Parts of a Pocket Watch – Bow, Crown, Dial and Covers

All 14 parts on the diagram

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From the front 8

Dial The plate marked with the hours, under the hands.
Hands The turning pointers that show the time.
Numerals They mark the hours: Roman here, Arabic on many watches.
Crown The ribbed knob that winds the watch and sets the hands.
Bow The ring on the pendant; a watch chain fastens to it.
Pendant The small neck of the case that the bow hangs from.
Bezel The front ring of the case, which holds the crystal.
Seconds dial A small dial at 6 o'clock with its own seconds hand.

Covers open 6

Cover A hinged metal lid that closes over the dial and crystal.
Crystal The glass over the dial; the bezel holds it.
Hinge The joint at the edge that the covers swing on.
Case band The middle of the case; bezel, covers and back close on it.
Dome The inner cover that snaps on over the movement.
Back The outer cover on the back of the case.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it. (1) US War Department, TM 9-1575, Ordnance Maintenance: Wrist Watches, Pocket Watches, Stop Watches, and Clocks (1945), https://archive.org/details/TM9-1575, read in full: its summary of timepiece terms (bezel, bow, pendant, hands) and its inspection section (crystal, bezel, back, case band, bow, hinges, crown, dial, numerals). (2) Wikipedia, Pocket watch, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_watch, text only (open-face and hunter-case watches, the spring-hinged lid or cover, its hinges, stem, crown and bow, the sub-seconds dial at 6 o'clock, crystal, bezel, caseback, the watch chain). (3) F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clock Makers' Handbook, Dictionary and Guide (1896), https://archive.org/details/watchclockmaker01britgoog, read in full (bow, pendant, dial, dome, hunter as a case with a metal cover over the dial, the band of the case, button for the crown). (4) Paul N. Hasluck, The Watch Jobber's Handybook (1889), https://archive.org/details/cu31924031263134, read in full (bow and pendant, seconds dial, cases that open at the back or dome). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's watch, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of a pocket watch start at the top with the bow, the crown and the pendant. The second drawing turns a hunter-case watch on its side and opens it, to show the cover, the dome and the back.

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From the front

Numbers 1 to 8. The hands turn over the dial and its numerals, with a seconds dial at 6 o'clock. The bezel runs round the edge. At the top, the crown sits on the pendant inside the bow.

From the side, covers open

Numbers 9 to 14. The cover and the back swing on one hinge. Between them are the crystal, the case band and the dome over the movement.

An open-face watch has no cover over its crystal; a hunter-case watch has one.
On old hunter-case watches the crown and bow sit at 3 o'clock, not 12.

Questions and answers

What is the ring on top of a pocket watch called?

The bow. It is the ring fixed to the pendant, the small neck at the top of the case, and a watch chain fastens to it. The ribbed knob inside the bow is the crown.

What is the lid of a pocket watch called?

The cover. A watch with a hinged metal cover over the dial and crystal has a hunter case; one without has an open face. Under the back, an inner cover called the dome snaps on over the movement.

What is the small dial on a pocket watch for?

It shows the seconds. The seconds dial sits at 6 o'clock and has its own small hand, while the two main hands show the hours and the minutes.

What is the glass on a pocket watch called?

The crystal. It sits in the bezel, the front ring of the case. On a hunter-case watch the cover closes over the crystal to protect it.