What is a complication?
A watch “complication” is a watch function that does anything other than relay the time. Complications are additional features or mechanical additions to a watch over the standard time and date. For example, a chronograph is a common complication, as well as a day/date or big date. More exclusive complications include minute repeater, tourbillon and retrograde hands. For aficionados of high-end watches, the more complicated, the better.
A complication is defined as a wristwatch function beyond that required for simple hour, minute, and second. More practically, common additions such as a day/date window are typically excluded from this definition. This leaves a wide variety of features that can be either commonly or less frequently found on watches. Chronographs of all flavors have been dealt with in Section 4. This section will discuss some of the more commonly seen (or at least coveted) complications.
