Why Watches Have Jewels (And No, Not Diamonds)
The Patek Philippe Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Ref. 5524R has 32 jewels. That’s more than double what you’d find in a vintage Rolex Submariner Ref. 5513 from 1966, which had 15. So what’s the deal with jewels in watches? Are more always better? Is a watch with 41 jewels genuinely superior to one with 17? Let me cut through the marketing noise and explain what you’re actually looking at.
What exactly are jewels?
Jewels in watches aren’t there for decoration. They’re functional components—tiny synthetic rubies or sapphires that act as precision bearings for the movement’s pivots and wheels. Think of them like the ball bearings in a skateboard wheel: they reduce friction, which means less wear on the movement’s steel pivots, which means the watch stays accurate longer and requires fewer services. The concept goes back further than you’d think. Thomas Mudge’s English lever escapement pocket watch in 1755 was one of the first to use jewels. By the early 1900s, the practice became standard in quality watches. Today, you’ll find them in everything from a basic Seiko 5 to a Lange 1 grande complication costing six figures.
Why jewels matter—and why count matters less
A properly jeweled watch places stones at key pivot points where friction is highest and wear would be most damaging: the balance wheel’s pivots, the escapement, the third wheel, the fourth wheel. A basic automatic or manual-wind movement needs a minimum of around 17 jewels to cover these critical spots efficiently. The Omega Speedmaster Professional, which landed on the moon with Apollo 11, has exactly 17. The ETA 2892-A2, found in countless watches including the Tudor Black Bay, has 21 because its design uses more pivots. The Patek Philippe Calibre 89—arguably the most complicated pocket watch ever made with 33 jewels and a staggering 1,728 components—needed every single stone for its perpetual calendar, chronograph, and minute repeater to function precisely.
The marketing trap: more isn’t always better
This is where brand strategy and reality diverge. Some manufacturers deliberately over-jewel their movements for promotional purposes. They’ll add stones at pivots where they’re not strictly necessary, slap a high jewel count on the dial or papers, and let the number do the selling. The Soviet-era Poljot 2612.1 movement had 31 jewels and was genuinely impressive for the time, but that didn’t automatically make it outperform a well-made 17-jeweled movement from the same era. Some modern Chinese and Indian manufacturers ship movements with 40+ jewels that feel rough because the jewels are poorly installed or the movement is poorly regulated. Over-jeweling can introduce unnecessary complexity, more potential points of failure, and higher manufacturing costs without measurable gains in accuracy or longevity.
Placement is everything
The real skill isn’t counting jewels—it’s understanding where they go. A watch with 21 strategically placed jewels will outlast and outperform a poorly jeweled 31-jewel movement. A trained watchmaker looks at jewel count as one small piece of a much larger picture. Are the stones actually seated correctly? Is the pivoting steel hardened properly? Is the watch regulated and timed? A high jewel count on a watch that hasn’t been properly serviced is just expensive friction reduction on a mediocre timekeeping platform.
The reality for buyers
If you’re shopping for a watch, don’t let jewel count be your deciding factor. A 17-jeweled Rolex Submariner Ref. 5513 from 1970, when you can find one, is still more desirable and more reliable than many modern watches with 35+ jewels. A Seiko 5 with 21 jewels delivers years of faithful service despite being affordable. A Nomos movement with 17 jewels is beautifully finished and precisely regulated. What matters is the brand’s quality control, the movement’s heritage, and whether the watch has been properly serviced. The jewels are doing their job—quietly reducing friction so your watch stays accurate. If you’re reading about them, the marketing has already started working.
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