Watch vs. Clock — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on July 1, 2024
A watch is a timepiece worn on the wrist, while a clock is a device displaying time, typically mounted on a wall or placed on a surface.
Difference Between Watch and Clock
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Both a watch and a clock serve the primary function of telling time. However, their design, size, and place of use distinguish them significantly. A watch, designed compactly, is meant to be worn, usually on the wrist. This portable nature of the watch ensures timekeeping on the go. In contrast, a clock is generally larger and is designed to be mounted or placed in a stationary location.
A watch often represents personal style and might include additional features like date display, stopwatch, or even fitness tracking. Clocks, on the other hand, can be decorative elements in a room, and their designs range from antique pendulum clocks to modern digital displays.
While both watches and clocks can operate on mechanical or electronic principles, the intricate craftsmanship of watches, especially luxury ones, is admired by many. Clocks, in various settings like stations or towers, can serve as communal time indicators and might even have chimes or alarms.
It's noteworthy that the term "watch" can also imply vigilant observation or being on guard, whereas "clock" doesn't have such an alternative meaning. In essence, while both guide us through the passage of time, a watch is personal and portable, while a clock is stationary and communal.
Comparison Chart
Portability
Portable and worn
Stationary, mounted or placed
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Size
Compact, designed for the wrist
Typically larger than watches
Additional Features
May include date, stopwatch, fitness tracking
Might have chimes, alarms, or decorative designs
Context of Use
Personal timepiece
Communal or decorative time indicator
Alternative Meaning
Can mean vigilant observation
Doesn't have such alternative meanings
Compare with Definitions
Watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities.
Clock
A clock is an instrument to measure or record intervals.
The racing car was clocked at 200 mph.
Watch
Look at or observe attentively over a period of time
As she watched, two women came into the garden
Lucy watched him go
Everyone stopped to watch what was going on
Clock
A clock is a device used to measure, verify, keep, and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units: the day, the lunar month, and the year.
Watch
Exercise care, caution, or restraint about
You should watch what you say!
Most women watch their diet during pregnancy
Clock
An instrument other than a watch for measuring or indicating time, especially a mechanical or electronic device having a numbered dial and moving hands or a digital display.
Watch
Remain awake for the purpose of religious observance
She watched whole nights in the church
Clock
A time clock.
Watch
A small timepiece worn typically on a strap on one's wrist
My watch had stopped
Clock
A source of regularly occurring pulses used to measure the passage of time, as in a computer.
Watch
An act or instance of carefully observing someone or something over a period of time
The security forces have been keeping a close watch on our activities
Clock
Any of various devices that indicate measurement, such as a speedometer or a taximeter.
Watch
A film or programme considered in terms of its appeal to the public
This movie's an engrossing watch
Clock
A biological clock.
Watch
A flock of nightingales
A watch of nightingales began flying south
Clock
The downy flower head of a dandelion that has gone to seed.
Watch
To look or observe attentively or carefully; be closely observant
Watching for trail markers.
Clock
An embroidered or woven decoration on the side of a stocking or sock.
Watch
To look and wait expectantly or in anticipation
Watch for an opportunity.
Clock
To time, as with a stopwatch
Clock a runner.
Watch
To act as a spectator; look on
Stood by the road and watched.
Clock
To register or record with a mechanical device
Clocked the winds at 60 miles per hour.
Watch
To stay awake at night while serving as a guard, sentinel, or watcher.
Clock
(Informal) To strike or hit (someone) forcefully, especially in the face.
Watch
To stay alert as a devotional or religious exercise; keep vigil.
Clock
To record working hours with a time clock
Clocks in at 8:00 and out at 4:00.
Watch
To look at steadily; observe carefully or continuously
Watch a parade.
Clock
To be measured or registered, especially at a certain speed or rate. Often used with in
A fastball that clocks in at 95 miles per hour.
Watch
To guard, keep surveillance on, or spy on
Watched the prisoner all day.
Watched the house to see who came and went.
Clock
An instrument that measures or keeps track of time; a non-wearable timepiece.
Watch
To observe the course of mentally; keep up on or informed about
Watch the price of gold.
Clock
(attributive) A common noun relating to an instrument that measures or keeps track of time.
A 12-hour clock system; an antique clock sale; Acme is a clock manufacturer.
Watch
To pay close attention to or be careful about, especially with regard to propriety
Watched his manners.
Clock
(British) The odometer of a motor vehicle.
This car has over 300,000 miles on the clock.
Watch
To tend or take care of (children or a flock of sheep, for example).
Clock
(electronics) An electrical signal that synchronizes timing among digital circuits of semiconductor chips or modules.
