gran Posted May 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 New Task!!! Clue: this watch has a single power source (hand wind) Qs:What kind of movement is this and what horologist made this watch? and who was granted a US patent for this clockwork setup 100 years or so earlier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Hmm...I tried... But you've beaten me, you sly fox! :fox4: Any other takers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Clue number 2: This watch has two balance wheels. The aim is to even out the effects of gravity on the escape hairspring, alternative solution to the problem than a tourbillion, and is much more rare to see than a tourbillion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Ah, you're too kind! Philippe Dufour! The movement is a double escapement. Not sure about the US patent.... Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swdivad Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Well hes got Davidws's arms Ken Hey Leave my hairy-assed gorilla arms outta this... at least he don't have my face Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Ah, you're too kind! Philippe Dufour! The movement is a double escapement. Not sure about the US patent.... Cheers! Good work! Now go find out the details Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 OK! I will fill in the details and the information is from this link: http://www.qahill.com/tz/conant/conant.html Multiple Escapements By Ron DeCorte, Toledeo, OH ThePuristS.com March 19, 2002 I was fortunate enough to have worked with Philippe Dufour during the summer of 1995 and winter of 1995-96 encompassing the development and manufacture of the first Duality watches. Later, in 1997, I wrote a detailed technical article describing the operation of Duality for the AWI (American Watchmakers Institute) that was published in their magazine, Horological Times, June 1997. (The March 1998 issue of Horological Times also contains an article on Duality, one that is more of an overview than technical.) During my involvement with Duality I did a lot of research regarding multiple escapement timepieces. It wasn't until 1887 that I could find a patent for a multiple escapement timepiece that used a "single" power source. Prior to 1887 it seems that all multiple escapement timepieces used individual power sources for each escapement. On August 23, 1887 a US patient was granted to Mr. Hezekiah Conant of Pawtucket, RI for a multiple escapement "Improved Isochronal Clock" (see figures below). A detailed description of Mr. Conant's clock is that of a floor standing clock with a single weight driving four completely independent, seconds beating, dead-beat escapements. This clock was later manufactured by E. Howard & Co. for Tiffany & Co. and was eventually owned by the Time Museum in Rockford, IL. I saw this clock on several occasions when I visited Rockford, and it was exceptionally impressive and massive! An interesting aspect of this clock was that it had the normal concentric arrangement of hour, minute, and seconds' hands on a large central dial, but there was also 4 smaller seconds' dials arranged in a straight line across the bottom of the dial panel showing the exact rate of each individual escapement. In 1890 an 8 day marine chronometer covered under Mr. Conant's 1887 patent was constructed bearing the names Conant and Tiffany, the actual manufacture was most likely in England. This marine chronometer also used a single power source to drive 4 independent spring detent escapements and as with the above mentioned clock had 4 small seconds' dials to indicate the exact rate of each individual escapement. This chronometer was also eventually owned by the Time Museum in Rockford IL and was prominently documented in a wonderful book by Anthony G. Randall entitled "The Time Museum Catalogue of Chronometers" published by The Time Museum, Rockford, IL, in 1992. In the early 1930's, at the Ecole Technique in LeSentier (Vallee de Joux) Switzerland, there was approximately 6 pocket watches made by individual students using two escapements and a single power source. Some of these watches used stationary escapements and at least one used a double tourbillion. An example of these watches was also eventually owned by the Time Museum in Rockford IL and featured in the book by Anthony G. Randall. And so, for 60 years, the idea of multiple escapements seems to have lost favor. And along came Philippe Dufour, a former student at the Ecole Technique in LeSentier, who decided to take the idea of multiple escapements (with a single power source) one step further - a wristwatch. And the rest as they say is history! Isochronal Clock Patent Hezekiah Conant U.S. Patent No. 368,814 1887 Note that a time piece acn have multiplke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Interesting link - thank you! On my internet travels I did come across a different 19c clock with a double escapement, although it probably didn't have a 'single power source'. It was used as a timer for a bank vault. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 New task!!! "Before X invented this movement, watches were wound using little keys, which invariably went missing According to the Geneva-Society-of-Arts in 1776, "Master X, watchmaker, has made a watch that winds itself in the wearer's pocket as he walks; 15 minutes' walk suffices to make the watch run for 8 days . Owing to a slopwork, continuation of the walking motion cannot damage the watch." Who is the man we are looking for and is there are brand carrying his name still active today? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Ah we are back in Abraham-Louis Perrelet territory, I believe! And yes, in true Swiss 'faux historical firm' style (they are replica firms ) you can buy your own Perrelet to this day. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Perrelet it is Now I think it is your turn to ask some more difficult questions cornerstone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adeeos Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Can you identify this person and his importance in/for the watch industry/horology? g. He's the Swatch CEO Nickolas Hayek .......... Whadd'a I win?.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Now I think it is your turn to ask some more difficult questions cornerstone I'll try to come up with something devious.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 NEW QUESTION Perhaps this is a daft one, I dunno.... What is special about this part of a movement? What is point of this part (i.e. what does it achieve)? And to what watch does it belong? Best of luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 First I found this: The chain-and-fusee winding system Chain and fusee From "Diderot et d'Alembert", 1751 -1772, Horlogerie, page CC. Then I stumbeled onto the correct path: In memoriam to Günter Blümlein: The Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” The Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” by A. Lange & Söhne is the world’s first one-minute tourbillon in a wristwatch format featuring a fusée-and-chain transmission combined with a chronograph with rattrapante functions. TOURBOGRAPH “Pour le Mérite” Platinum watch (41.2 mm diameter x 14.3 mm height) equipped with a Lange manufacture Calibre L903.0 movement, manually wound, hand assembled and decorated, plates and bridges of untreated German silver, precision-adjusted in 5 positions. 