bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

John Goodall

THESE ARE EXCITING times for watch collectors and enthusiasts. The development of new technology and the use of exciting and unconventional materials has brought a new lease of life to the world of haute horlogerie.

The lever escapement that forms the heart of most mechanical watches has changed very little in the past 250 years. It is the component that governs the accuracy of a mechanical watch. It was invented by Englishman Thomas Mudge in 1757 and modified by Auguste Leschot in 1825 in a design that is commonly known as the Swiss lever escapement.

No fundamental changes were made to the basic design until quite recently, and it is these changes that are generating a great deal of excitement in the world of serious timekeeping.

When George Daniels started out on his long search for a viable alternative to the lever escapement in the mid-1970s, he knew that if he succeeded, he would have taken a huge step forward in  the world of watchmaking.

It was not until 1999 that his Co-Axial escapement went into commercial production.

Today, the Co-Axial escapement is to be found in an increasing number of Omega watches and   will probably eventually be used in every Omega piece.

Recently Dr Daniels said of the Co-Axial escapement: 'It's not only my last invention, but also the most important one. It will never be improved.'

The flurry of activity by other watchmakers that  followed its successful launch has been  astonishing. And in the future, we may look back on Dr Daniels' achievement and consider it not as the ultimate escapement, but as the huge leap forward in watchmaking technology that inspired others to  find other ways of improving on the ancient principle of the lever escapement.

Some companies have succeeded in creating alternatives which, like the Co-Axial, dispense with the need for oil and offer a complete alternative to the lever escapement.

They have chosen to use innovative designs in order to progress.

Others have responded by introducing exciting new materials that overcome the drawbacks of the traditional escapement. A few have done both.

The Silicon age

Silicon is the planet's second most common element  after oxygen, and is impervious to magnetic attraction.  It is also highly resistant to corrosion and wear.

The watch industry is starting a love affair with the material because it requires no lubrication and provides far more geometric freedom, making it possible to manufacture new and extremely complex shapes with immense precision.

It is generally acknowledged that Ulysse Nardin  was the first company to set the watch world talking about the use of new materials and  technology when in 1999 it started work, in conjunction with Dr Ludwig Oechslin,  on a dual direct escapement that was quite unlike the traditional Swiss lever.

However, Ulysse Nardin, a relatively small, privately owned company that is often referred to by aficionados just by its initials, UN, encountered problems that proved impossible to solve using traditional materials. The problem was resolved after discussions with the Le Locle School of Engineering.  Together they investigated the possibility of using silicon (sometimes known by its Latin name silicium)  and they also considered diamond.

Silicon is lighter but more fragile than diamond; diamond is inert and a better material for horology, but as might be expected, it is much more expensive.

They concluded that another material, a nickel phosphor alloy, was more robust and easier to work with.

By 2002, Ulysse Nardin applied for a patent for a balance spring created from polycrystalline diamond. The technology they used to manufacture it, DRIE (deep ion reactive etching) was borrowed from the world of integrated circuits. It offers the huge advantage that the diamond, the stud and collet that are normally attached to it, are manufactured in a single process as a single component.

In 2001, Ulysse Nardin's Freak   was the major talking point at the Basel Fair. It has a dual direct escapement and has two silicon wheels that turn in opposite directions.

Last year, the company introduced the Freak 28,000vph at BaselWorld. This featured the UN dual direct escapement and it also unveiled the Freak Diamond Heart, using wheels (or cogs) made from diamond. Recently, the company has also made escapements with wheels made of nickel phosphor, but it is still continuing to use both diamond and silicon.

Although Ulysse Nardin was the first company to announce the use of new materials in its escapements, some other companies were following a similar  path and these paths converged on Dr Oechslin.

Dr Oechslin is a polymath. At university he studied classical Greek, Latin, ancient history and archaeology, while simultaneously serving an apprenticeship as a watchmaker. He then embarked on a further period of study in theoretical physics.

At this point, his creative imagination gave birth to some of the most complicated mechanical movements ever created, including an astronomical clock. He acquired an enviable reputation as a restorer of antique clocks and was subsequently recruited by Rolf Schnyder, president of Ulysse Nardin, to assist in the development of its advanced timepieces. Today, he has taken up the post of curator of the  Musee International d'Horlogerie  (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

About the time when he took up his post with the museum, Dr Oechslin began to co-operate with the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique  (CSEM) at the University of Neuchatel. He worked with Andre Perret, vice-president of CSEM to study the new materials and technology that could be used in watchmaking.

They were particularly interested in mono-crystalline silicon because it has perfect elasticity and always returns to its original shape - as long as it doesn't break.

However, it does have limitations, because temperature changes can alter its physical properties. CSEM soon found commercial partners in the watch industry to invest in its development work. They include Patek Philippe, the Swatch Group and Rolex. Some other watch houses have teamed up with other research and development bodies to pursue similar interests.

