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TwoTone · February 4, 2007

A Visit to the Chopard Manufacture Fleurier

by Edward Hahn

November, 2006

The Chopard Manufacture occupies a building on the Rue des Moulins in Fleurier, originally built in 1903 and expanded several times, and tenanted in the past by Fabrique d'Ebauches de Fleurier (FEF), one of the many companies that in the past supplied movement blanks to the Swiss watch industry under the auspices of Ebauches SA (now ETA). The interior, however, has been completely renovated, and has state of the art ventilation and lighting.

Ground Floor

Raw Materials Machining: Raw Materials Become Movement Parts (EH Photo)

Checking the Accuracy of Machining (EH Photo)

Steel Parts Cut From Sheet Metal

We began our tour on the ground floor, where movements come into being in one wing and watches are prepared for shipping in the other. In a room filled with highly automated CNC milling and electric discharge machines, raw materials are turned into roughed-out watch cases and movement plates. The air is filled with the scent of machining oil used to lubricate and cool the cutting heads of the milling machines. The temperature is warm from the output of the large machines.

Final Assembly

In the other wing of the building, the opposite environment prevails: it is cool and clean in the quality control and final casing areas of the manufacture. The Fleurier Manufacture concentrates on the creation of the in-house movements, as well as the steel watches in the L.U.C, Mille Miglia, and Happy Sport lines. Production at Fleurier includes 3,000 movements (all COSC certified) and 25,000 wristwatches per year.

Quality Control. Note the room in the background on the right beyond the glass - this is the pressurized final assembly room.

Quality control ensures that every watch conforms to the specifications for the particular reference number, and that all parts are blemish free. The final assembly and casing is performed in a positive-pressure room, so that dust and other possible contaminants are more likely to be blown away from any joints that aren't air-tight.

First Floor

Movement Part Polishing

Tourbillon Movement Bridges

Up the stairs to the first floor are the facilities for movement component decoration (e.g. polishing, anglage, engraving), case and bracelet polishing, watch testing (e.g. for proper operation prior to COSC testing), and movement manufacturing including complicated watches.

Applying Anglage to a Tourbillon Bridge

Machine for Applying Côtes de Genève: the spinning disc in the upper left

is drawn across the surface of the part, which is locked in a jig at a precise angle.

The piece is moved in preset steps to ensure even and parallel striping.

The component decorating and engraving area contained a mix of traditional and high-tech means of decoration. For example, one polishing machine is a very traditional set of tapering wood discs that are set to spinning, to which a watchmaker carefully applies the movement part. In contrast, the engraving machine is a minature CNC mill, that literally has a tool path programmed that spells out the wording to be engraved on the bridges.

Checking a Tourbillon Cage

Parts Checking

Mainplate Inspection

Quality control of the movement components and parts is extensive, consisting of checking 50,000 components per year, with 400 points of control, and 4000 individual tests. Sophisticated computer-aided optical comparison with the CAD designs, for example, indicates the dedication that Chopard brings to movement manufacturing.

Creating a Breguet Overcoil

One of the parts being checked includes the hairspring; if they happen to be for one of the movements that calls for a Breguet hairspring, there is a single watchmaker (a "Regleuse") with over 40 years experience, who has the responsibility to manually shape by hand the overcoil from a flat hairspring in the traditional way. She was trained in Fleurier, and has been at Chopard for 7 years.

Another watchmaker's bench was the domain of Chopard's youngest watchmaker, an apprentice aged 16 who has been with the company for one month. He is the first apprentice that the Fleurier Manufacture has brought on-board, and won't be the last, as now that the Fleurier facility is standing on solid ground, they wish to give back to the educational system that produces the geniuses that are behind Chopard's products. As an apprentice, he spends two days each week at the Fleurier watchmaking school, and three days at the Chopard facility.

Tourbillon Assembly 1

Tourbillon Assembly 2

The L.U.C Strike One: Chiming Works

For Chopard, complicated watches include the L.U.C Tourbillon introduced in 2003, and the "L.U.C Strike One" - a new (2006) watch that chimes once on the hour without need for a separate strike train barrel and spring. Christian, one of the two specialists within the complications area, was hard at work assembling a tourbillon cage when we arrived. The son of a watchmaker, he started watchmaking at age 17, and has since built up 23 years of experience. He has been with Chopard the last two and a half years.

Finally, on our way out of this wing of the building, we caught sight of an unfamiliar automatic movement that didn't bear the trademark L.U.C microrotor. Stephanie informed us that this was a new in-house chronograph movement, and we would shortly see and hear a lot more about it!

Second Floor

Movement Design Using CAD

The last stop on our tour was the second floor, where R&D, prototyping, and the watchmaking laboratory are located. Chopard again has completely embraced modern techniques in their movement development process. All designs are done using AutoCAD software - not only are designs faster to develop than traditional paper drawings, but the CAD instructions can go directly to the prototyping department for test manufacturing, the laboratory for design refinement, and eventually to production (milling and EDM) without need to re-encode the instructions. In addition to designing and manufacturing movements, this department also is in charge of making tooling and dies to be used in production both here and in Geneva. Tolerances of manufacture are specified to be in the neighborhood of 1/1000 mm.

The New Home of "Chopard Technologies"

The R&D, prototyping, and laboratory departments of the Fleurier Manufacture will be shortly be moved to a renovated building down the road in Fleurier at 1 Rue du Temple, across from the Hotel de Ville. To be organized under a separate subsidiary of Chopard known as "Chopard Technologies", this space will give the personnel, "the freedom to think," according to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.

<h1 align="center">Chopard Headquarters and Workshops in Meyrin, Geneva</h1>

The next morning dawned rainy in Geneva, where our visit to Chopard was made complete with a visit to Chopard's headquarters in the Meyrin suburb of Geneva. In addition to company offices, it is co-located with their watch and jewelry production workshops.

As mentioned previously, the Fleurier workshops in the Jura mountains is dedicated to movement manufacturing, and the production of steel wristwatches in the L.U.C, Mille Miglia, and Happy Sport lines. The Geneva workshops are dedicated to production of gold and platinum wristwatches, and also does final assembly of movements that receive the Poinçon de Genève. Watch production at Geneva is 50,000 watches per year.

Watch Making - from Ingots to Finished Pieces

Vacuum Furnace for Creating Gold Alloys

The first stop on our tour is in the foundry that is responsible for turning pure (24K) gold ingots into 18K gold bars from which the cases are made. This room is quite hot, and is dominated by 2 vacuum furnaces and a rolling machine. Temperatures exceed 1000 degrees C (~1800 degrees F) in the furnaces.

Gold arrives in the form of 0.9999 purity 1 kilogram gold ingots. For yellow gold (color 2N), Chopard adds 9% copper and 16% silver to the 75% gold. For rose gold (color 4N), the proportions for the alloying metals are reversed to 16% copper and 9% silver to achieve its distinctive color.

Raw Materials: Clockwise from Bottom - Pure Copper, Silver, Gold, and a Used Alloy Blank

Chopard's recipe for white gold specifies adding 13% palladium to 75% gold and a 12% mixture of copper and silver. Palladium (a platinum-group metal) has displaced nickel in the production of white gold due to allergy concerns, and as might be surmised adds to both the material cost as well as the hardness (compared with yellow or red alloys) of the resulting metal. This hardness adds a bit of difficulty during the machining phases as well. As a final step, cases made from white gold are rhodium plated by Chopard, to ensure a bright white appearance, while avoiding an unsightly yellow cast if the plating rubs off.

Bottom Up - a Cast Bar, a Rolled 3N Pink Gold Blank, and a Rolled White Gold Blank

Once placed in a crucible and heated to liquid, the newly alloyed gold is poured into molds and allowed to cool to produce 4 kilogram bars. Once solid, the bars are run through a roll press twice to form a bar of about 60 x 6 centimeters. These are the blanks from which the cases are punched. (Note that steel and platinum case blanks are prepared by an outside supplier.)

Annealing of Steel Casebacks

On the way out of the room, we pass by an annealing furnace, that is used to "heal" microscopic cracks that form after the case parts are punched out of the bars. The pieces in the photograph are steel casebacks that have just come from our next stop, the hydraulic press machine shop.

Shaping of Gold Cases

Pressing of Steel Casebacks

The atmosphere in the hydraulic machine shop is punctuated by loud thumps, as the machines in use here subject the case blank material to forces of 125 tonnes or more. Here, the machines that punch case bands, casebacks, and bezels are housed. Workers wear hearing protection and short sleeves, as the temperatures are elevated a bit beyond a typical office environment. Chopard makes all the tooling used in these presses to form the case parts to their desired initial shapes.

Steps in Case Making

Several steps are undertaken in the shaping of cases from blanks to finished product. The bundle of cases in the above photo show each step that each piece undergoes in its journey, from simple punched out cylinder of metal to a case ready to take screws and springbars. Most of the initial steps occur in this room, as this is where the heavy-lifting is applied. Once they are completed, the cases are handed off to the milling machine shop, where the remainder of the steps are performed.

8-Axis Milling Machine

The milling machine shop contains several very sophisticated CNC milling machines - the particular machine pictured is an 8-tool-axis model. As might be suspected, much of the case and bracelet production is indeed automated. However, there are still operations that are performed by hand using somewhat simpler metal machining tools.

Hand Machining

Note the gold shavings in the above picture (lower left) - this machining scrap, along with the unused case blanks in the hydraulic presses, are all sent for cleaning and then for remelting and reuse. Once the machining is complete, the pieces are carefully sent for final polishing and mating with completed movements, dials, and hands.

Watchmaking Rooms

The L.U.C Movement Lineup

Our next visit is to the watchmaking rooms. Here, the movements for Geneva watch production are assembled and tested for performance, including any L.U.C movements that receive the Poinçon de Genève. Several dozen watchmakers are employed to assemble and case up the 50,000 watches produced in Geneva.

Chopard's Geneva office has two wachmaking apprentices on their payroll, who spend a couple of days in school and the rest of the week at Chopard. Our guide for the tour, Celine Vetsch, is the Director of Watchmaker Training, including Chopard's participation in ensuring the future of haute horologerie in Switzerland.

