Grinding Gears: What Complicated Watches Are Actually Used For

Last year, the Swiss Institute of Bureaucratic Overcomplication and Red Tape commissioned a global study on the intended versus actual use of watch complications to assist watch brand R&D departments in shaping the next generation of movements. The results of this study have just been released, and they show that what watchmakers think complications are used for has little basis in reality.

The chronograph

One of the most commercially successful complications, marketing departments have spent decades honing the perceived purpose of the chronograph, making it synonymous with action, adventure and the world of motorsports. Great effort has been put into ensuring that consumers understand the benefits of the column wheel over the cam. In reality, the use case for chronographs has largely been limited to remembering how long food has been in the oven and when the parking metre runs out. Even these real-world applications are becoming less relevant because, it turns out, everyone owns a phone with a smart assistant.

The moonphase 

Commonly cited as the most romantic and charming of complications, much has been made of the ability to accurately track the phases of the moon. Which is somewhat surprising, as not one single survey respondent used a moon phase for anything.

The minute repeater 

When it was originally developed, the minute repeater made perfect sense. In the darkness of the pre-electric world, the ability to hear the time was of tremendous utility. These days, we have phones. The only reported reason people used minute repeaters in 2024 was to flaunt their wealth with an accompaniment of subtly chiming gongs.

The perpetual calendar

At their heart, watches are made to measure the passing of time, and no watch does it better than the perpetual calendar, capable of tracking not just hours, minutes and the date, but the day, the month, and even whether or not it's a leap year. Thanks to its complicated gearing, a fully wound perpetual calendar will do this for centuries to come. Having said that, the endless ballet of cogs and cams is lost on most owners. At the end of the day, it turns out all most people want is to know what day of the month it is.

The equation of time 

From a horological perspective, the ability to track the difference between actual solar time and civil time is quite incredible. Perhaps even more remarkable is that no one who owns a watch with an equation of time understands how sidereal time works.