Watch
A portable or wearable timepiece.
More people today carry a watch on their wrists than in their pockets.
Clock
The seed head of a dandelion.
Watch
The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
Clock
A time clock.
I can't go off to lunch yet: I'm still on the clock.
We let the guys use the shop's tools and equipment for their own projects as long as they're off the clock.
Watch
A particular time period when guarding is kept.
The second watch of the night began at midnight.
Clock
A CPU clock cycle, or T-state.
Watch
A period of wakefulness between the two sleeps of a biphasic sleep pattern (the dead sleep or first sleep and morning sleep or second sleep): the first waking.
Clock
(uncountable) A luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock.
Watch
A person or group of people who guard.
The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
Clock
A pattern near the heel of a sock or stocking.
Watch
The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
Clock
(transitive) To measure the duration of.
Watch
(nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
Clock
(transitive) To measure the speed of.
He was clocked at 155 miles per hour.
Watch
(nautical) A period of time on duty, usually four hours in length; the officers and crew who tend the working of a vessel during the same watch. (FM 55–501).
Clock
To hit (someone) heavily.
When the boxer let down his guard, his opponent clocked him.
Watch
The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
Clock
(slang) To take notice of; to realise; to recognize someone or something.
Clock the wheels on that car!
He finally clocked that there were no more cornflakes.
Watch
(ambitransitive) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
Watching the clock will not make time go faster.
I'm tired of watching TV.
Clock
(transgender slang) To identify someone as being transgender.
A trans person may be able to easily clock other trans people.
Watch
(transitive) To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
Watch this!
Put a little baking soda in some vinegar and watch what happens.
Clock
To falsify the reading of the odometer of a vehicle.
I don't believe that car has done only 40,000 miles. It's been clocked.
Watch
(transitive) To mind, attend, or guard.
Please watch my suitcase for a minute.
He has to watch the kids that afternoon.
Clock
To beat a video game.
Have you clocked that game yet?
Watch
(transitive) To be wary or cautious of.
You should watch that guy. He has a reputation for lying.
Clock
(transitive) To ornament (e.g. the side of a stocking) with figured work.
Watch
(transitive) To attend to dangers to or regarding.
Watch your head; watch your step
Watch yourself when you talk to him.
Watch what you say.
Clock
To make the sound of a hen; to cluck.
Watch
(intransitive) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil. en
Clock
To hatch.
Watch
(intransitive) To be vigilant or on one's guard.
For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away.
Clock
A machine for measuring time, indicating the hour and other divisions; in ordinary mechanical clocks for domestic or office use the time is indicated on a typically circular face or dial plate containing two hands, pointing to numbers engraved on the periphery of the face, thus showing the hours and minutes. The works of a mechanical clock are moved by a weight or a spring, and it is often so constructed as to tell the hour by the stroke of a hammer on a bell. In electrical or electronic clocks, the time may be indicated, as on a mechanical clock, by hands, but may also be indicated by direct digital readout, with the hours and minutes in normal Arabic numerals. The readout using hands is often called analog to distinguish it from the digital readout. Some clocks also indicate the seconds. Clocks are not adapted, like the watch, to be carried on the person. Specialized clocks, such as atomic clocks, may be constructed on different principles, and may have a very high precision for use in scientific observations.
Watch
(intransitive) To act as a lookout.
Clock
A watch, esp. one that strikes.
Watch
To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
Clock
The striking of a clock.
Watch
To be awake.
Clock
A figure or figured work on the ankle or side of a stocking.
Watch
To be on the lookout for; to wait for expectantly.
Clock
A large beetle, esp. the European dung beetle (Scarabæus stercorarius).
Watch
The act of watching; forbearance of sleep; vigil; wakeful, vigilant, or constantly observant attention; close observation; guard; preservative or preventive vigilance; formerly, a watching or guarding by night.
Shepherds keeping watch by night.
All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward.
Ward, guard, or custodia, is chiefly applied to the daytime, in order to apprehend rioters, and robbers on the highway . . . Watch, is properly applicable to the night only, . . . and it begins when ward ends, and ends when that begins.
Clock
To ornament with figured work, as the side of a stocking.
Watch
One who watches, or those who watch; a watchman, or a body of watchmen; a sentry; a guard.
Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
Clock
To call, as a hen. See Cluck.
Watch
The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
He upbraids Iago, that he made himBrave me upon the watch.
Clock
A timepiece that shows the time of day
Watch
The period of the night during which a person does duty as a sentinel, or guard; the time from the placing of a sentinel till his relief; hence, a division of the night.
I did stand my watch upon the hill.