<h2 align="center">The Other Side of Chopard: Haute Joaillerie</h2>

Caroline Scheufele-Gruosi

Although for those of us of the WIS persuasion this may perhaps seem a footnote, the jewelry department is no mere side business for Chopard. The Geneva workshhops, along with Chopard's third facility at Pforzheim, produce a total of 75,000 jewelry pieces per year. Jewelry is the domain of Caroline Scheufele-Gruosi, who takes a hands-on approach in the design area.

A Fine Necklace with Multicolored Pearls

Unlike watches, where product development cycles are measured in months or years, the world of jewelry is much faster-paced and short-fused: jewelry companies are constantly trying to out-do each other, especially in providing jewelry pieces for celebrity appearances. New pieces are designed and built in weeks, and unique pieces are often created for single events, that are disassembled after the event to ensure it never appears again.

Following is a collage of photos showing the jewelry workshops, including a 25-carat teardrop diamond destined for a very special piece.

Photo Credits Page 1: All photos courtesy Chopard except those labeled EH Photo.

Photo Credits Page 2: All photos by Edward Hahn

TwoTone · February 4, 2007

INDUSTRY NEWS – Montres Villemont Merges with Amundsen Oslo to Create Villemont Group

As two young companies with growing reputations and highly promising perspectives in the Fine Watchmaking market, the parallels between Montres Villemont SA, founded by Olivier Müller in 2004 and Amundsen Oslo AS, a Norwegian watchmaking brand launched in 2002 by the designer Jorgen Amundsen, could hardly go unnoticed by connoisseurs.

The watchmaking world has witnessed the arrival of a wave of new designers in recent years, and the reason is simple: for nearly two years now, Swiss watchmaking has broken record after record on the export markets, with a fastdeveloping luxury segment that is enjoying a growth rate of around 30%.

To provide the growth impetus required by Montres Villemont and Amundsen Oslo, the private equity company ValleyRoad Capital raised an initial CHF 10 million from private investors. This sum will be injected into a new holding structure, established in Geneva, which will absorb the two brands under the corporate name Villemont Group SA. In the first instance, the new entity will fully integrate both Montres Villemont and Amundsen Oslo, their shareholders receiving a minority stake in the company's capital.

In order to create a veritable watchmaking group with extensive industrial capacities, Villemont Group SA will set up a workshop in Geneva, run by two watchmakers with recognised expertise who already work closely with Montres Villemont on watch casings. A percentage of the sum raised will also be invested in the group's industrial facilities, notably its fleet of machines.

In the long run, Villemont Group SA will thus be able to stake its claim to the highly sought-after title of manufacture horlogère (watchmaking workshop) thanks to a vertically integrated structure that is crucial for ensuring sufficiently short production times and gaining a solid foothold in the universe of high-end watches. In this respect, the group's sales network will gradually be extended to allow for selective distribution in all key markets, where Fine Watchmaking is going from strength to strength.

"The creation of this new integrated Fine Watchmaking group represents a unique opportunity to invest in a fully-expanding sector," underlines Magali Berla Geay, partner and co-founder of ValleyRoad Capital alongside Pierre Kladny and Giovanni Locatelli. "Thanks to the recognised expertise of its directors, and notably Olivier Müller, who previously worked for Chopard and Omega, Villemont Group SA has the ideal basis for a successful launch, including state-of-the-art production facilities. The luxury universe is now fully within reach of the Villemont brand."

With this level of professionalism at the reins of Villemont Group SA - Olivier Müller CEO, Jorgen Amundsen, Brand Manager and a duo of master watchmakers, who will run Villemont Manufacture SA - the new entity boasts a unique wealth of experience, acquired within the biggest names in Swiss luxury watchmaking. These individuals will now have the opportunity to fully express themselves at Villemont Group SA with a view to making Villemont a quintessential brand in the luxury universe.

Courtesy TimeZone

TwoTone · February 4, 2007

Mechanical Watch FAQ V1.0

By The TimeZone Community

Compiled by Ed Hahn

Here's my initial cut at a mechanical watch FAQ. As you can see, it's largely a pointer to many of the fine articles contributed to the forum by the community over the years. That being said, if there are any errors on this page itself, they are the fault of the compiler (i.e. me) and not the fault of the other contributors.

Legalese: This FAQ is intended to be informative, and is not intended to supersede any manufacturer's instructions for service or operation of watches. No warranty is expressed or implied. Really, I wouldn't kid you about this.

Questions answered in this FAQ

Part 0: What is in this FAQ?

Part I: Watch / Movement basics

1.1 What is a mechanical watch?

1.1.1 What is the difference between a movement, ebauche, and caliber

1.1.2 What is a "hack" seconds feature?

1.1.3 What does "17 jewels" mean?

1.1.4 Why do they use synthetic ruby?

1.1.5 Are more jewels better?

1.1.6 What is shock protection?

1.1.7 What is the "T", "T‹25", and the lower-case Greek sigma on my dial mean?

1.2 What is a MecaQuartz?

1.3 What is an Accutron?

1.4 What do I need to do to keep a mechanical watch running for a lifetime?

1.5 Why should I get a mechanical watch when a quartz watch is so much cheaper and more accurate?

2.1 What's the difference between a "manual" and an "automatic"?

2.2 How does an automatic mechanism work?

2.2.1 Are the Seiko Kinetic / Autoquartz therefore automatics?

2.3 What is a watch winder, and do I need one?

Part II: Brands & Accuracy

3.1. What is the best watch made? Is it [insert brand here]?

3.2 How accurate can I expect an [insert brand here] to be?

3.2.1 What does "adjusted" vs. "unadjusted" vs. "regulated" mean?

Part III: Features

4.1 What is a chronometer? What is a chronograph?

4.2 What is a Rattrapante?

4.3 What is a Flyback?

4.4 What is a Column-Wheel?

4.4.1 Are Column-Wheel chronographs better than other types?

4.5 What was the first automatic chronograph movement?

5.1 What is a complication?

5.2 What's a Reserve de Marche?

5.3 What's a Perpetual Calendar?

5.4 What's a Tourbillon?

5.5 What's a Repeater?

Part IIII: Materials

6.1 Should I be concerned about radium on a vintage watch dial? How about Tritium?

7.1 What's the difference between acrylic, mineral, and sapphire crystals?

7.2 How do I remove the scratches from an acrylic crystal?

8.1 If a watch is advertised as "18K", what does that mean?

8.2 What do PVD, CVD, or PE-CVD mean?

8.3 What does Gold-Filled mean?

9.1 What are some other materials used as watch cases?

9.2 How do I remove scratches from my watch?

Part 0: What is in this FAQ?

This FAQ is intended to cover the basics of watches and movements themselves.

It is not a buyer's guide; nor will it tell you where to get the best deal on a Rado. Furthermore, it does not talk about many other important issues, such as how the watch industry works, or even how the TimeZone Forum works. There is a short discussion of watch brands and accuracy (mainly to dispell the belief that the two are strongly linked), but otherwise, it does not concentrate on any particular brand (other than as examples).

While it is based on the contributions of many sources, some of which are not verified, all errors on this particular page are mine, and I will correct them if you point them out. I also have tried to add a bit of spice and atmosphere to the discussion; please let me know if this is a faux pas.

I plan to upgrade the FAQ from time to time with illustrations, where appropriate, to better communicate some of the ideas in here.

PART I: Watch / Movement Basics

1.1 What is a mechanical watch?

A mechanical watch is a device for keeping time, which uses the energy from a wound spring, and keeps time through the highly regulated release of that energy through a set of gears (the wheel train) and an escapement. It differs from the typical quartz watch in that it uses purely mechanical components to keep time. Mechanical watches typically can run for about 40 hours on one full winding of the mainspring, with a few designs available with up to 8 days, or even 10 days, of power reserve. A more in-depth technical explanation, with photographs, of how a watch works can be found in the Horologium article "The Anchor Escapement". Also, it may be useful to peruse a diagram of watch parts residing in the TimeZone archives to familiarize yourself with the lingo. Finally, the Illustrated Glossary of Watch Parts is the definitive guide to see schematics of parts in their natural habitat. (Like animals, they are sometimes easier or more difficult to see in the wild.)

The basic design of mechanical watches has not changed very much in the past fifty years. What has changed is the use of high technology and modern materials in the design and manufacture of watches. Even with the fusion of CAD/CAM, electrospark erosion in the manufacturing, and titanium nitride cases; the pinnacle of watchmaking is still an expression of elegance of design, attention-to-detail in finishing and assembly, and the art of hand-tweaking movements for optimum performance.

A mechanical watch is an anachronism, it is the ultimate refinement of "low" technology; collectively they are an obsession shared by the enthusiasts on TimeZone.

1.1.1 What is the difference between a movement, an ebauche, and a caliber?

A movement is the completed, finished individual mechanism contained inside the case of the watch, not including the case or dial itself, which is responsible for keeping time. An ebauche is typically understood to mean a "raw" or unassembled, unfinished movement, including the major structural components (plates, bridges) and sometimes parts of the wheel train and other moving parts. A caliber is the collective name given to a series of movements of the same design. Many watch companies will purchase complete movements from a major supplier such as ETA or Lemania, engrave their company's name and other information onto them, and encase it with their own or even contractor-supplied cases. This practice can be up-front - where the company acknowledges that the movements are not of their own design or manufacture, or it can be hidden - where the watch company claims to use "in-house" movements when the movements are in no way designed or manufactured internally.

Some watch companies will purchase an ebauche from a major supplier, polish and decorate the parts (i.e. finish the parts), and assemble it with standard parts to create a higher quality-controlled movement than the stock ready-made movement.

Other companies purchase ebauches, finish them to a high standard, modify parts of the movement, and add custom components like an upgraded escapement assembly - to create what might be called a custom version of that movement, much like how Carroll Shelby, AMG, or BMW's "M" division re-engineer existing automobiles to produce something with higher performance and exclusiveness. Many times, the company will rename the caliber as its own to reflect the modifications and finishing of the movement vs. an unmodified stock movement.

