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Haute Horlogerie Discussion

This is the place to learn all about watches and how they tick. Share your knowledge and how-tos with the rest of the class.
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sistem_32
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Re: Dominique Renaud Blade Resonator

Post by sistem_32 »

I wonder if the vibrating oscillator would be widely welcomed, or perhaps face stiff resistance by non haute horology watch enthusiasts. No doubt at least some would appreciate a significantly more accurate non quartz movement, but it is quite a departure from the traditional balance spring we are so used to.
I can see how some people would be opposed to the technology, as it is very different from the standard escapement, and some enthusiasts might protest to the lifeless, inhuman aspect of its production. However, I think for the average target consumer the "cool factor" will wipe away any misgivings about the nature of the technology. I've had the pleasure of seeing one of the Defy Lab examples in the flesh and it's certainly a sight to behold. I personally feel that, because the technology can never be reproduced by hand, it will never find a place in the ateliers of the best of the best. But it fits very well with brands like Zenith, and even TAG, as a functional, innovative feature.

Monochrome reports that the Defy Lab retailed for CHF 29,900 but that's the only source I could find.
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MB&F LM2

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Recently I wrote about the Armin Strom Mirrored Force line of watches, which puts two escapements into a state of resonance, resulting in more accurate timekeeping. Armin Strom is far from the only brand making double escapement watches though. The F. P. Journe currently gracing the website banner, for example, uses what they call "acoustic resonance." Resonance, however, isn't the only way to resolve the motions of two balance wheels. The MB&F Legacy Machine 2 uses a planetary differential to average the rates of its two flying balances mounted above the dial in signature MB&F style, which beat at unsyncronized rates, as you can see in this video from the MB&F website.
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Unfortunately MB&F doesn't provide any pictures or explanations of how the differential actually works, aside from the fact that it uses "three gears and five pinions."

It's fascinating that there are so many solutions to the same problem, and that each brand has, for one reason or another, chosen one as the best. It would be interesting to know the process that goes into deciding which solution to use for some particular model.
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by Robotaz »

Where have I been?!? This is a great thread.
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MB&F LM Split Escapement

Post by sistem_32 »

Speaking of MB&F and escapements, their Legacy Machine Split Escapement presents an interesting novelty. Its balance wheel is placed above the dial, as usual for MB&F, but the rest of the escapement (i.e. the pallet fork and escape wheel) is all the way on the other side of the movement. This creates a very clean, elegant visual effect. They also used it in their LM Perpetual.
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It's also a greater technical challenge than you might think. The rod connecting the balance to the rest of the escapement is 12mm in length. MB&f describes their tolerances for the pivots at the ends of this rod this way: if the 12mm rod were a four story building, the pivots would be about 10cm long, and their maximum tolerance would be about 2mm. I can only imagine the production methods used to achieve that level of precision.

Great footage and coverage here.
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Parmigiani Fleurier Ovale Pantographe

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I'm not sure if it counts as haute horlogerie, but I really like it, so I'm writing about it anyway. The pantograph is a mechanism which copies a person's writing at a different scale by a system of hinged rods. The Parmigiani Fleurier Ovale Pantograph doesn't have anything to do with writing, but its hands do use a mechanism based on the "hinged rods" idea. As the name suggests, the watch is oval in shape, 45.0 x 37.7 mm. As the hands move across the dial, they telescope to remain a fixed distance from the edge of the case. It's an awesome effect, made even better (in my opinion) by its subtlety. Here's a video where you can see the effect clearly, and here's one with some more detailed coverage.
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PF was apparently inspired by an English pocket watch from 1997 that passed through their restoration workshop that used a similar system. It's an absolute work of art, with its pearl encrusted exterior, delicate gold hands, and beautiful, finely decorated movement. I highly recommend looking up some pictures of it.
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Greubel Forsey GMT Earth

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Greubel Forsey is renowned for their amazing attention to detail, perhaps best described as perfectionism. They have a very distinctive, avant-garde style, which tends to highlight their unique takes on classic complications. They are perhaps best known for their GMT Earth, which showcases a blue and silver 3D model of the globe mysteriously suspended in the lower left-hand corner of the case, rotating in imitation of the actual motion of the Earth. Apparently it took GF over a year to determine how to produce a globe up to their specifications.
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The watch is also equipped with a tourbillon slanted at a 25 degree angle. I suppose that's to combat the paradox of the tourbillon wristwatch, but to be honest I'm think it's for looks as much as anything. Not that that's a bad thing, as, based on the photos, it certainly delivers! I would love to see one of these in the flesh.

Good footage here, and a very interesting discussion of hand finishing with Stephen Forsey himself here. It really lets one appreciate on a whole new level the time and artistry that goes into every tiny component of these watches. Truly magnificent.
Last edited by sistem_32 on Sun Apr 21, 2019 1:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Breguet Reine de Naples Jour/Nuit Deconstruction

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Some of you may already be aware of this, but it really impressed me, so I thought I'd share it. Peter Speake-Marin, founder of the Speake-Marin brand and, just last year, Baume Watches, runs a website called the Naked Watchmaker, which periodically publishes photo-heavy deconstructions of interesting watches and interviews with important people in the watch industry. If you haven't seen his content I highly recommend you check it out here. Anyway, today I received a newsletter from the Naked Watchmaker containing a new deconstruction of the Breguet Reine de Naples Jour/Nuit (link). It features a totally unique day-night indicator with (get this) the balance taking the place of the sun!
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It's that kind of nonchalant innovation that (IMO) sets great brands apart from the rest. This complication isn't a gimmick, or the foundations of the Reine de Naples line; it's simply a great complication that's featured in the line by the merit of its greatness.
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HYT: The Hydromechanical Horologists