Might we but hear . . . Or whistle from the lodge, or village cockCount the night watches to his feathery dames.
Clock
Measure the time or duration of an event or action or the person who performs an action in a certain period of time;
He clocked the runners
Watch
A small timepiece, or chronometer, to be carried about the person, the machinery of which is moved by a spring.
Clock
A clock is a device that displays time and is usually placed or mounted.
The clock on the wall struck midnight.
Watch
An allotted portion of time, usually four hour for standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. Cf. Dogwatch.
Clock
A clock refers to a time recording device.
The worker punched the clock upon arrival.
Watch
To be awake; to be or continue without sleep; to wake; to keep vigil.
I have two nights watched with you.
Couldest thou not watch one hour ?
Clock
A clock can indicate the source of regular pulsations in a computer.
The CPU's clock speed determines its efficiency.
Watch
To be attentive or vigilant; to give heed; to be on the lookout; to keep guard; to act as sentinel.
Take ye heed, watch and pray.
The Son gave signal highTo the bright minister that watched.
Clock
A clock can represent a device indicating the working hours.
He has many hours on his work clock this week.
Watch
To be expectant; to look with expectation; to wait; to seek opportunity.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning.
Watch
To remain awake with any one as nurse or attendant; to attend on the sick during the night; as, to watch with a man in a fever.
Watch
To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place; - said of a buoy.
Watch
To give heed to; to observe the actions or motions of, for any purpose; to keep in view; not to lose from sight and observation; as, to watch the progress of a bill in the legislature.
Saul also sent messengers unto David's house to watch him, and to slay him.
I must cool a little, and watch my opportunity.
In lazy mood I watched the little circles die.
Watch
To tend; to guard; to have in keeping.
And flaming ministers, to watch and tendTheir earthy charge.
Paris watched the flocks in the groves of Ida.
Watch
A small portable timepiece
Watch
A period of time (4 or 2 hours) during which some of a ship's crew are on duty
Watch
A purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
Watch
The period during which someone (especially a guard) is on duty
Watch
A person employed to watch for something to happen
Watch
A devotional watch (especially on the eve of a religious festival)
Watch
Look attentively;
Watch a basketball game
Watch
Follow with the eyes or the mind;
Keep an eye on the baby, please!
The world is watching Sarajevo
She followed the men with the binoculars
Watch
See or watch;
View a show on television
This program will be seen all over the world
View an exhibition
Catch a show on Broadway
See a movie
Watch
Observe with attention;
They watched as the murderer was executed
Watch
Be vigilant, be on the lookout, be on one's guard, be careful;
Watch out for pickpockets!
Watch
Observe or determine by looking;
Watch how the dog chases the cats away
Watch
Find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort;
I want to see whether she speaks French
See whether it works
Find out if he speaks Russian
Check whether the train leaves on time
Watch
A watch is a portable timepiece designed to be worn.
She wore a silver watch on her wrist.
Watch
A watch means a period of vigilance or observation.
The night watch guarded the gates.
Watch
A watch is a session of duty or shift.
The sailor was on the morning watch.
Watch
A watch represents a person's vigilance or alertness.
Keep a close watch on the suspicious character.
Watch
A watch indicates a small timepiece with a strap.
He gifted her a gold watch for her birthday.
Common Curiosities
Which is more likely to be an heirloom: a watch or a clock?
Both can be, but watches are more commonly passed down.
Do all clocks hang on walls?
No, clocks can also stand on surfaces or even be tower clocks.
Are digital displays common to both watches and clocks?
Yes, both can have digital or analog displays.
Is a stopwatch a type of watch?
Yes, a stopwatch is a specific type of watch for timing events.
What powers a watch or a clock?
They can be powered by batteries, electricity, or mechanical means.
Can a watch be a status symbol?
Yes, luxury watches are often seen as status symbols.
Can clocks be portable?
While typically stationary, there are portable clocks like travel alarms.
How long can mechanical watches or clocks run without winding?
It varies, but many need winding every 24-48 hours.
Can clocks be antiques?
Absolutely, antique clocks are sought after by collectors.
Is a smartwatch truly a watch?
Yes, while advanced, a smartwatch is still a type of watch.
Are all watches worn on the wrist?
No, while common, there are also pocket watches.
Can a watch have features beyond time-telling?
Yes, some watches show date, track fitness, or even make calls.
What's a famous clock landmark?
The Big Ben in London is a renowned clock tower.
Which is more precise: a watch or a clock?
Precision varies by make and model, not necessarily by being a watch or clock.
How do I set a clock or watch?
Depending on the type, it involves adjusting dials, buttons, or touch settings.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