There is often a debate on whether a particular company is being deceptive in renaming a movement based on an outside supplier as an in-house caliber. This debate is summed up quite nicely in the article "When a [Valjoux] 7750 ain't a 7750 any longer" by Time Flies and a host of regulars.

It should also be noted that the largest supplier of ebauches in Switzerland, ETA, can provide a wide variety of finishes on its products, from very raw parts to fully finished movements complete with Geneva stripes and other decoration. They even have a subsidiary, Soprod, that can perform custom finishing and even modifications to the basic movement. Therefore, there is by no means a single level of quality that one can ascribe to an ETA movement - there are basic versions all the way up to fully finished ones.

Finally, on TZ it is common to see the word ebauche used to refer to any third party movement, even if it is completely assembled.

1.1.2 What is a "hack" seconds feature?

This, AFAIK, is a military term referring to watches that stop the second hand, to allow for more accurate synchronization between two watches. In the most common type of hacking watch, when the crown is pulled out to the time-setting position, a lever is moved which contacts the rim of the balance, thus causing the movement to stop. John Davis has seen other methods used to stop the movement as well, including brakes on the third or fourth wheel. A. Lange & Sohne have produced a watch that stops the balance when the crown is pulled out and automatically moves the second hand to the "0" position - to help facilitate setting against an accurate time reference.

1.1.3 What does "17 jewels" mean?

Higher grade watches have traditionally used a jeweled movements, which means that jewels (originally natural ruby, now synthetic ruby) were actually used in the movement. These jewels are functional - they are used as the bearings for the wheel trains and in high wear parts such as the escape lever and impulse jewel. A lower-end movement from before 1970 would typically use 5 or 7 jewels; this end of the market has pretty much been taken over by quartz. Nowadays, most manual wind watches will have a standard complement of 17 jewels, which are:

1: Impulse jewel (the part of the balance wheel assembly which receives a kick from the escape lever)
2-5: Balance staff pivot bearings (two pairs - in combinations of one pivot jewel (i.e. jewel with a hole to receive the axle (pivot) of the wheel) and one cap jewel (i.e. jewel without a hole outboard of the pivot jewel, to prevent excessive movement of the balance staff), usually shock protected)
6-7: Escape lever pallets (one pair)
8-9: Escape lever pivot bearings (one pair)
10-11: Escape wheel pivot bearings (one pair)
12-13: Fourth wheel pivot bearings (one pair)
14-15: Third wheel pivot bearings (one pair)
16-17: Center wheel pivot bearings (one pair)

1.1.4 Why do they use synthetic ruby?
Ruby is technically known corundum, and is a crystallized form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3). In pure form, corundum is white in color; trace impurities are added to change the color - to red in the case of rubies. It should also be noted that any other color of corundum (including clear) is known as sapphire. Ruby is used because it is an extremely hard and provides a slick surface for the wheel pivots (and other steel components) to operate on. In a mechanical watch, there is a constant force applied to the pivot of every wheel in the wheel train, which is applied by the wound-up mainspring.. (see my article in TZ Classics on the coefficients of friction for various materials, if you're really interested...) Without any jewels, the steel wheel pivots would very quickly grind away the bridge and plate material until the wheels came out of alignment, and the movement would crash to a halt. In the inexpensive watch of yesteryear, the pivot holes may have been provided with hardened metal bushings.

Ruby is significantly better than steel in handling the forces involved, wearing long, and providing a nice low friction surface suitable for both high-load as well as high-speed motion. With modern production methods, they are cheap (~$0.02 each). And they look nice.

1.1.5 Are more jewels better?
Not necessarily. As noted above, a typical hand-wind movement today will have only 17 jewels as a full complement. Some really high-grade or ultra-thin movements will add a few extra jewels to further protect against any wear, but even these top out at 21-23 jewels. Only those pieces of the movement which are between the mainspring and the escape wheel are candidates for jeweling, as these are the movement parts that experience the large forces or relatively high speeds of the mainspring or escapement. Other components, such as the motion works (i.e. hour and minute wheels), calendar mechanisms, and winding train are not under this constant stress, and thus arguably do not need jewels.

Automatic winding movements will add about 4-8 jewels to help most efficiently transfer the relatively small rotor forces into winding the mainspring. Another factor has to do with how the watch is constructed - especially for chronograph movements and perpetual calendars. Some chronograph movements used today (including the ETA 2894-2) are modular in construction - meaning that a plate containing the chronograph works is grafted onto a basic timekeeping movement. Since the original timekeeping movements were not always designed with this in mind, it becomes critical for the add-on module to add as little "drag" as possible - which may indicate use of jewels for their low friction properties.

BTW, one will occasionally encounter a quartz movement with jewels in it - they technically aren't really necessary because a quartz wheel train is not constantly under stress. There is a discussion of jeweled quartz movements in the archives.

As a historical note, there was a "jewel craze" about 50 years ago, where manufacturers, under the belief that the public thought more was always better, came up with 75 or even 100 jewel movements. Most of these jewels were not functional in any way, and the results looked ludicrous to an informed eye.

1.1.6 What is Shock Protection?
As is fairly obvious, a mechanical watch is made up of numerous tiny parts, many of which are in constant motion. It would not do for an accidental bump to interfere with the watch's ability to keep time due to damaging of the balance pivots. So, watchmakers include "shock-protection" in their watches in the form of a tiny spring that holds the balance staff jewels in place, instead of being rigidly held. This gives a slight amount of give - not enough to disrupt the operation of the watch for more than a moment, but enough to prevent the balance pivots or cap jewels from damage. Shock protection is usually only applied to the balance because the high speeds and regular motion they are designed for - this kind of design goal leads one to small, extremely hard pivots, with most of the weight concentrated at the rim of the balance. These factors combine to make for a lot of broken pivots.

Richard Paige has a short article on the details of how a shock proof system works.

1.1.7 What do the "T", "T‹25", and the lower-case Greek sigma on my watch dial mean? These are optional industry markings, found next to the inscription 'Swiss Made' on some watches, which signify what the markers on the dial are made from.
The "T" means that tritium (a low-level radioactive substance) was applied to make the hands and/or markers glow in the dark. The "T‹25" means the same thing, except it spells out that less than 25 milliCuries of radioactive material is used. See section 6.1 for more information about Tritium.

The lower-case Greek sigma means that the markers are made of solid gold.

1.2 What is a MecaQuartz?
A movement described as a "mecaquartz" is actually a quartz movement that contains many mechanical components. An example is the Jaeger LeCoultre (JLC) Caliber 631, which uses a quartz movement to drive not only an analog hour/minute/second display, but also mechanically drives a chronograph function (see 4.1, below). This differs from a typical quartz chronograph, where the chronograph functions are either digitally displayed in an LCD window (e.g. Breitling Aerospace), or where the chronograph hands are individually driven by separate motors (e.g. Seiko Flight Computer, with four separate motors).

A "mecaquartz" movement as that term is commonly used is not a quartz movement with a mechanical charging system, such as the Seiko Kinetic or Swatch Autoquartz (see 2.2.1, below).

1.3 What is an Accutron?
The Accutron is an electrically driven movement developed in the early 1960's by the Bulova corporation, and was a precursor to the quartz revolution of the late 60's. Instead of having a mechanical balance wheel, the Accutron used a mechanically resonating system very much like a tuning fork to keep a constant vibration rate, and thus time regulation, for the rest of the mechanical movement. Accutrons have a distinctive audible hum when operating, and their second hand is driven at such a high frequency that it truly appears to move continuously, unlike a mechanical watch (which vibrates at 10 Hz or less) or a modern quartz watch. Accutrons were the first major advance using electronics in timekeeping technology over mechanical watches.

Here is an Accutron homepage, which has a lot of good information about history and theory of operation. The Horologium contains great dissection of the Bulova Caliber 214 Accutron movement.

1.4 What do I need to do to keep a mechanical watch running for a lifetime?
Within reason, a mechanical watch can always be brought back into good time keeping, and a jeweled movement can last for generations. However, it is important to periodically service a watch to ensure that the components are well-lubricated, and that the mechanism is free from dust, dirt, and moisture. Any water that gets inside a mechanical watch will wreak havoc with the precision mechanism inside, especially the anchor escapement and escape wheel which are typically made of steel.

The typical rule of thumb is to have the water resistance (i.e., the integrity of the seals in the crown, bezel, and caseback) of a watch checked every year or so, especially if used for sports or diving. With the development of modern synthetic lubricants, most manufacturers recommend a servicing every four or five years.

"How a Watch is Tested For Water Resistance" by Richard Paige and James Dowling, and "Cost of Servicing a Watch" by Walt Odets give much more detail about how these maintenance steps are carried out, and why servicing, which may appear to be costly, is in fact a very involved process when done correctly and worth the investment.

Finally, since the crown is often the only means by which the watch owner can adjust/abuse the movement inside the case, Walt Odets has provided Some Basics In Handling the Crown.

1.5 Why should I get a mechanical watch when a quartz watch is so much cheaper and more accurate?
Yes, Virginia, a quartz watch is cheaper and more accurate than a mechanical watch. A good mechanical watch can typically be made no more accurate than 2-3 seconds per day. Your typical inexpensive quartz is usually good to 0.5 seconds per day or better. For an in-depth analysis, Walt Arnstein has written a technical analysis of quartz vs. mechanical watches. But mechanical watches are not about achieving the ultimate in accuracy. Craftsmanship, aesthetics, and tradition are all part of the allure. Because the wheel train of an analog quartz watch is not under constant stress from a wound mainspring, it does not need to be as finely finished, nor does it require painstaking skill and precision in assembly.

Mechanical watches are good enough for most people's everyday lives, and they call to our emotional side.