Initially, production of these hi-tech components has been carried out at Neuchatel University, but Nicolas G Hayek,  chairman of the Swatch Group, has initiated a programme that will soon see his Nivarox-FAR company producing silicon anchors, escape wheels and balance springs. It has already started pre-production, but it is not yet known when full production will start.

Mr Hayek also revealed it was possible Omega and other Swatch Group brands might also use parts made from silicon.

Breguet, which represents the top end  of the Swatch Group, has already started to manufacture and use silicon components in two watch movements.  The  Calibre 777Q launched earlier this year features a silicon escape wheel, and lever, and a Calibre 591A has been fitted this year with a 'full assortment' - its escape wheel, lever and balance spring all made in silicon. They are used in the Classique line.

At the beginning of last year, Patek Philippe invited the press to its Geneva headquarters  to announce its advanced research department had developed an escape wheel made from silicon.  Among the advantages, said the company, were the elimination of the need for oil and the fact that unlike a conventional metal escape wheel, the fabrication process  left the teeth perfectly smooth, so they did not require subsequent finishing or polishing. They are hard, non-magnetic and  identical. Above all, they are subject to virtually no wear.

In January this year, Patek Philippe announced it had taken another significant step forward with the creation of a Spiromax balance spring made from mono-crystalline silicon  using DRIE technology.

It is only a third of the weight of a standard balance spring and is therefore less sensitive to centrifugal forces and gravity.

The classical methods of attaching the fittings at each end of the spring have been eliminated because the stud and collet form an integral part of the spring, saving time and the need for the highly skilled craftsmen (and women) who traditionally perform the delicate and highly skilled task of attaching them to the spring.

As a balance wheel oscillates, it is important that its centre of gravity remains as symmetrical as possible as it expands and contracts.

The new technology and materials have enabled Patek Philippe's new Spiromax balance spring to be made with thicker coils on the outside and thinner coils in the centre of the spring. This results in perfectly symmetrical movement of the spring without the need for a feature known as a Breguet overcoil, and this makes it particularly suitable for ultra-slim watches.

Patek Philippe has already introduced the new silicon  balance spring in a limited edition of its Ref. 5350 self-winding annual calendar, but eventually it intends to introduce it to all it calibres.

At one time, Patek even experimented with balance springs made from glass. It is believed that other companies are investigating the possibility of using springs made from carbon fibre.

The Rolex  solution

In 2000 Rolex introduced a hairspring made from a new patented alloy called Parachrom  in the Cosmograph Daytona. This new alloy has a base of niobium, zirconium and oxygen.

Commonly used hairspring alloys have a base of iron, nickel and chromium, which are ferromagnetic and have two major drawbacks: they make the hairspring susceptible to magnetic fields and shocks.

The new Parachrom family of alloys developed by Rolex is up to 10 times less susceptible to shocks and is  unaffected by magnetic fields. The registered name is derived from the fact that the alloy is paramagnetic and that it is coloured (chrom in Greek).

The Parachrom hairspring was developed over five years by physicists and materials engineers and its manufacture requires very advanced technology which Rolex mastered entirely in-house.

In 2005, the company introduced another new feature on the Parachrom hairspring by modifying the structure of its surface.

The layer of oxygen on its surface was transformed and thickened to about 50nm to 100nm to increase the long-term stability of the oscillator even further. This modification of the surface turns the hairspring blue.  This  innovation has also been patented and the new spring was introduced in the GMT Master II last year.

Seiko's Spring Drive

One of the most interesting solutions to the problem of accurate timekeeping with mechanical movements is the hybrid approach developed by Seiko and called Spring Drive.

These watches contain self-winding mechanical movements, but instead of using an escapement, they use a revolutionary device invented by Seiko that utilises a combination of electric power, generated from its own mainspring, and electro-magnetic force to regulate the rate at which power is released from the mainspring.

This innovative solution contains most of the parts  found in a conventional mechanical self-winding watch movement - a winding rotor, a main spring housed in a barrel, a main plate and a wheel train to drive the hands.

However, Seiko has replaced the conventional escapement with its patented Tri-Synchro Regulator. This converts a small part of the energy of the mainspring into electricity to power a quartz crystal. It also generates an electro-magnetic force to regulate the rotational speed of the Glide Wheel, which replaces the usual escape wheel.

The weakest link in most quartz watches is the battery; the most vulnerable component of a mechanical watch is the escapement. Seiko has succeeded in eliminating both from this new generation of self-winding mechanical watches that offer quartz accuracy.

The development of a unique winding system for the main spring, called the Magic Lever, gives greater efficiency and ensures that the spring is wound more quickly than is possible with other systems. Seiko's development of a new high-elasticity alloy called 'Spron 510' has enabled the power reserve of Spring Drive watches to be increased to 72 hours.