465 parts plus more than 600 chain parts, shock-proof glucydur-alloy screw balance, Nivarox 1 hairspring, 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour, 36-hour power reserve, sapphire crystal front and back, silver dial. Functions: hours, minutes, power reserve, one-minute tourbillon with fusée-and-chain transmission, chronograph with rattrapante function. Chrono push-button at 2 o’clock, reset button at 4 o’clock, rattrapante push-button at 10 o’clock, crown for winding and setting time. The Lange L903.0 mechanical movement through the sapphire crystal caseback. Introducing this new masterpiece of mechanical watchmaking recently at a special event in Glashütte, Germany, Fabian Krone, the brand’s CEO, explained how Günter Blümlein, the late lamented and much admired co-founder and Managing Director of Lange Uhren GmbH, launched the project for this timepiece some ten years ago. Given the limited capacity at that time of the newly created company, Blümlein sketched out his initial ideas for the timepiece and worked in co-operation with Renaud & Papi, the mechanical movement specialists from Le Locle, for its development. Fabian Krone, along with the entire Lange & Söhne team at the event, posthumously dedicated the result, the Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite”, to Günter Blümlein who passed away in 2001. The tourbillon carriage comprising 84 parts and weighing less than half a gram. Fusée and chain optimizes the rate accuracy of the Tourbograph. The fusée-and-chain The most complex and exclusive wristwatch ever made by A. Lange & Söhne, the Tourbograph is a combination of extraordinary complications, one of which is the intricate fusée-and-chain mechanism which takes into account a circumstance subject to the laws of physics: the mainspring of a mechanical watch does not deliver the same torque when fully wound as when nearly unwound. The power in the final phase of unwinding weakens and can cause rate inaccuracies. Hence the mainspring barrel and the fusée in the Tourbograph are interconnected with a delicate chain consisting of 600 parts. Whilst the watch is wound using the crown, the chain is wound up on the tapered fusée and the spring in the barrel becomes taut. The spring’s power is delivered to the movement via the fusée with constant torque. The mechanism relies on the lever and fulcrum principle discovered by Archimedes … when the mainspring is fully wound and exerts its full force, the chain pulls at the smaller circumference – or lever – of the fusée and when the mainspring’s power declines, it pulls at the larger circumference of the fusée. This ingenious mechanism improves the rate accuracy of the watch across the entire power reserve range. A planetary gear train comprising 38 parts, with a diameter of 10 millimetres, found inside the fusée, keeps the movement running even while the mainspring is being wound. WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Great work! I love the way that Lange even admit with this watch that the tourbillon is pointless, other than as a feat of engineering. Shows true class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 NEW QUESTIONS QUESTION 1 I thought I would try two questions, because I'm sure that at least one of them is rubbish!! Sooooo....... Who makes this watch? Anything interesting about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 QUESTION 2 This watch isn't mechanical, as the rather dodgy digital bit shows! My question is this. Mr X likes being on time. No, he really likes being on time. He hears that this watch is very accurate, and he buys it in Milan. However, he flys over to New York one time and is furious to discover that it is no longer as accurate. What is it about New York that stops Mr X's watch from working properly?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 QUESTION 2 This watch isn't mechanical, as the rather dodgy digital bit shows! My question is this. Mr X likes being on time. No, he really likes being on time. He hears that this watch is very accurate, and he buys it in Milan. However, he flys over to New York one time and is furious to discover that it is no longer as accurate. What is it about New York that stops Mr X's watch from working properly?! These watches use the DCF77 Transmitter (or soemthing similar) and are suitable for use throught most of Europe. The transmitter covers a radius of approximately 1500km, serving the UK and Central Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 NEW QUESTIONS QUESTION 1 I thought I would try two questions, because I'm sure that at least one of them is rubbish!! Sooooo....... Who makes this watch? Anything interesting about it? IS MADE FROM A made from $20 American Double Eagle gold coin Model: 62022-951201 Corum Coin Watch. Large size, automatic movement, made from $20 American Double Eagle gold coin, brown strap. Please contact us for availability or to place an order. List Price: $12,000.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craytonic Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 It is also a federal offense... destroying/defacing currency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 You're too good! I thought at least one of them might have kept you busy for the morning! You're right about the transmitter, there is a US one but it is on a different frequency so you need a special US watch. Everything else was right - I think with the Corum they even slice the coin in half so that you can see the back of the coin on the back of the watch, with the mechanical movement in the middle. Well done It is also a federal offense... destroying/defacing currency. Interesting!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 NEW QUESTION Okay, okay - I know we've all got jobs we're supposed to do but...... Another question. This is an odd one...... This is an unusual watch. It is used by people in a particular job. (I appreciate that there are other jobs that could conceivably use it too, but there is a particular one). Do you know what people that might use this watch do for a living, and why they might use a watch like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted May 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In Absentia Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 Okay, okay - I know we've all got jobs we're supposed to do but...... Hi guys. Sorry I haven't had the time to join the fun lately. But there has been some great questions. Too bad I didn't see the question about the nurses' watch - I see lots of them every day! But I haven't got the slightest idea as to the answer to the new question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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