Rather than continue, I'll let Mycroft explain; he is much more eloquent. "On Companionship and Soul in Watches"

2.1 What's the difference between a "manual" and an "automatic"?
An "automatic" wristwatch is a mechanical wristwatch with a self-winding mechanism. In other words, one does not have to wind the crown periodically to keep the watch running. A "manual" or "manual wind" watch must be wound by hand, using the crown, usually every day, to operate continuously. If one were going to own only a single watch, and wear it every day, an automatic would be a good choice, since the watch will be worn consistently enough to stay wound - the owner would never need to manually wind the watch, and would only need to adjust the time to compensate for drift and at changeover to daylight/summer time and back. (In fact, several early automatic movements dispensed with the crown and moved the time-setting mechanism onto the back, under the theory that the mechanism would only be accessed infrequently. This turned out to be a marketing flop - people liked the look and easy accessibility of the crown.)

For this reason, most commonly seen watches with more than a simple date window use automatic movements - this includes "triple date" calendars, annual calendars, perpetual calendars, and any of these combined with moonphases (see 5.3 for more information about calendars). With few exceptions (oddly enough, these seem to be more expensive watches), most manual wind watches have simpler calendars, although they may include other complications like chronographs (see section 4.1).

One caveat about automatics - if you have more than one watch that is worn regularly, the automatic winding advantage is lessened - the automatic may stop if not worn often enough. With some calendar mechanisms, this is can be an increased inconvenience when the watch is reset.

Finally, since frequently worn automatics are usually at or near a full state of wind most of the time, one may get the impression that they can be adjusted to be more accurate and consistent over the course of many days. This, in fact, is not necessarily the case, as a manual-wind watch that is wound consistently once per day can be tweaked so that the day to day variation is very small. In short, there is no definite performance advantage to an automatic - it is mostly a convenience.

Justin Time and Walt Arnstein have supplied some general advice about how to start an automatic movement when fully unwound.

2.2 How does an automatic mechanism work?
All self-winding watches work on the principle of converting arm motion (kinetic energy) into the winding of the mainspring (potential energy). Usually, this is performed by a half-disc of metal weighted at the edge called a rotor, which spins when the wearer's arm is accelerated unpredictably (that is, when moved normally in the course of everyday life). This rotary motion is then geared down to wind the central arbor of the mainspring. Walt Arnstein has written an in-depth article about the Physics of the Automatic Watch's Winding System. All automatic watches have an overwind protection mechanism of one sort or another, to prevent breaking the mainspring once fully wound. In a typical system, the mainspring, which is wound at the central arbor of the barrel, is not rigidly attached to the outside of the barrel. Instead, there are a series of detents along the outer edge of the barrel that allow a stiffly constructed mainspring part called the bridle to slide along when an attempt to overwind is made. On some watches, a faint click can be heard when this happens, on others, it cannot be heard. It should be noted that this overwind protection is critical to avoid damage to the watch, and is reported to be one of the more tricky things to get right during a watch service because of the special lubricant needed to ensure proper operation.

The Horologium contains several articles about different types of automatic winding systems, including a vintage JLC/Vacheron automatic, a modern production JLC as in used in the International Watch Company (IWC) Portugieser Automatic (scroll to the bottom of the article), a modern ETA/Eterna system as used in an $85 Swatch Automatic, and an innovative bi-directional system from the IWC Caliber 8541 (now used in the new IWC Cal. 5000).

There is also a series of forum posts by several authors dealing with micro-rotor watches, as illustrated with photographs in this separate article by Hans Zbinden.

2.2.1 Are the Seiko Kinetic / Autoquartz therefore Automatics?
Not quite, but close. The Seiko Kinetic and ETA Autoquartz movements are quartz movements. However, they use a rotor system similar to those used by automatics. The difference is that the rotor's motion is converted to electricity, which is then used to charge a capacitor. The quartz movement then draws current from the capacitor as if it were a battery. It should be noted that the latest generation of autoquartz movements can store enough power to run the watch for several months (or even years in the case of the Seiko Auto-Relay); a mechanical automatic can only store as much power as contained in the mainspring - which is usually only 40 hours or so for most automatics.

2.3 What is a watch winder, and do I need one?
As noted in section 2.1, collectors who have more than one automatic watch may have "difficulty" keeping any one watch going continuously. This leads to increased inconvenience if calendars and moonphases must be reset. A solution has been invented - the automatic watch winder. The idea is quite simple: strap the automatic watch to a motor, which then moves the watch enough to keep it wound when not worn on the wrist. That way, one can choose to wear any watch at any time, and not have to reset the time or calendars. In theory, this device should be simple and cheap.

In practice, it's not as easy as it sounds. First, while an automatic watch has an overwind protection mechanism to avoid damage to the movement, if the overwind mechanism is constantly used for hours at a time (i.e. though constant turning, rather than the unpredictable movement of the human wrist), the lubrication of the mechanism is worn out faster. This means that watch winders must be designed to only make so many turns per day, and to let the watch sit. Furthermore, since automatic winding mechanisms vary from watch model to model, the winder must be designed to have an adjustable number and direction of turns per day. Finally, mechanical watches are considered luxury items, which means watch winders are doubly so - due to the small number of people who would actually want one.

All of this means that manufacturers for the consumer market must not only make their winders mechanically foolproof to avoid damaging watches, but they often construct the winder comparably to a jewelry box. The upshot of all this is that most consumer watch winders with programmable winding are expensive - often costing several hundred or thousand dollars.

While cheaper professional models exist, these often do not come with programmable settings, as the maker assumes that they would be used in a watchmaker's shop.

Last word - winders are not a necessity, they are a convenience. You should decide whether they are worth it based on whether you feel inconvenienced resetting your automatics occasionally, and whether they are worth it to you as a luxury item.

In any case, Jack Freedman (who sells winders) has written a well-balanced article on whether we need watch winders.

PART II: Brands & Accuracy

3.1. Who makes the best watch? Is it [insert brand here]?
In my opinion, the answer to these questions depend almost exclusively on what is important to the person asking them. Consider the following qualities that a watch can have, any of which can be the most important factor in some people's minds:
- Accuracy - how well does the watch keep time?
- Features - can the watch act as a analog or digital calculator? a calendar which never needs setting? keep important phone numbers? can be used when diving to hundreds of meters? double in a pinch as an altimeter, depth gauge, navigation system, and emergency locator? can it be used as a stopwatch? - the variations these days are endless!
- Status - will the other company's negotiator be unconsciously swayed by the fact that I have a recognizable status symbol on my wrist? (Note - I believe that this is a legitimate question for some people!)
- Ruggedness/Dependability - can I wear this watch in combat? can I wear it near strong magnetic fields? will it need a battery replacement at an unacceptable moment?
- Aesthetics - is this watch a work of art? does it fit with my personal sense of taste?
- Craftsmanship - what do the dial, case, and movement say about the skill and care of the watchmakers who made it?
- Cost - how cheap can I get it for?
  
  3.2 How accurate can I expect a [insert brand here] to be?
  This is truly a Frequently Asked Question, in that people will post that they have just bought a new IWC/Rolex/JLC/Revue Thommen/Omega/etc., and it gains/loses X seconds per day - they then ask whether this acceptable for this brand. After reading several articles on this subject, I've come to the following conclusions:
  1. Just about any current production watch is capable of running overall within 1-2 seconds/day - this includes relatively inexpensive brands like Hamilton and ORIS, as well as high-end brands like Patek, JLC, and Lange.
  2. The stability of a given rate can be quite ephemeral, with the instantaneous rate even in a single position varying constantly. This means that the rates for a given watch are constantly drifting - although for higher grade movements the amount of drift tends to be much smaller.
  3. The question of accuracy is more subtle than it appears on the surface. The reason is that, due to the limits of how small components can be, forces will act on the components differently when worn on the wrist vs. when resting in any particular position. In other words, even a watch which has a daily error rate of 4-5 seconds/day in any single position can be made to show zero overall drift though the combination of wearing the watch and letting it sit overnight in a particular position to compensate for drift obtained during wear.
  4. A higher quality watch may or may not be more accurate than a lower quality watch at any given instant in time, but it has the potential to be more accurate. The reason is that a higher quality watch has been adjusted to minimize the variation in error in several positions, and has less drift in the rate over time.
  5. It is a relatively simple operation for a watchmaker to adjust a watch that runs consistentlyfast or slow to near zero error. This operation, which is called regulation - merely increases or decreases the overall rate without compensating for rates in positions.
  Also, the conventional wisdom is that a typical new watch needs to be run-in - in other words, while sitting unused in the jeweler's shop, lubricants pool in certain locations. It takes a couple of months for the lubricants to be properly redistributed, and for the motion to wear away some of the microscopic imperfections that all parts have. Bottom line - let a new watch run for about 2 months before taking it in to be re-regulated. An in-depth discussion of the above concepts are contained in a discussion on the "confusing language of watch "accuracy" by Justin Time.
  
  3.2.1 What does "adjusted" vs. "unadjusted" vs. "regulated" mean?
  These are terms to be used in conjunction with the discussion in section 3.2. An "unadjusted" movement is a movement where no attempt has been made to ensure that the daily error rate in several orientations (positions) have been minimized across the positions. An "adjusted" movement, therefore, has had some extra care in ensuring that the variance in accuracy between several orientations is minimized.
  
  Watches are typically adjusted to 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 positions. Traditionally, they are ordered as follows:
  1. Dial Up
  2. Crown Down
  3. Dial Down
  4. Crown Left
  5. Crown Up
  6. Crown Right
  For example, a watch adjusted to two positions include positions 1 & 2 from the above list (i.e. face up and crown down). Similarly, a watch adjusted for 4 positions has been adjusted in positions 1-4, and so on. Watches can also be adjusted for isochronism (i.e. constant time across varying states of wind) and temperature. Some manufacturers (Franck Muller, some Patek Phillipe) adjusts to 8 positions (the above six plus two half-way orientations); some on the forum would say that this is a bit over-the-top. There is a 3 part, in-depth technical article on adjusting, including photos and commentary on the actual adjusting of a watch, in The Horologium series on "Tweaking the Mark XII".
  
  A "regulated" movement is a when the overall rate of the entire movement (either adjusted or not) is brought into correct absolute timing. Unlike adjustment, this is a simple tweak, which moves the daily rates of all of the positions up or down without intentionally changing the relative rates in positions.
  
