Ligne

Ligne

A ligne is a unit of measurement that was used in the past, particularly in watchmaking. It is derived from the French word for "line", and it was used to measure the diameter of watch movements. The ligne is equivalent to 2.2558291 millimeters.

History

The use of the ligne as a unit of measurement dates back to the 18th century, when it was commonly used in watchmaking. It was a standard unit of measurement in the Swiss watch industry until the 20th century, when it was replaced by the metric system. Despite this, the ligne is still occasionally used in the watch industry today, particularly in the measurement of watch movements.

Use in Watchmaking

In watchmaking, the ligne is used to measure the diameter of watch movements. A watch movement is the internal mechanism of a watch that drives the timekeeping functions. The size of a watch movement is important as it determines the size of the watch case and the overall design of the watch.

The ligne is a particularly useful unit of measurement in watchmaking as it allows for precise measurements. For example, a watch movement that measures 10 lignes is 22.558291 millimeters in diameter.

Conversion

The ligne is equivalent to 2.2558291 millimeters. This means that to convert from lignes to millimeters, you multiply the number of lignes by 2.2558291. To convert from millimeters to lignes, you divide the number of millimeters by 2.2558291.

See Also

• Watchmaking
• Unit of measurement
• Metric system

References

• The Watch Repairer's Manual, by Henry B. Fried
• The Theory of Horology, by Charles-André Reymondin