The Spring Drive  was not developed overnight: Seiko worked on the concept for 28 years and produced more than 500 prototypes before the commercial launch of these watches in 2005.

Two new versions have recently been added to the Spring Drive collection. One is a Moon Phase watch, featuring a mother-of-pearl disc that glides serenely across the moon phase dial to complete the calm, natural and continuous representation of changes in the moon's appearance. The other new creation is a GMT model (GMT is the term used in the watch world to describe a dual time zone watch), which also features a power reserve indicator and date window.

Some purists may find it difficult to accept the Spring Drive as a mechanical watch, but there is no doubt that this new technology, based largely on a mechanical self-winding movement, is very important. It is worth remembering that 80 per cent of the 270 components of each Spring Drive watch are similar in concept to parts used in the highest grade mechanical watches.

Its regulation system is new and unique.

These watches have to be assembled by skilled watchmakers and are not suitable for production on an automated assembly line.

The most distinguishing feature of Spring Drive watches is that the seconds hand glides smoothly and continuously, unlike other mechanical watches whose seconds hands move in tiny steps - or quartz watches, which can usually be identified even at a distance, by the fact that the seconds hand on most models moves in one second increments.

The other remarkable feature of Seiko's Spring Drive is that it is completely silent in operation.

Audemars Piguet escapement

Recent progress in mechanical watchmaking is not restricted to the use of materials. George Daniels was certainly well ahead of the pack when he began to develop his Co-Axial technology, but others have also been working to find alternatives to the lever escapement.

One of the most important companies in this quest is Audemars Piguet (AP), the oldest Swiss watch company still under the ownership and control of descendants of the founding families, and regarded by most enthusiasts as one of the three great traditional Swiss watch houses.

Although AP is very much aware of the new materials  being introduced by some companies and may well have tested some,  it has pinned its hopes on an entirely new escapement design that was announced at the beginning of this year. Like the Co-Axial, it also eliminates the need for oil where it causes most problems, and it is made using conventional materials.

AP's designers took their inspiration from a concept devised by Robert Robin, watchmaker to King Louis XVI, in 1791. In its day the Robin escapement was unsuccessful but in Le Brassus, AP decided this ancient concept had great merit and with a few modifications - and the benefit of modern technology to manufacture the parts - it should prove superior to the conventional lever escapement.

The result was a revolutionary new AP direct drive escapement that has no anchor, but has a large balance wheel that oscillates at a high speed, by conventional standards - 36,000vph (vibrations per hour).

At first AP added another unique feature: it fitted each escapement with two balance springs mounted one above the other and attached on opposite sides of the escapement. These very special escapements will be used in the limited edition of 20 Cabinet number 5 watches in its very exclusive and expensive Tradition of Excellence collection.

Although no final decision seems to have been taken yet, it seems likely that when the new escapement goes into series production for use in other models, it may only have one balance spring.

It is thought that if this happens, it will be because of the practical difficulty of setting up an escapement with two balance springs, and not because the concept is flawed. By using a direct impulse drive system in this escapement and eliminating the need for an intermediary lever, AP has succeeded in reducing the number of components required.

The result is an escapement that is considerably more efficient than its lever counterparts.

The company's designers overcame the problem of susceptibility to shocks - a major disadvantage in Robin's escapement - by introducing a safety 'finger' that prevents accidental displacement of the fork and provides absolute protection against shocks.

When the new escapement was shown to the press at the beginning of this year, it and some examples had run without problems at an even higher speed of 43,000vph.

Although its introduction is likely to be quite gradual, some experts believe the new AP escapement is of great significance.

TAG Heuer concepts

When talking of innovation, we must not overlook TAG Heuer: for several years now it has created a stir each year at the BaselWorld watch fair with its concept watches. The first, in 2004, was the Monaco V4 , the first mechanical watch in the world to use drive belts.

In 2005, TAG Heuer announced the Calibre 360 Concept Chronograph, which it heralded as the most accurate mechanical timepiece ever crafted. It has two 'hearts', two escapements, one beating at a regular 28,800 oscillations/hour under normal conditions and to accelerate in chronograph mode to a staggering 360,000vph, 10 times faster than any other chronograph. This is a rate that was previously considered impossible. As a result, it is able to measure and display time to 1/100th second.

At Baselworld this year, privileged collectors had their first glimpse of the Carrera Calibre 360 in rose gold, being produced in a limited edition of 500 pieces. The same model is also available in a white gold limited edition (100 pieces), and a limited edition of 360 watches in stainless steel. TAG Heuer has also unveiled the Monaco Calibre 360 LS Concept Chronograph, the next evolutionary phase of its 1/100th second chronograph technology. It introduces a linear seconds counter.



A time for innovation