Watches typically use moving hands to indicate the time and for other functions. There are many styles and types of hands. Hands used for non-timekeeping functions are often referred to as pointers.
Many watches feature skeleton (squelette) hands, which are hollow. If only a feature of the hands is hollow, it is typically referred to as open. Manufacturers can apply luminous material to the back of a skeleton or open hand, filling in the gap and creating many classic sport watch looks, including the Mercedes hand.
This Breitling Superocean Heritage Chronographe features a baton minute hand and an arrow hour hand
© Breitling
As the name implies, baton hands feature a broad and uniform shape, coming to a point or rounded tip. There are also tapered baton hands which narrow as they come closer to the center.
Also known as pomme (“apple”), the Breguet hand style is a classic curved shape with a hole in the top. Named after the brilliant watchmaker and watch inventor Abraham-Louis Breguet. The Breguet brand has this pointer type in their company logo because it is so well known. Breguet hands can also include an additional flare below the “apple”, making them antique Roman hands.
See: Gothic
A style inspired by european gothic architecture. Typical for a lot of vintage watches.
A variety of gothic hand styles are used, including solid diamond (also called kite) and open diamond (also called cathedral), fancy trefoil and quadrifoil clovers, solid and open lance, and spear tips. Most gothic hands feature a crossbar just below the main above-named decoration.
Hands with large circles at the end, some without a terminal point, are called lollipop.
Lozenge hands feature a diamond shape, often with a concave taper along each edge.
A pencil hand is uniformly long and thin, with a roughly rectangular profile and triangular point.
A plongeur is a wide, exuberant pentagon shape resembling a sword but with a flat, defined base.
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