P

• Palladium

  Palladium is a soft silver-white precious metal that resembles platinum.

• Pare-chute

  The pare-chute was the forerunner of the modern shock protection system, and a lever escapement - which rendered watches less fragile & consequently more reliable.  It was invented in 1790 by Breguet and refined by 1805.

• Pearl

  A pearl is a hard, rounded object produced by certain animals, primarily mollusks such as pearl oysters.   Pearls are used in jewelley and are valued as a gemstone.  Pearls fit into two categories: freshwater and saltwater. Freshwater pearls are formed in freshwater mussels that live in lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of fresh water. Most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China. By contrast, saltwater pearls grow in oysters that live in the ocean, usually in protected lagoons.  The unique lustre of pearls depends upon the reflection and refraction of light from the translucent layers and is finer in proportion as the layers become thinner and more numerous. The iridescence that some pearls display is caused by the overlapping of successive layers, which breaks up light falling on the surface. Pearls are usually white, sometimes with a creamy or pinkish tinge, but may be tinted with yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, or black.

• Perpetual

  Watches with a perpetual calendar never need to be adjusted for the correct date/month/year.  A perpetual calendar automatically updates itself even on a leap year, so that the date is always correct.

• Platinum

  A heavy, malleable, precious grey-white metal, resistant to corrosion.  Platinum's wear- and tarnish-resistance characteristics are well suited for making fine jewellery.  Platinum is more precious than gold.  The price of platinum changes along with its availability, but it normally costs slightly less than twice the price of gold. 

• Power cell

  Another term for battery - used in Quartz watches.

• Power reserve indicator

  A feature which shows when the watch will soon need a new battery or winding. A battery reserve indicator on a quartz watch informs the wearer when the battery is low. An indicator on an automatic watch will show when the watch needs wound by the wearer's movement. An indicator on a manual or hand wound watch will show when the owner needs to wind the watch.
  

• PVD

  Physical Vapour Deposition. Method of coating thin watch cases by integrating titanium particles and then depositing gold for colour.