Shiny Doesn't Mean Good: What to Actually Look For in Movement Finishing

Right, let's talk about this because I see so many people getting it wrong. They'll look at a movement through a caseback and go "oh yeah, nice finishing" when really they're just looking at something shiny. Shiny doesn't mean well-finished. A mirror polish can hide absolute sins.

First thing - and I cannot stress this enough - look at the edges. The beveling on the bridges, the chamfering. Is it sharp and consistent? Does it catch light in a clean line or does it look rounded off and lazy? Hand-finished beveling has this crispness to it that machine work just can't replicate. It's hard to describe but once you see the difference, you can't unsee it.

Perlage (those little circular swirls on the baseplate) is another one people get wrong. Everyone's got perlage now, even the cheapest movements. What matters is the consistency of it. Are the circles evenly spaced? Do they overlap properly? Is there a pattern or does it look like someone just went at it randomly? Bad perlage is worse than no perlage at all in my opinion.

Geneva stripes, same deal. They should be parallel, evenly spaced, and have actual depth to them. Not just printed on looking like a bad photocopy. Proper Côtes de Genève has this three-dimensional quality where each stripe has a gradient of light and dark as the surface angles change.

Now here's what most people miss completely: look at the parts you're NOT supposed to see. The underside of bridges if you can glimpse them. The inside of screw slots. The edges of the rotor. That's where you find out if a brand actually cares or if they're just doing the minimum for display-back aesthetics, make the front of the fence just as beautiful as the back.

Screws tell you a lot too. Blued screws - are they actually heat-blued or just painted blue? Heat-blued screws have this depth to them, almost a purple quality in certain lights. Painted ones look flat and dead. And the slots themselves - are they properly finished or rough with tool marks?

The thing that really gets me is when brands splash out on one type of finishing and then completely neglect everything else. Beautiful anglage on the bridges but the screw heads look like they were finished with a hammer. Stunning blued screws but the perlage looks like it was done by an intern having a bad day. Good finishing is about consistency across the whole movement, not just showing off in one area.

And look, I'm not saying every watch needs to be finished to Grand Seiko or Lange standards. That's unrealistic and would make everything unaffordable. But there's a difference between honest, well-executed industrial finishing and lazy work that's trying to look better than it is. A clean, well-done machine finish that's consistent throughout is far more respectable than half-arsed attempts at hand-finishing that don't hold up to scrutiny.

The brands I respect most are honest about what they're doing. They'll tell you it's machine-decorated but they do it well and price accordingly.

Anyway, next time you're looking at a movement, take your time. Get a loupe if you can. Look at the edges, the transitions between finishes, the hidden spots. That'll tell you more about what you're actually buying than any spec sheet ever will.