  PART III: Features
  
  4.1 What is a chronometer? What is a chronograph?
  These two terms are commonly confused among new watch aficionados. They actually have very little to do with each other. A chronometer is a watch which has passed a test given by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres, or COSC. The COSC is an official Swiss government agency which tests watches to ensure that they fit within a narrow-but-usually-obtainable window of acceptable error (i.e., the rate in all positions falls into the range of -4 seconds/day to +6 seconds/day). While some watch companies tout their products as having a COSC certificate, it really is not that difficult to pass the test, and over 95% of the watches submitted pass. Another factor to consider is that the COSC does not test watches as they are sold in the store, but movements fitted with a temporary case, dial and hands. In addition, the COSC certificate cannot say anything about how the movement was handled after testing. For more information on COSC testing and the meaning of the results reported on the COSC certificate, see Mike Disher's article "Reading and Understanding a COSC Certificate". Several watch manufacturers actually put more stringent tests than the COSC procedures on all of their watch production (the JLC Master Control 1000-Hour series is probably the most well known.) Paul Schliesser has written an essay on how COSC testing is performed.
  
  A chronograph is a watch that tells the time of day and also allows the user to time events of short-to-medium durations (i.e. from a few seconds to a few hours, typically). This is usually done in a mechanical watch through the central seconds hand, and one or more subdials (the regular, or continuous seconds, is also located on a dial). Chronographs are of varying usefulness, and are an interesting complication to put on a watch, as they often give the watch a sporty image. In addition to elapsed time, chronographs are often fitted with several scales designed to measure other things, such as pulse rate or units manufactured per hour. Mike Margolis has written a short discourse on chronograph scales.
  
  A typical modern chronograph is operated with two pushers: one to start and stop the timing, and a second to reset the hands to zero when the timing is stopped. (In some older chronos with only one-button for control, the sequence of pushes was start-stop-reset - there was no provision to continue timing once the mechanism was stopped.)
  
  4.2 What is a Rattrapante?
  A "Rattrapante" is a chronograph with an added second hand, to allow, for example, lap times in a multi-lap event to be read off without stopping the chronograph. A chronograph is usually started with one pusher, which starts both second hands moving (one superimposed over the other). When the operator desires to read an intermediate time, he/she pushes a second pusher. On the dial, one of the second hands stops (the "split" hand), while the main second hand continues. If the second pusher is pressed again, the split seconds hand "catches up" with the main second hand, and is ready to be used again. Interestingly, three languages describe this function in different ways: "Rattrapante" is the French term for "catch up" (describing the motion of the split hand); the German term for this function is "Doppelchronograph", or double chronograph; the English term is "Split Seconds" (describing the appearance of the second hand when the function is activated).
  
  An example of this function is on the IWC Doppelchronograph or Breitling Chronoracer (a mecaquartz (!) rattrapante).
  
  4.3 What is a Flyback?
  A "Flyback" or "Retour a vol" is a function which allows the chronograph to be reset to zero without having to stop the chronograph first (recall that a normal chrono requires one to stop the timing before resetting). This is useful for aviation, where several segments or legs of a route are flown for specific periods of time in sequence; the act of stopping, resetting, and restarting leads to a short delay in the beginning of timing the next leg. This delay, reportedly, can be a factor in some precision military operations, for example. Examples of chronos with flyback include the Blancpain Flyback Chronograph, and the Breguet Type XX Aeronavale.
  
  4.4 What is a Column-Wheel?
  As one can imagine, constructing a chronograph is fraught with the potential for inadvertently stopping or damaging the entire movement. For example, if the reset mechanism was somehow activated while the chronograph was running, large destructive forces would be applied to the entire movement train, which would at the very least jam the movement, and would likely destroy several components. The column wheel was one of the successful early designs to ensure that none of the above happened. If you can visualize the top of a castle turret, with tooth-like battlements, this is what a column wheel looks like. The pushers that control the chronograph rotate this wheel, and the various parts of the chronograph are controlled by fingers that fall into and out of the spaces between the teeth. This ensures that each of the chronograph parts is coordinated properly.
  
  Because producing and finishing a column wheel is labor-intensive, a simpler, easier method of producing chronographs was needed to keep this complication from appearing only in very expensive watches. The most common method is to use an oscillating pinion to coordinate the chronograph start, stop, and reset (i.e. a cam shaped device that rotates back and forth as the various functions are activated.) This allows for reliable operation without nearly as much fiddling and hand adjustment as a column wheel requires, and the pinion can be built using pieces of stamped metal.
  
  These days, relatively few column wheel designs are still being produced - the Zenith El Primero, some Lemania and F. Piguet movements, and (interestingly) a F. Piguet rattrapante mecaquartz are examples. The most common movements, such as the Valjoux 7750 and various Lemania movements (1874, 5100), are not of column wheel design.
  
  Walt Odets dissected a Frederick Piguet column wheel chronograph and an oscillating pinion Valjoux 7750 in the Horologium.
  
  4.4.1 Are Column-Wheel chronographs better than other types?
  Tough question - much like the question of which watch is the best. Certainly column wheels are a traditional method of coordinating the chronograph components, and tradition counts for a lot.
  
  On the other hand, the newer, non-column wheel movements have certainly proved themselves in a variety of demanding situations. Both the column-wheel and non-column-wheel version of the Omega Speedmaster were certified for space flight by NASA. And the non-column-wheel Lemania 5100 has been one of the few mechanical movements to be accepted as sufficiently rugged by modern military forces.
  
  So - much like the question of which watch is best, I suggest that one think about which factors are personally most important in a chronograph, and make the decision from there.
  
  4.5 What was the first automatic chronograph movement?
  The late 60's saw a race among three sets of manufacturers (two Swiss groups and Seiko in Japan) to create the first automatic winding chronograph movement. Interestingly enough, they all succeeded within a few months of each other. This story is documented by Ignacio.
  5.1 What is a complication?
  A complication is defined as a wristwatch function beyond that required for simple hour, minute, and second. More practically, common additions such as a day/date window are typically excluded from this definition. This leaves a wide variety of features that can be either commonly or less frequently found on watches. Chronographs of all flavors have been dealt with in Section 4. This section will discuss some of the more commonly seen (or at least coveted) complications.
  
  5.2 What's a Reserve de Marche?
  A Reserve de Marche, or Power Reserve, is an indicator that displays the approximate number of days or hours left on the current state of mainspring wind. This typically cannot be done by a simple gear train, since a watch is wound from the center arbor of the barrel, and the power is removed from the outer rim of the barrel. Therefore, a gear train that can act as a differential is required to read out the difference between the arbor position and the barrel rim position. This can be a very useful complication, as it lets one know whether a watch is wound before putting it on. This is true for automatics (which may be in any state of wind) or long power reserve watches (such as the Eberhard 8 days, Lange 1, or the new Patek 5100 ten-day reserve).
  
  5.3 What's a Perpetual Calendar? How is it different from an Annual Calendar or Triple-Date?
  A perpetual calendar is the most developed form of the simple date window on a typical watch. It keeps track of date, day-of-the-week, (sometimes weeks), months, year, leap years, and sometimes even centuries. Because of the relatively complex rules governing the Gregorian calendar, including the varying lengths of months, and leap years every four years, a typical perpetual calendar has wheels turning from several times per second (e.g. balance wheel) all the way to once every four years. Because of the complexity of the Gregorian calendar, some perpetual calendars will require an experienced watchmaker open the watch to make an adjustment at AD 2100, or later (assuming that an experienced watchmaker still exists then). Some less complex calendars are also available:

TwoTone · February 5, 2007

Basel and SIHH 2006 in Retrospect

by James Dowling

April, 2006

You may click the images to view larger versions

One of the over-riding emotions at Basel & Geneva is the intensity of the experiences thrust in front of you. At the Basel show (which is only slightly smaller than the state of Rhode Island) you rush from interview to interview, pausing only to rush to the press room, Photoshop the images from the CD they gave you, upload them to the web and then hastily deciphering your notes, dash out a quick story covering the high points, post it on TZ and then charge off to the next interview. In some ways Geneva is even worse; because the organisers pay for everything, they expect to ‘get their money’s worth’ from the press who are fortunate enough to be invited. Meetings are scheduled with rigid precision, perhaps 6 or 7 in a day with only time to grab a quick bite at lunch and the days are followed with evening events which start 1 hour after our last meeting ends but during which we are expected to get back to our hotels and change.

So the chances to pause, reflect and put things into context are pretty much nil; you feel like a hamster on a treadmill. But 2006 was different; however, not by choice. At the end of the first day of the SIHH I had sat through 4 presentations and the evening launch of the new Cartier Doña watch and was back at my hotel a little before midnight. The hours between midnight and 8:20am (when the bus picked us up to head back to the show) were my only opportunity to report on the day. So, I sat down at my desk, fired up my laptop, logged on to the internet, ordered a large pot of coffee from room service and began to Photoshop the day’s images. There was a knock on the door “Room service” I thought to myself, got up to answer the door, caught my foot in the power cord of my laptop and watched in horror as it fell to the wooden floor. I picked it back up, put it back on the desk and when the waiter had gone tried to restart it. The awful noise from the hard disk told me that my attempt was in vain; it sounded like someone rattling ball bearings in a tin can. My hard disk had smashed into fragments, I was screwed.

I went to bed cursing. The following day I popped into the business centre at the show where there were around two dozen computers; however they were of little use to me as none had any photo editing software & I could hardly send stories with no images & I certainly could not post the multi mega pixel images on the CDs straight on to TZ. So, whether I liked it or not; I had time to reflect now & over the next 3 days I attended the press briefings, asked questions, made notes and took my own time over things.

So, now that over a week has passed since I returned from Geneva; here is my more reasoned overview of the show & its trends. I am mostly going to talk about the stuff that the others have ignored and concentrate on the smaller players and the behind the scenes gossip.

