Mechanical Watch FAQ

Source
Here's my initial cut at a mechanical watch FAQ. As you can see, it's largely a pointer to many of the fine articles contributed to the forum by the community over the years. That being said, if there are any errors on this page itself, they are the fault of the compiler (i.e. me) and not the fault of the other contributors.
Legalese: This FAQ is intended to be informative, and is not intended to supersede any manufacturer's instructions for service or operation of watches. No warranty is expressed or implied. Really, I wouldn't kid you about this.
Please send additions / corrections to ehahn@alum.mit.edu.

---

Part I:  Watch / Movement basics

1.1    What is a mechanical watch? 
1.1.1  What is the difference between a movement, ebauche, and caliber 
1.1.2  What is a "hack" seconds feature? 
1.1.3  What does "17 jewels" mean? 
1.1.4  Why do they use synthetic ruby? 
1.1.5  Are more jewels better? 
1.1.6  What is shock protection? 
1.1.7  What is the "T", "T‹25", and the lower-case Greek sigma on my dial mean?
1.2    What is a MecaQuartz? 
1.3    What is an Accutron? 
1.4    What do I need to do to keep a mechanical watch running for a lifetime?
1.5    Why should I get a mechanical watch when a quartz watch is so much cheaper and more accurate?
2.1    What's the difference between a "manual" and an "automatic"? 
2.2    How does an automatic mechanism work? 
2.2.1  Are the Seiko Kinetic / Autoquartz therefore automatics? 
2.3    What is a watch winder, and do I need one?

Part II:  Brands & Accuracy

3.1.    What is the best watch made? Is it [insert brand here]? 
3.2    How accurate can I expect an [insert brand here] to be? 
3.2.1  What does "adjusted" vs. "unadjusted" vs. "regulated" mean?

Part III:  Features