What is your wristwatch IQ?

Quartz movement, Mechanical movement, Sapphire Crystal, GMT, Perpetual calendar. If you know what these terms mean, you have a relatively basic understanding of watches.

Perlage, Côtes de Genève, Constant Force, Silicon balance-spring, Fusee and chain. If you know what these terms mean without looking them up, you have a high wristwatch-IQ.

Now take a look at these terms and see how you fare: Pixel Density, OLED television, ABS (Anti-lock Braking System), Snapdragon 845, Xenon Headlamps.

You did better than how you did with watches, we presume?

If we were presented with these terms a few years ago, We'd have done pretty poorly in the watch category, and relatively okay in the other general category. We got into watches a few years ago and made a conscious effort to learn more about watches. Cell phones, automobiles, or home entertainment on the other hand - we don't remember making any effort to learn about these terms or research. They just happened.

Thanks to a seemingly unending supply of screens in front of our faces.

During a discussion yesterday, we realized that we all are more familiar with the features, specifications, and terminology in the automobile, home entertainment, and personal tech categories while not being so in the wristwatch category. These industries have done an exceptional job of feeding feature benefits through their marketing messaging, thanks to a seemingly unending supply of screens in front of our faces; we're bombarded with "25-megapixel front-facing camera for the best selfies" messages. Unfortunately, the wristwatch industry, one of formidable size, hasn't done very well in educating us.

The wristwatch industry hasn't done very well in educating us.

Starting now, we'll be posting a series of articles aimed to elevate all of our wristwatch-IQs. We'll start with basics that form the foundation of understanding what goes into wristwatches, and hopefully, get more people to appreciate fine watches and the art of making them.

Today, we'd like to get you started with a book recommendation.

Books about wristwatches are generally dry and theoretical, not very different from physics books from school - there is a lot of physics involved after all! But we found this gem that cuts through the jargon and makes reading entertaining. Ryan Schmidt a New York-based management professional by day and member of the Horological Society of New York has put together this Comprehensive Wristwatch Handbook. It makes for wonderful weekend reading, is hard-bound, and makes a great coffee table book.

Now, if you find the meaning of the term Rattrapante, do leave a comment.