Q&A: Why do watches call them ‘complications’ and ‘hands’?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, watch yourself…

Q: Hi AWC, what are “complications” relating to a watch?

A: Smashing it? Throwing it off a bridge? Accidentally running over it with your steamroller? They’d complicate things immensely.

Q: Haha, sure. But in the watch manual it talks about it having “complications” and I don’t really get it.

A: Yeah, it’s complicated.

Q: Clearly.

A: If we look at the Macquarie Dictionary, beyond the first few entries about making things complicated or difficult, we get to this one: “a complex combination of elements or things.”

Q: Well that does complicate things.

A: Meanwhile, over at Merriam-Webster, they go with: “a complex or intricate feature or element”.

Q: A complex or intricate feature?

A: That’s right. On a wristwatch, a “complication” is essentially ANY function that goes beyond the basic “telling the time” function in hours, minutes and seconds.

Q: What’s an example?

A: It depends on the watch. A digital watch might offer a stopwatch/chronograph, alarm and/or countdown feature. Most will also display the day or date, some offering a dual time zone. Some fancy diving watches will have a bezel that is marked for measuring and easily displaying your time underwater. Others have moon phases. And smart watches have all sorts of complications you can add to each corner, such as the weather, step count, or even Spotify!

Q: So it’s really just a name for “features”?

A: It is.

Q: So why use such a COMPLICATED word for it?

A: Well, it might seem ubiquitous today, but in the early days of watchmaking, simply getting a watch to measure correct time was an impressive feat. Jewels like rubies and sapphires were used to keep the cogs moving smoothly. 

Q: And the complications?

A: Exactly that. Adding EXTRA functions to watches back then was indeed a complex process. If you’d asked for a calendar and alarm on top of your time, it would add complications to the building process. And the name stuck!

Q: It seems delightfully literal.

A: Watchmakers are simple folk.

Q: What about the “crown” – why is it called that?

A: The crown is the small knob on the right side of a watch that you twist to adjust the time or date etc. In some watches, you’ll also use the crown to power the internal mechanism. And it’s called a crown simply because of how it looks – with the ridges around the edge similar to what you might find on a crown.

Q: A wristwatch fit for a king!

A: Actually, fun fact – the first wristwatch is said to have been given to Queen Elizabeth I on New Year’s 1571.

Q: It probably didn’t have Spotify.

A: Unlikely. 

Q: Can you imagine Spotify in the 1500s anyway? Just three lute songs, Greensleeves and a Gregorian choir. Their annual Wrapped would have been dismal.

A: Any other questions?

Q: Well again, while we’re on the subject of clocks and watches… Why are they called “hands”? If anything, they look more like arms.

A: Good question. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it was the same decade that the Queen got her watch – the 1570s – that the word “hand” started to be used in this way. Older clocks actually had carved hands on them and these hands “pointed” to the time. The name persisted as they continued the pointing action.

Q: Then why don’t car speedometers have “hands”?

A: These were invented as thin “needle”-like pointers in a more modern time, where it was about accuracy not legacy. They also typically go up and down rather than a regular sweeping motion.

Q: Weird, but sure.

A: What can we say… it’s complicated!

Q: Hey – watch yourself!

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