The most important thing at Basel & Geneva was only ever mentioned in passing, which is the number of new escapements and balance spirals we will be seeing over the next few years. Whilst Patek, Rolex, GP & AP all had announcements to make at (or in PP’s case, just before) the shows; there was an undercurrent of excitement about the developments just over the horizon. The main focus seemed to be on the silicon balance spirals, with 3 competing groups working on the use of these new materials. The biggest, and best funded group comprises Patek, Rolex & the Swatch group; the second has only one declared member, Girard Perregaux and the third group is thought to be centred around AP. Note the lack of certainty in the last sentence, these are all Swiss companies and are as tight mouthed about their future developments as their banks are about their customers. The one common thread in the discussion about the new use of silicon based materials and the new technologies needed for their implementation was annoyance with Patek Philippe for having made their announcements outside the group in which they are (nominally) a partner. Of course, no-one would go on the record to state this; it was all very Swiss and very “sotto voce”.

Audemars introduced a new escapement at the show, it was unusual in that it involved no new materials, it was a direct escapement as in an Earnshaw chronometer detent escapement and in its first use rotated at 36,000 bph although it had worked perfectly at speeds as high as 43,200 bph for extended periods. It also incorporated twin hairsprings, each offset by 180˚ from each other. What made it interesting, above & beyond the functionality was the fact that it needed no lubrication of the escapement. As this was one of the principal selling features of the Daniels co-axial escapement, I asked how the new AP escapement differed from the Daniels/Omega one and I was told dismissively that the Daniels escapement was cutting edge technology in the 1960s when it was first invented but that the AP one was a 21^st century design. Which, in all honesty, didn’t really answer the question, but what did I expect?

Speaking of 43,200 bph speeds, somewhat lost in the introduction of new Spring Drive watches, Seiko quietly announced a production movement running at this speed. The ND58 shows once again that Seiko really are perhaps the leading company in watch innovation today. Another thing I really liked from Seiko this year was a display of prototype watches commissioned from young designers, this is an annual project that Seiko have been running for a few years and the results varied from ridiculous to really interesting. What was nice was that none of the designers had any fixed preconceptions about what a watch should look like & so some fairly off the wall designs were produced. My personal favourite was the lady’s black & white watch inspired by the tiles used in the Japanese game ‘Go’.

Hardly ever mentioned at the reports from these shows was the number of introductions of new lady’s watches. I would say that perhaps 60% of the introductions were of new watches for the fairer sex. Because we are predominantly a male oriented board, we overlook (at our peril) the developments going on with lady’s watches. Companies as disparate as Girard Perregaux and Parmigiani put as much emphasis in their press presentations on their lady’s watches with complications as they did on their man’s watches. And for Cartier, their sole new line being introduced at SIHH this year was, La Doňa; which was obviously a lady’s only line.

Something really interesting happened at the V&C press introduction; they showed 3 new platinum watches and one of them was a simple oversized manual wind dress watch with a platinum dial, called the Patrimony. As usual, after the presentation was over we were invited to handle the watches and there was almost warfare amongst the members of the press as to who would get to handle it. From a press group of 9 people, 3 of us took the V&C guy aside to ask what kind of discount we might obtain and one of the group (not myself) actually ordered one of the first made. This was the first time I have ever seen a member of the horological press put their money where their mouth is.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I heard at the shows was said at the introduction of the new Richard Lange model from Lange & Söhne; “There have been too many complications introduced recently, that no-one neither needs nor wants”. However the impact of this statement was somewhat diminished when after the introduction of the Richard Lange they then introduced the Datograph Perpetual Calendar.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like unusual solutions to common problems and the new watches from Ventura certainly fit that criterion. This year they made the brave decision to drop all analog dial watches and concentrate only on digital ones. What made them interesting to me was that most of them were mechanically powered; I like the simple operating system they use with a single ‘jog wheel’ and absolutely no buttons and I also like the new ‘driver’s’ watch which sits on the side of your wrist and I really like the way they have displayed the rotor of the automatic winding on the top of the case. Obviously this is not going to appeal to everyone, but little in life does.

Sometimes you find stuff you like in the strangest places; I have always had strong admiration for Daniel Roth watches, but it was admiration from a distance; and a distance of my choosing. Whilst his watches may have been beautifully made & almost austere in design, there was something about his insistence on one size and one case design that struck me as just too restrictive. However this year’s introduction broke new ground for him; for the first time the company made a watch in a different size and not only a different size but a much larger one. This was the Athys, a slim, manual wind dress watch which used a 1950s IWC pocket watch movement. It used the classic Roth case shape but by making it larger & slimmer, it looked completely different. The dial was gorgeous with three textures and the use of the 3 armed seconds hand was only possible by making a cut-out in the inner case.

Another company which sticks to one case style is Jaquet Droz, they are one of the smallest companies in the Swatch group portfolio. They make only around 2,500 watches a year, but what watches they are. The history of Jaquet Droz goes back over 200 years and they were the company who made the finest enamelled watches of all time. Carrying on this tradition the modern J-D make the watches with the nicest enamel dials I have ever seen; they are beautifully simple and with amazing detail work. Their movements are from F. Piguet with additional modules which are reserved for J-D.

One of the strongest themes at both shows was ‘heritage’ and whilst there were fewer reintroductions of vintage models (or at least their names) than in previous years; pretty much every stand had some of their old models on display or images of their workshops in the 1940s as a background. Some companies focus very strongly on their heritage, Cartier for example, but they do have a strong heritage and they almost always get it right. Some who have an equally strong heritage, such as Longines, can get it right with their Lindberg watch and go, oh so wrong with their Spirit line. At first glance, they look gorgeous with cushion shaped cases and either black or white ‘enamel’ dials with perfectly aged large luminous hands and numbers; but a closer look shows the date window cut right into the dial and it suddenly looks anachronistic. There was only one way to make this watch look even worse & Longines found it, put the damned thing on a bracelet. So near & yet so far.

The Panerai presentation spent as much time talking about the Ferrari relationship as about their introductions. Despite what was implied in last year’s presentation, there were no new versions of their in-house movement, although the production version was slightly modified from the prototypes we saw last year. What was never mentioned but was only displayed in the cases outside were the prototype cases made in a variety of interesting materials, ranging from ceramics to anodized titanium. I would like to have learned more about them.

When we get to talking about watches with tourbillons it is obvious that ‘need’ does not enter into the equation; but I am still unsure as to the need for a tourbillon diver’s watch, especially in 18k pink gold. But that was one of the highlights of G_P’s introductions this year, along with hints about a new escapement that's in the works. I am unsure as to whether I was more impressed by G-P’s or A-P’s presentations this year; I think I shall have to call it a tie. Their WWTC World Time perpetual calendar was a stunning piece and despite all the complications, it did not look over fussy, as some of these watches so easily can. In contrast to Longines Spirit, G-P showed how to do a vintage inspired watch; their Vintage 1945 chronograph had a gorgeous vintage styled case with a modern dial and hands layout that, for me at least, worked much better than the Longines. Their new Laureto introduced an answer to a question I had never heard asked. Instead of driving the moonphase disc by a series of wheels which usually meant that it stepped between 29½ positions, G-P chose to mount the moonphase disc directly on to the barrel which meant that it had a smooth step less movement. But, I have to say that my favourite GP watch was the 3 bridges tourbillon with sapphire bridges allowing a perfect view of the movement. As we started talking about G-P by mentioning a ‘Sport Tourbillon’, it seems somehow symmetrical to finish with one.

No-one ever mentions Harry Winston except to discuss their latest Opus model, but I have to say that I am knocked out with one lady’s watch I saw on their stand, it was a bangle design, quite simple for HW but what made it gorgeous was that the bangle was made from ebony. I know that most of you are going to look at the image & dismiss it immediately because it is a lady’s watch, it has diamonds on it & it is quartz & I know for some of you, even one of those attributes is enough to consign the watch to oblivion. But I ask you to look again and admire the way someone has had the audacity to think outside the box in design terms, look closely at the way the diamonds are set and pay attention to the ‘rope’ of diamonds near the clasp. Admire it not so much as a watch, rather as a piece of art; the craftsmanship involved in a watch such as this is equal to, if not higher than that needed to make a Patek Philippe perpetual calendar; it is just mastery of a different craft, that is all.

If we are to talk about lady’s diamond quartz watches, then there was another one I really admired too; it was from the famed Parisian Jeweller, Van Cleef & Arpels. Named the ‘Secret’ it is a stunning white gold & diamond piece where the watch slides out from the main case body like a drawer. It is an elegant solution to the problem first answered by Reverso. Also from VC&A was another clever piece of lateral thinking. In their men’s Monsieur Arpels watch the power reserve is displayed in a lateral window carved into the side of the case at 9 o’clock. I like it because the power reserve is not something we need all the time & that side of the case is perfect place for it.

I try to be impartial at watch shows, but in truth it is impossible to look at new watches without the preconceptions carried over from previous encounters. Anyone who knows me knows that I like simple timepieces, easily readable and preferably waterproof. In truth, I like watches I don’t have to think about, watches I can put on & forget; comfortable in the knowledge that they will always be there and be readable in a quick single glance. So, when I walked into the Roger Dubuis press conference at the SIHH, I went almost reluctantly and carrying the preconceived idea that his stuff is flashy, gaudy, of no horological significance and, frankly irrelevant. This is where I have to stand up, put my hand on my heart and admit I was wrong; the first thing they did at the conference was to announce their new calibres (note the plural). It is a big deal when Patek or Rolex introduce a new calibre; that Wednesday Dubis introduced SIX. And not just simple time only pieces, they were:

RD 05 a large 15”’ manually wound tourbillon with centre seconds
RD 09 a small size 10”’ manually wound tourbillon designed for lady’s watches
RD 77 automatic simple time only calibre 13.75”’ with subsidiary seconds
RD 78 automatic column wheel chronograph 13.75”’ with 45 min counter at 3
RD 79 automatic split seconds chronograph with twin column wheels, 13.75”’ with 45 min counter at 3
RD 1448 automatic winding with 3 independent time zones powered by the movement 13.75”’

OK, the observant amongst you will have noticed that 3 of the watches are essentially variations on the same theme; nevertheless I consider the company’s ability to design and manufacture 6 new calibres within one year to be nothing short of astonishing. And let us be frank, these are not announcements like some other companies’ announcements (which might more correctly be called ‘vapourware’); these were finished movements already installed in working watches. I had the pleasure of handling all six of the new calibres in their transparent shipping cases and the quality of construction displayed therein was astonishing. The Geneva stripes, anglage and tolerances were what I would expect from the finest independent and well worthy of the Geneva seals they proudly bore. In all honesty, if I could get him to make me one, I would happily wear the split seconds chronograph in a simple round steel case.

