Sapphire
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A precious gemstone that ranges in colour from blue to pink, to yellow to green to a variety of other colours. Sapphires are related to rubies and are often heat treated to improve their colours.
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Shock absorber
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Resilient bearing which, in a watch, is intended to take up the shocks received by the balance staff and thus protects its delicate pivots from damage.
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Sidereal time
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Based on one rotation of the Earth against a position at an infinite distance in space. A sidereal second is 0.9972696 of a conventional second, and a sidereal clock gains 3.85 minutes a day on a standard clock, or 24 hours in a year.
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Silver
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A metallic element that is medium heavy and malleable. It is usually used in an alloy with copper to make it harder.
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Skeleton watch
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Watch in which the case and various parts of the movement are of a transparent material, enabling the main parts of the watch to be seen.
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Split second chronograph
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Chronograph with two seconds-hands which rotate together. One of the hands (the fly-back) can be stopped independently to record an intermediate time and then be made to catch up with the other hand.
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Stainless steel
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Corrosion resistant steel of a wide variety, but always containing a high percentage of chromium. Stainless steel is highly resistant to corrosion attack by organic acids, weak mineral acids and atmospheric oxidation.
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Step cut
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A style of cutting a large diamond so that, below the table, there are a number of slopping, parallel rows of four sided facets that increase in size.
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Stopwatch
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Timekeeping instrument which can be used for measuring intervals of time. When this is done, the time display is partly or wholly lost until the hands are reset.
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Striking-work
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In a watch or clock, automatic or hand-operated mechanism that strikes the hours or rings an alarm-bell.
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