A few minutes ago I was resetting my wristwatch backwards an hour, for the shift from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. I grasped the little knob, on the right side of the watch, that you pull out and then twist to move the watch's hands.

And a question suddenly popped into my mind. What do you call that little knob?

Before quartz movement watches, I think it was called the winding knob.

[Addendum: according to the glossary at this site (link) the term is crown.

quote:

Crown – The ridged knob on the outside of a watch which is used to set or wind the watch. A piece fastened to the stem for winding the watch. (Slang term: winding knob or button). The crown can operate with a "screw-down" or "pusher" motion.

]

Ah, ya beat me to it, zmj!

Now, why do we call a mobile timepiece a watch, and a fixed position one a clock?

quote:

mobile timepiece a watch

Because you can "watch" it "move"?

Clocks because of their bells (German Glocke, French cloche, older cloque) and watches originally because of an alarum (modern alarm < French < Italian all'arme 'to arms') attached to clocks to wake (Old English wacian 'to be awake, keep awake, watch' < wacan 'to awake, arise', link, whence wake, watch) a person. The Navy uses bells for telling (toll) time and watches for turns at staying awake and being on duty.