The reason that RD is able to do all this is that he set up his factory within the last decade and so has the latest tooling & equipment. Obviously it is not all done by CAD/CAM & spark erosion machinery; there are over 400 people employed at his 140,000 sq foot factories (which will be 200,000 sq feet by the year’s end) and I was suitably impressed to hear that he makes every part of every movement, including the hairsprings and complete escapements.

It goes without saying that I am not a big fan of the styling of the cases of his watches, however, that is a matter of personal taste and whilst most ‘watchnerds’ would also avoid them; I (for one) am grateful that the people who DO buy his watches are buying something with a true horological content. And if buying these watches is keeping 400 plus watchmakers and the most adventurous movement design team in Switzerland fully employed, then I am glad that not everyone shares my taste.

Speaking of manufacturers who are not to my taste, Franck Muller has to be one of them; I have always considered his stuff to be too gaudy and lacking in any kind of class. But at shows like this I try not to let my bigotry get ahead of my reporting duties; so, when the UK press lady asked me if I would like to meet Mr. Muller I gladly accepted. I am glad I did; as, along with 4 other members of the press group, I got to spend an interesting couple of hours with him and found him a compelling character. Although there is a substantial factory with every possible machine at his bidding, he works alone in a separate building & builds all his prototypes himself by hand. I asked him if he was already working on watches for next year’s shows and he surprised me by saying that he actually works five years in advance, not one. He described how most of his designs come from interactions with people he meets on his travels. Several years ago he met with some merchant bankers in London & one of them complained about having to wear 2 watches because he needed to know the time in 3 timezones & no-one made a watch that met his requirements. FM went back to Geneva and from that meeting developed the ‘Master Banker’ watch. Similarly when he was in Las Vegas he was dining with Steve Wynn (who owned the Bellagio at the time) and Wynn was talking about how Roulette was the only ‘classy’ game in town, it was from this conversation that Muller came up with the idea of the ‘Vegas’ watch. Despite these inspirations, he does not accept individual commissions, although he has been asked many times to make custom watches for (obviously very wealthy) clients. Despite the obvious importance of the Geneva show to his business, unlike most manufacturers he does not schedule his product introductions only for this time, later this year (most probably around September) he will introduce a lady’s watch with multiple complications and his first sports watch, a diver’s model. Currently he is producing around 50,000 watches a year, considerable more than Patek & AP combined; not bad for someone usually not considered worthy of discussion here on TZ.

Muller’s show held at their atelier in Genthoud, just outside Geneva, is as flamboyant as their watches, we were driven there in a fleet of Maserati Quattroporte cars and on arrival discovered that our cars were the cheapest in the array of vehicles parked there. A couple of Rolls Phantoms, several Bentleys and a pair of true exotics, a Maserati MC12 and a Pagani Zonda (not even a standard one, at that; no, this was one of the 650bhp F club sport ones) were arrayed outside. And this was a key signature of both Basel and Geneva, luxury; whether flamboyant like Muller or discreet like Piaget; the whole effect was designed to make you think that by purchasing their product you would gain an entry to this lifestyle. And nowhere was this more obvious than at the parties thrown by the brands; some were small and select, like Chopard’s where some of the rarest wines in the world were available for tasting by those honoured enough to gain an invite, whilst others were just gigantic, like IWC’s held in an aircraft hanger at Geneva airport. Here 3 or 4,000 guests sipped champagne and tucked into spoon sized portions of haute cuisine, I discovered that the more expensive the party, the smaller the portion sizes, I called it ‘microfood’ and frankly hated the whole concept. Despite my dislike of the portion sizes, the IWC party was by far the best of the shows, as I mentioned, it was held in an aircraft hanger and this was because they had 2 full sized aircraft on display; their own Junkers Ju-52 and a Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire. Both were available for examination and 100 person lines formed to gain admission to them. After the microfood was cleared away, there was dancing to Ronan Keating and his band.

If IWC gave the best party, then who was my star of the show? After much mulling over, I came down to either G-P or A-P, both of whom have new escapements in the works, as well as interesting and exciting watches; but in the end I have to give the nod to Girard Perregaux, mainly because I think it was more unexpected from them. I would like to thank anyone who has had the time and patience to read through all of this.

Courtesy TimeZone

TwoTone · February 6, 2007

BlancpaiN

Le Brassus 8 Jours

and Caliber 13R0

by Ron DeCorte

November, 2006

Click the watch images to view larger versions

Sometimes things are not as they seem. This is especially true in the Vallee de Joux Switzerland, home of the Blancpain manufacture. So it was as I headed out from my small apartment in the Vallee that all seemed quiet on that mid-August morning, calm and serene with little hint of change in the air.

Five minutes later, arriving in Le Brassus, things were much the same as I remembered. The Blancpain manufacture, sitting a few hundred meters up from the village center, is deceiving in size and understated presence. The only thing I knew prior to opening the front door was that Blancpain had a new movement they wanted to show me. What I learned during the course of the day is that the wheels of development can turn without disturbing the tranquil environment of Vallee de Joux.

I’ll pause for a moment to set the stage in more detail so as to make the remaining parts of this article a bit more clear in terms of chronology. I first met the new Blancpain 13R0 movement in August of 2006 and made all movement photographs during that time at the Blancpain manufacture in Brassus. Upon my return to Switzerland in mid-October, I was able to photograph the finished watch, “Le Brassus, 8 Jours" in Geneve. As a matter of convenience, I will reverse the process in this article bringing you first the finished watch and then the movement details.

The “Le Brassus, 8 Jours” is the first watch to use the totally new 13R0 movement, of in-house manufacture, from Blancpain. It’s the new 13R0 movement that is the star of this article (by the way that’s a zero at the end of the movement designation). Using three barrels, the 13R0 achieves 8 days of power reserve and according to Blancpain will be the movement design they will use as a base for some Blancpain watches, with the possible exception of the tourbillons.

Available only in 0,950 platinum and limited to 260 pieces, the "Le Brassus, 8 Jours" shows off its Blancpain heritage with clean, simple, and classic design.

The dial is clear, free of extraneous clutter, and easy to read. At the 12 O’clock position the 8 day power reserve indication is raised slightly above the other markers. Applied hour markers are located on the second tier, and a date window at 6 O’clock completes the dial functions.

From the back and side, and I’m giving you several different photos here, the movement is really quite special.....

Click here to view an animation of the 13R0 in .wmv format (requires Windows Media Player)

Click here to view an animation of the 13R0 in .mov format (requires QuickTime)

The 13R0 movement is decorated in typical high grade finish with Geneve waves (Cote de Geneve). I suppose this terminology has its roots in the wave patterns on Lake Geneve (Lac Leman).

Several plates and/or bridges can be laid out on a single plate of metal and machined simultaneously. In this case, the center wheel bridge and escapement cock are machined from a single block and the Geneve waves are applied prior to the individual pieces being separated.

Many of the larger jewels are set in “chanton-like” settings. In earlier days gold chantons were used to set the jewels and the chantons then set into the plates and bridges. Times have changed. With today’s technology it’s far more accurate to make a very precise hole for the jewel directly into the plate or bridge and then make a sink, or recess, around the jewel that gives the impression of a chanton-set-jewel. This isn’t an easy process but makes a great impression, and more importantly establishes greater accuracy in wheel and pinion placement.

If you have a keen eye for detail, you might notice that the balance wheels photographed in this article are of two different colors: gold and grey. In both instances, the balances are made from titanium, but in one case the titanium is plated with gold and in the other case not. Since making these movement photographs in August, Blancpain has decided that the balance wheels will be natural titanium gray.

The titanium balance wheel uses 4 timing (regulating) screws to make fine timing adjustments. Given that titanium is incredibly light, it is the gold balance screws that are at the heart of timing regulation.

As for the timing screws, the head is of square shape rather than the usual slotted type. This shape facilitates easy manipulation for the final timing, and also reduces the possibility of damage via a typical screwdriver.

The balance spring is a Breguet type over-coil and uses no regulator, in other words free sprung.

With the Balance cock and barrel(s) bridge removed, we can have a better look at how the three barrels work. Barrel “A” is the first barrel in the chain and is directly connected to barrel “B” via their perimeter teeth. The mainsprings used in barrels “A” and “B” are 0,09mm thick, and importantly these mainsprings are not directly connected to the barrels but instead use a slipping bridle the same as an automatic watch. Also connected to barrel “B” is the power reserve mechanism “C”. Barrel “B” and barrel “D” are directly connected via their barrel arbors by intermediate wheel “E.” Barrel “D” differs from barrels “A” and “C” in that the mainspring is thicker, 0,10mm, and is also directly connected to the barrel at its outer end.

So here’s how it all works together to provide an 8 day power reserve for the 13R0: as the watch is wound (this is a manual winding watch), the mainsprings of barrels “A” and “C” are wound in tandem since they are directly connected via their outer teeth. As barrels “A” and “C” gather strength together this power is transferred to barrel “D” that feeds the power directly to the time train and the escapement. In a nutshell, barrels “A” and “C” are the power reserve that feed barrel “D” that is the stabilizer in the equation of power that is ultimately transferred to the escapement. It’s via the external coupling of barrels “A” and “C” that provides a consistent amount of power to barrel “D” that the 13R0 can maintain stable amplitude of power to the escapement over the period of 8 days.

Under the dial, the calendar mechanism is a bit unique. When manually setting the date forward at the end of certain months, wheel “A” engages with the date disc to move it forward. If trying to set the date in reverse the shape of wheel “A” disengages it from the date wheel and allows no action, or damage to the calendar mechanism.

On a day to day basis it is wheel “B” that makes one revolution per day, and via the spring attached moves the date ring one position, or one day in advance. Jumper arm “C” and its tension spring “D” see to it that the calendar disk is firmly positioned at each jump of the date.

