timepiece

English[edit]

time +‎ piece

timepiece (plural timepieces)

Any device that measures or registers time; a clock or watch, especially one lacking a chime or other striking mechanism.
Hyponyms: clock, watch
- 2013, Stacy Perman, A Grand Complication: The Race to Build the World's Most Legendary Watch, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 143:
  The spring-driven clock introduced the truly movable timepiece and, with further innovations in miniaturization, the object that came to be called the watch.

Strictly, a timepiece is a timekeeping instrument that lacks a striking mechanism (e.g., a bell, chimes, or gong) to announce the passage of time. One with a striking mechanism is a clock. Although this traditional distinction is generally not made in everyday usage, it is commonly noted in dictionaries, glossaries of clock terms, and reference books on clocks, in addition to being widely maintained among knowledgeable collectors, major auction houses, horological museums, and watch manufacturers.

any device for recording time