Horology 101 - hand style names

[ulackfocus]

Alpha


Arrow


Broad Arrow


Baton (Tapered)


Baton (Round)


Breguet / Pomme


Breguet (Antique Roman)


Cathedral


Cubist


Dauphine


Fleur-de-Lys / Butterfly


Gothic (Diamond / Kite)


Gothic (Trefoil)


Gothic (Quadrifoil)


Lance

Lance (Hollow Fancy)


Leaf (Willow) / Feuille


Lollipop


Losange / Lozenge


Louis XVI


Mercedes


Morning Glory (Open)


Paddle


Pear


Pencil


Plongeur


Pointed Sports


Spade


Squelette / Skeleton..................................* skeleton can be almost any style as long as they are hollow


Skeleton (Fancy Cathedral)


Stick (Fils)


Sword


Umbrella


Windmill



Some manufacturers had their own names for hand styles shown in this post. For example, here's a page from a Hamilton book:



What they call "Open Diamond" has been identified in other publications as "Cathedral".



Thanks to WatchFan1, RICHARD13, scottw44, G.J., HamiltonIllinois, river rat, Paul Delury, eaea, Wisconsin Proud, Ben_hutcherson, maverick, Scott D, pz93c, Flyskate, MikeyT, bbuckis, GLADIATOR, mrpinter, Dr. Ranfft, BrentB, and Donut for their help!
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[ulackfocus]

As you can see, this is a work in progress. I decided to post it and we'll edit it as new styles are brought up. There are some at the bottom that I'm not sure of the name so any help is appreciated.

[gcwimmer]

Great resorce...very good.

[bio]

Great info. I didn't know 90% of them

[slayerx01]

brilliant. This is one of those things that a lot of people don't know about. Very useful.

[jporos]

as "Ultra Breguet" or "Mega Breguet". Great compendium, this just confirms my disgust for "Mercedes" hands. Uggghhh.

[James Elsener]

Brilliant work.

[pz93c]

I've heard this one below called spade hands.

[Tom Barry]

I appreciate this compendium. Excellent work. I think there may be a typo in the caption of No. 13. Shouldn't that be Louis XVI rather than Louis VXI?

[Watch Me]

Great info! Until I started looking at vintage watches I never really gave much thought to the style of the hands, as long as they didn't detract from the look of the watch. Now that I've seen some like the Breguet, Lance, Cathedral, morning Glory, and Skeleton they play much more of a role in my decision about a watch.

Although depending on the pattern of the face, a simpler style like the baton, pear, leaf, Dauphine or Alpha are so much more fitting.

To be honest, I don't think that I could tell you offhand what kind of hands are on any of my watches. I can say that they all have hand styles that go very well with the faces.

There are a few I don't care for on their own, but when I look at the watch face as a whole, they look "right", like the broad arrow, round baton, mercedes, pencil, windmill, or pointed sports. When I looked at JUST those hands, I didn't like them at all. Then I looked at the overall watch and they suddenly looked good.

I guess the good watch designers really do know their stuff...