For more information please visit the Blancpain web site: www.blancpain.ch

TwoTone · February 8, 2007

INDUSTRY NEWS – Richemont Group 2006 Results

Jan 29, 2007 - 10:48 AM

The Richemont Group has unveiled their last quarter of 2006 operating results.

They state: "All of the Group's specialist watchmakers reported underlying double-digit sales growth. Panerai, A. Lange & Söhne, IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre reported the strongest growth during the three-month period ending December 2006."

A complete results statement is attached as a PDF.

Richemont Financials

TwoTone · February 8, 2007

ETA AUTOMATIC WINDING

WALT ODETS

The automatic winding system first developed by Eterna (which joined ETA in 1932) is certainly the most widely used bidirectional system in the world. With the possible exception of the Jaeger Le Coultre switching-rocker system

<h3 align="center"></h3> (which does not rely on click wheels) it is perhaps also among the most reliable. With reference to the illustration above the power flow from rotor to mainspring (yellow arrow) is illustrated for clockwise rotation of the winding rotor (green hub, with a large lighter green area indicating the rotor mass). Both click wheels are turned by the rotor, but the click between upper and lower wheel is engaged only on the left click wheel (upper and lower are not engaged on the right). Power is thus transmitted from (1) the rotor to (2) the upper left wheel, to (3) the lower left wheel, to (4) the lower right wheel, to (5) the first reduction gear, to (6) the second reduction wheel, and to (7) the mainspring barrel itself. The reduction wheels are necessary to reduce the fast, low torque movement of the rotor into slower, higher-torque movement adequate to wind the mainspring.

With counter-clockwise rotation of the rotor (illustrated below), the upper and lower right click wheels are engaged, while the upper and lower left wheels are disengaged. Thus power flow is transmitted from (1) the rotor to

(2) the upper right wheel, to (3) the lower right wheel, to (4) the first reduction gear, to (5) the second reduction wheel, and to (6) the mainspring barrel itself.

Because the rotor gear and both upper click wheels are constantly engaged, it can be seen that clockwise rotor motion produces unproductive "idling" rotation of the upper right click wheel during winding. With counter-clockwise rotation of the rotor, idling rotation of both the upper and lower left click wheels occurs. (The JLC switching rocker also eliminates this action).

Courtesy TimeZone

TwoTone · February 8, 2007

A HEUER BEFORE IT WAS TAG

BY WALT ODETS

In the days before it was Tag Heuer, it was Edouard Heuer. Founded in 1860 in Edouard's St. Imier workshop, the company quickly became known for timers. Over the first century of its existence, Heuer was known primarily for hand and wrist timers, and in 1911 became well known for the first automobile, dash-mounted timer. Five years later, in 1916, Heuer produced the first chronograph with 1/100th second resolution, and in 1933 produced the first dash chronograph for use in race cars.

While Edouard Heuer was responsible for these early innovations in chronograph design, for most of the 20th century the company was not a movement manufacturer. Instead, Heuer produced a variety of wrist chronographs using the movements of Hahn Landeron, and especially Valjoux (including the calibers 69, 71, 72, 69, 92, 230, and VZH).

It was not until 1969, with the introduction of the caliber 11 (jointly developed by Heuer, Breitling, and Hamilton), that Heuer could be said to have produced a movement of its own. Later in the 20th century, with the 11 out of production, Heuer once again turned to other movement makers, notably Lemania and the caliber 5100.

Regardless of the source of the ebauches, Heuer produced a large number of fine wrist chronographs like that illustrated left. A classic Swiss castle-wheel design operated by two case pushers, this movement is typical of mid-grade production of its day. By today's standards, however, it is a very high-grade piece of work. In an 18K case, such a movement may be commonly had for less than US$1,000, a bargain in today's market. Comparable or better quality in a contemporary chronograph would require the expenditure of many thousands of dollars.

The inside of the 18K case back shows service marks scratched into the gold, a common practice until later in the 20th century. The ink mark ("BX5") is now a more common practice and preserves the integrity of the piece.

In the classic Swiss chronograph, it is the castle (or column) wheel (right, 1) that coordinates the various functions of the chronograph. The beaks of the start, stop, and reset-to-zero levers (2) either fall between or land on top of the wheel pillars. Because the castle wheel rotates as one piece, the coordination of functions is assured. Note the castle-wheel activation lever at 3.

At left, a close-up of the castle wheel reveals a nicely made, if not truly excellent, mechanism. The beak of the start lever (1) has fallen between pillars, while that of the brake lever (2) is lifted by a pillar to release the brake. It is thus that the castle wheel coordinates the start, stop, and reset functions of the chronograph.

The chronograph center wheel (1) with its reset heart-cam (2) is shown right, and below...

...engaged with the chronograph intermediate wheel. The intermediate wheel powers the chronograph center wheel from the fourth wheel. The large, straight-cut intermediate wheel teeth and fine center wheel teeth are characteristic of traditional chronographs. On starting, the uncertain engagement of these teeth accounts for the commonly seen hesitation or jump of the center sweep hand.

The fourth wheel (1), intermediate wheel (2), and chronograph center wheel (3) are illustrated left. Note the two eccentric screws (arrows) that adjust the travel of the intermediate wheel bridge (and thus depth of engagement of the wheel with the center wheel) and the minute totalizer (4).

The very elegant, single reset-to-zero lever (1) and its nicely made spring (2) are shown below. Note also the brake lever (3) and the generally very nice finishing of parts. Such construction is seen only in the finest contemporary chronographs.

True vintage chronographs are not to everyone's taste, in part because they often require some repair and restoration. Factory parts are often not available. In the example at hand, a broken jumper spring required the fabrication of a new steel part, a two-day job accomplished by hand.

For those with the time and inclination, however, vintage chronographs are an opportunity. The Heuer pictured here, and numerous other chronographs from mid-line manufacturers such as Breitling, Universal, Eberhard, Zodiac, Pontifa, Delbana, Bovet, Excelsior Park, and Mido, offer a relatively affordable and interesting glimpse into an important segment of Swiss horological history.

TwoTone · February 10, 2007

DON'T ASK ME WHY THEY CALL IT THE TIME CUBE

By Walt Odets

Can we talk? Is there anything about this automatic watch winder (right) that reminds you of a cube? Are there eight days in the week? Sixteen months in the year? One hundred and two years until that extra leap year that your $25,000 perpetual can't account for? I don't think so.

The Time Cube is definitely a rectangle--a rectangular parallelpiped, to be exact. But it's a good one if you want to keep a pair of automatic watches properly wound. After almost fifteen years with four utterly reliable Cyclomatics, I have been using a Time X for about six months. I have tried several others in the meanwhile, including three from Scatola. All in all, the Time X is quite clearly the best winding box I've used.

The Time X offers extremely robust mechanical construction, an elegant and impeccable leather and chrome finish (for those who keep a box on the dresser rather than in a safe), and something that I have never seen before on a winder. The number of turns per day is completely adjustable. Although the instructions with the unit are not completely clear on the actual rotations represented by the dial markings (1 through 10), I would estimate that they correspond to between 100 and 1200 turns per day. Position 1 turns the watch for 30 seconds every 35 minutes. Every additional increment on the dial (2 through 10) adds 30 seconds to the wind period.

Ideally, we would want to place a watch on a winder in a partially wound condition (e.g. after sitting over night) and then keep it at a partial state of wind. Full wind offers no running advantage and a winder that keeps a watch fully wound unnecessarily wears the mainspring barrel wall and mainspring bridle, and keeps the wheel train under maximum load. I like the Time X. Most of my watches keep running at setting 4.

The Time X holds one watch in the front chamber, a second in the back. Direction of rotation can be switched. The panel switch markings (above, left) read for the front chamber. The watch in the back can be made to rotate either direction by inserting it facing in or facing out.

The--ahem--"watch attachment mechanism" is a foam ball (right), which lacks je ne sais quoi. It just doesn't feel up to the standards of the rest of the unit. In practice, however, it is the most convenient method I've used in a winding box, is perfectly secure, and allows no possibility of scratching the back or bracelet of a watch. Get used to it. It may look funky, but you'll actually like it.

There is one detail of the Time X's design and construction that I particularly like. The micro motor drives a massive tube (that holds the watches on their foam inserts) by means of a rubber belt. The mass of the tube and the isolation of the motor by the belt prevent the watches from being subjected to high frequency vibration. I suspect this will prevent a lot of loose screws that might otherwise occur with a higher vibration design.

There are a lot of other details. The unit runs on two "D" cells or AC, and several units can be attached together to form a single physical unit and run on a single AC adapter. The manufacturer cites a one year life for the batteries, but this would depend on the number of daily rotations. The watches are magnetically shielded from the motor, and the heat of the motor keeps the interior of the box dry, but not warm. The unit is completely silent in operation.

If I have a single complaint about the Time X, it is that it is a rather large and heavy unit to wind only two watches, and it must be turned around to insert or remove the second watch. It has the heft of a piece of equipment that might do something more than wind a watch--something like hoist the family sedan for a tire rotation. Three or four of these bolted together would be a back doctor's dream come true. But it's a small complaint, and one that pays off in the really good physical construction of the unit.

I encouraged Richard Paige to offer the Time X in the TimeZone Store because of the excellent construction, relatively good value, and adjustability. If you get a Time X, adjust the rotation dial down until the watches run down in two or three days. Then simply go up one increment on the rotation dial. You'll do your watches a favor.

Courtesy TimeZone

TwoTone · March 8, 2007

The Patek Philippe ref. 5960 is the 2006 TimeZone Watch of the Year!

Hello All,

The voting is now closed and I am pleased to announce that the Patek Philippe ref. 5960 is the 2006 TimeZone Watch of the Year! This year's competition presented a neck and neck David v. Goliath race between Patek and the H. Moser & Cie. Perpetual 1, and Patek gained the victory by a margin of 15 votes. The Credor Sonnerie finished in third position.

Congratulations to Patek Philippe, to all of the finalists, and to everyone who took the time to cast a vote!

Courtesy TimeZone

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