of duplicate listings and non-existent "ghost" entries. By eliminating this padding, The Watchmakers App actually contains a larger, deeper library of unique, verifiable watch movements with linked parts. We choose to give you more real data instead of just a higher superficial count.

How we handle alternative names: We don't delete valuable data. If a caliber is known by multiple designations, we merge the duplicates into a single clean entry and log the alternative names in the "Family/Generations" and "Differences not known between" or "Also known as..." sections. If the physical differences between two designations are unknown, we consolidate them so you aren't left guessing.