the.com/complication
A watch feature that tells time, moon phases, and your need to show off.
means Any added function on a watch beyond simply showing hours and minutes — like a moon phase, calendar, or chiming mechanism.
from From Latin complicare, 'to fold together' (com- 'together' + plicare 'to fold'). The same root gave English 'complicated' — something folded in on itself so many times it's hard to unravel. Watchmakers borrowed the word because every extra gear train, folded into the movement alongside the basic timekeeping, makes the mechanism literally more intricate — layers folded upon layers, just like the Latin pictures it.
- origin
- from horology, now means any extra watch function
- irony
- the more complications, the harder to read time
- record
- some watches pack over 50 complications
- medical use
- also means surgery went sideways, unrelated flex