High Horology is exactly the kind of fancy term that people outside the watch industry find baffling, but really just means fine or high-quality watchmaking. Also regularly referred to using the French words “Haute Horologie”, it is used to describe watches created using the finest techniques, with the most complicated functions, and the most intricate details. Some people mix the terms up and say Haute Horology, and also People might say High-End Horology, meaning the luxury, or highest quality watches available. All of these terms refer to the same thing.

What is Horology?

Firstly, it’s worth remembering what Horology means. It is simply the study, science and manufacture of time-keeping pieces, including clocks and watches. It is often just referred to as “The Study of Time”, although this isn’t really correct, as it is NOT about studying the nature of time. That is an area of Physics. Horology is about the machines we use to measure time, from the largest tower clock to the smallest wristwatch. A Horologist is someone interested in timepieces. Most people assume someone who refers to themselves as a Horologist will be more focused on clocks than watches. Confusingly, if we say someone is interested in High Horology we would assume they are interested in watches. Why these terms are used like this is a mystery.

What is High Horology or Haute Horologie?

The markers of a watch that could be described as High Horology are not well defined. There are many aspects that go into fine watchmaking, and different brands will prioritise different aspects of quality and craftsmanship and be counted as High Horology. The following examples will demonstrate some of the key aspects of High Horology.

Fine Finishing

These two watches from Lange & Sohne have every part inside and out hand-finished in some way. They build the watch once, then take it apart and polish or finish every single part in some specific way. This gives it a very fancy look and effects when you see it in person. Surprisingly, they even do this to the parts that you can’t see. This type of finishing is one of the things that set the brand apart and means that its entire range is regarded as High Horology.

Interesting, innovative and non-standard movements

The movement is the mechanism that powers the watch. Patek Philippe makes complicated movements of their own design. While they may be based on historic mechanisms, every single movement produced today by Patek Philippe, including this Perpetual Calendar watch, was designed by them and is unique to them. They will also often contain features and functions that no one else can make, and contain a very large number of different parts. Unusual and complicated movements are a sign of Haute Horologie.

Exotic Functions or Complications

This watch below from Breguet has an Equation of Time complication, or function. This is a separate hand that shows how much the actual position of the sun in the sky deviates from the time we use as noon, since our calendar is very slightly out of alignment for convenience. The small sun on the end of the hand is the indicator, and at its most different, it would be 16 minutes different to the actual minute hand. This seems ridiculous to include in a watch but is often included precisely in order to demonstrate the ability to make a complicated watch.

There are other functions that are almost completely unnecessary but are exclusively found in high Horology due to the expense required to design and manufacture them. Tourbillon movements, which offset the effects of gravity, Repeater movements, that sound the time using chimes, and Perpetual calendars that take leap years into account are further examples.

Technical Innovation

The cutting edge of watch movement design involves innovation in parts and functions to try things that haven’t been done before, or improve parts in some way. This watch from Ressence uses magnets to move the dial and subdials around while displaying the time. Historically magnets have been the enemy of watch movements as they distort the action if the wrong parts become magnetised, and this can affect the accuracy of a watch. The whole front of the watch is also filled with oil to make it easier to read. This is also innovative and revolutionary. Experimental features like this are a key part of High Horology, attracting new customers to these technically interesting movements.

Interesting and Expensive Decoration

We’ve written extensively about watch dials and how they are made. These examples are some of the very finest available. This first watch is very special entirely because of the dial. It is made from White Gold and engine-turned by hand on a lathe to get the different patterns. This is time-consuming and hard to set up properly, so the operator must be very skilled to do it. This sort of craftsmanship in the details of the dial and case are signals of High Horology, even if the movement inside the watch is very straightforward.