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HYT (whatever that may stand for) presents a variation on the regular way of telling time. They evidently decided that an hour hand doesn't illustrate the passage of time adequately, and so replaced it with liquid pumped through a glass capillary, kind of resembling a circular progress bar. What's most interesting about this, though, is that it's all done mechanically, with a sort of bellows (coincidentally, HYT uses that very word).
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In fact it isn't one fluid but two, a colored one and a transparent one. Each bellows controls one of the liquids, allowing the colored fluid to not only advance to mark the hour, but to retract, or more accurately, be pushed by the transparent liquid, back to the beginning of the capillary every twelve hours.

Their H4 collection also features an LED light powered by a "micro-generator" which is, in turn, powered mechanically. I think this is rather brilliant. Who needs lume when you can have an actual light, and why not have a light if it's a mechanical light?
Last edited by sistem_32 on Tue Jul 09, 2019 12:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Fusee and Chain

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As I mentioned in my post about the Grönefeld Remontoire, as the mainspring unwinds it exerts less force on the movement, causing the watch to slow down. The remontoire attempts to correct this by powering the movement from a small power reserve which is recharged every few seconds by the mainspring. The fusee and chain, on the other hand, presents a much more elegant solution. Instead of the barrel connecting directly to the geartrain, it connects to a fusee by means of a very fine bicycle chain. As it unwinds, the chain unwinds from around the fusee, increasing the gear ratio. This allows the mainspring to exert a constant force on the movement, even as it loses power itself.
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An excellent solution, and a very handsome one to boot!
Last edited by sistem_32 on Tue Jul 09, 2019 12:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Zenith Defy Zero G

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When one thinks about it, putting a tourbillon in a wristwatch is a rather silly thing to do. It was originally designed for a pocket watch, which sits upright almost all of the time. Wristwatches, on the other hand, do not generally sit upright, so the tourbillon is effectively useless. Zenith, apparently, agrees. Instead of equipping the Defy Zero G with a tourbillon, they have used what they call a gyroscopic escapement module. The function of this module is to, instead of counteracting the effects of gravity on the escapement, remove those effects altogether by stabalizing the escapement in a horizontal position.
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You know, it's funny that these rare, expensive complications are all dedicated to improving accuracy, but nobody ever publishes concrete figures demonstrating such an improvement. I don't doubt that they make a difference, but it would just be interesting to know how much of a difference.
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Breguet Classique La Musicale 7800

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As it turns out, minute repeaters aren't the only musical timepieces. The Breguet Classique La Musicale 7800 doubles as a music box; but not in the way you might expect. With the push of a button, the dial begins to spin, allowing pins attached to the bottom to play "The Thieving Magpie" on a "musical comb."
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It's a very fun complication, even if the sounds it produces are somewhat less than divine. Here's a recording of a real watch, and here's Breguet's (albeit poor quality) explanatory video, which illustrates the mechanism.
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by Robotaz »

sistem_32 wrote:I don't doubt that they make a difference, but it would just be interesting to know how much of a difference.
I’ve had 3 El Primeros and they all ran within +1 s/d. I can’t even imagine the performance specs on these crazy inventions they have. I don’t think they could surprise me.

I will also say that have had 3-4 of the JeanRichard in-house GP movements and those suckers all ran like that, too. Deadly accurate.
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Breguet Double Tourbillon 5347

Post by sistem_32 »

Another novelty from Breguet (I had a good time on their website yesterday). The Double Tourbillon 5347 appears to offer the most spinning you can get in a modern wristwatch. It is equipped with not one but two tourbillons mounted on opposing sides of the movement, each of which makes a full revolution about every half hour. As if that wasn't enough, however, the upper half of the movement also makes a complete revolution every twelve hours, taking the place of the hour hand. As a consequence, I imagine, the minute hand has to move at a slightly slower rate than usual to cover the appropriate amount of distance in an hour.
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Here's a good video from Breguet including a timelapse of the watch running and footage of the beautiful engraving on the back of the movement.
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Jaquet Droz Charming Bird

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This is one of my favorite watches out there, combining many cool mechanical feats. It hearkens back to the singing bird pistols/boxes of yore, using pistons in small sapphire tubes to produce a whistling noise resembling the singing of a bird, while the miniature automaton at nine o'clock spins around and moves its wings.
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Singing bird automata were invented in the late eighteenth century, apparently by Pierre Jaquet-Droz himself. They're generally highly ornamented with small paintings, gold, and and precious stones. Here's a picture of a movement from a Jaquet Droz singing bird box, also showcasing a fusee and chain, and here's a video from Parmigiani Fleurier's restoration workshop, previously mentioned in my post about their Pantograph watch, about their restoration of a singing bird pistol. As far as I know, this Jaquet Droz is the only singing bird automaton fitted to a watch. If you want to see some of how the mechanism works, check out this great deconstruction from the Naked Watchmaker.

Edit: looking at that deconstruction, the speed of the automaton seems to be controlled by the same device, developed by Breguet, which controls the speed of the Breguet La Musicale I posted about yesterday. A nice coincidence!
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

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If money were no object, a La Musicale and the Jaquet Droz singing bird would be definites in my collection.
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