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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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16th Century Regulation

Post by sistem_32 »

I've discussed various escapements in this thread, but I've never touched on how the balance is actually controlled. Nowadays, of course, it's controlled by the volute hairspring we're all familiar with. But that hasn't always been the case. The first idea of a (metal) spring controller was conceived by Robert Hooke in the mid-seventeenth century, several years before Christiaan Huygens's discovery of the same concept. Incidentally, Hooke also invented the anchor escapement, the simplest and most commonly used pendulum escapement. But how was the escapement controlled before his discovery?

As a case in point we'll consider a sixteenth century German watch housed in the British Museum.

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It's fitted with the typical escapement controller of the day: a hog's bristle regulator. The name isn't metaphorical; inside the watch is a single hog's bristle, chosen for its convenient stiffness. It's held in place by two arms, which allow considerable adjustment of its acting length, just like a modern eccentric screw or swan neck regulator. The escapement it's controlling, by the way, is a verge. Unfortunately, there aren't any photos of the exposed regulator, so this image from Frederick Britten's "On the Springing and Adjusting of Watches" will have to do. If you're interested in diving deeper into the history of escapement controllers, here's the relevant section of the book.
Hogs_Bristle.PNG
We're not quite done yet, though; our British Museum watch offers another regulating curiosity. The mechanism visible in the picture below is called a "stackfreed," and it's an early constant force mechanism.

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The long arm across the top presses on the snail-shaped cam, which is attached to the barrel. The arm pushes back against the force of the mainspring, retarding its force. As the cam rotates, it pushes less and less on the mainspring, which, as it unwinds, exerts less force on the movement. The effect is a relatively constant force. However, that force is pegged at close to the mainspring's minimum output, making the stackfreed a very inefficient mechanism. It was mostly used as a simpler and easier to produce version of the fusee and chain, which I wrote about here.

Note that the barrel turns through only a single rotation per wind. You can see that the watch in the picture above is completely wound down, with the winding pinion resting on a solid portion of the wheel under the snail-shaped cam. That solid section acts as a "stopwork," preventing the barrel from being wound above a certain point or running down past a certain point. This cuts off the particularly erratic top and bottom of the mainspring's range, further limiting force variation.
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Ultra-thin Watches

Post by sistem_32 »

Ever since the 18th century, watchmakers have striven to make their products thinner and thinner. Over time, various innovations have allowed watches to shrink from tens of millimeters to close to under five. This post will explore that evolution.

Pursuing "Ultra-thin"

The first mechanical watches, which appeared in the 16th century, were really closer to small clocks. Many were almost as thick as they were wide. This was mostly because they universally used fusées, in order to iron out the large variations caused by the relatively new metal mainsprings, and verge escapements, in which the escape wheel is oriented perpendicularly to the pallets. Their thick, layered construction lent itself to a "pillar-and-plate construction," which you can see in this watch made in 1730.

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Eventually, of course, improvements in mainspring technology precluded the fusée system, and thinner (monoplanar) escapements, like the modern lever escapement, were devised. The pillar-and-plate construction gave way to the modern bridge construction, in which wheels are secured to the mainplate by bridges and ****. These developments allowed watches to shrink to more reasonable sizes, where they stayed for a long while. Around the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, the world of fashion started to make inroads into horology. People wanted thin watches, thinner than had ever been produced.

Brands responded and shrunk their movements as much as the bridge construction allowed. The Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber 145, produced in 1907, was only 1.38mm thick. The main challenges to making such a thin movement have to do with power. The mainspring has to be made very thin, meaning it can store less power. The thin, delicate wheels have to be manufactured to extremely precise tolerances in order to control the amount of power passing through them. The challenges, in fact, are very similar to those faced in producing a year-going clock, like the Mostyn Tompion.

Once those challenges had been surmounted, horological engineers started to slim their movements in other ways. In a traditional bridge construction, as I mentioned above, wheels are sandwiched between the mainplate and bridges (or ****) which sit above them and are screwed into the mainplate. In the 1970s, engineers took the drastic step of eliminating those bridges.

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In the movement above (the Jean Lassale caliber 1200), the barrel and winding train are "flying"; they are connected only to the mainplate. It's only 1.2mm thick, a significant improvement over the JLC caliber 145 mentioned above. Unfortunately, the flying construction made the movement even more fragile and unstable. So unstable, in fact, that servicing a caliber 1200 frequently meant simply replacing it. Ultimately, brands became frustrated with the flying construction and abandoned it.

A more successful innovation was devised in 1986 by Audemars Piguet. They realized that the watch's case itself could serve as the movement's mainplate. Under this system, the watch and the movement are practically synonymous. Their first watch incorporating this design was the Reference 25643BA. In this photo, you can see the synthetic rubies which support the pivots of the geartrain and balance.

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As a side-note, this system was used in a remarkable ultra-thin Omega quartz piece produced in 1980, commonly referred to as the "Dinosaure." The entire watch is only 1.42mm thick.

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Automatic Winding

As well as thinness, in the 20th century a fashionable watch was also equipped with automatic winding. And, like the structure of ultra-thin movements generally, automatic winding systems experienced a series of innovations making them thinner and thinner.

At the beginning, of course, brands were content to simply thin down traditional full-rotor systems. The most prominent example is the AP caliber 2120, which comes in at 2.45mm thick.

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Note the flying winding train and barrel. Obviously, a full rotor adds a considerable amount of thickness, so an improved system was inevitably forthcoming. That improved system was the micro-rotor, which shrinks down the winding rotor and embeds it into the movement, trading space in the movement for overall thickness. I wrote about the micro-rotor here, so I won't rehash that discussion.

A system I haven't discussed, however, is the peripheral rotor, which takes up less central space in the movement. It was invented in the 1950s and resuscitated in 2009 by Carl F. Bucherer. Here's an article with more history, and here's a deconstruction by The Naked Watchmaker of a peripheral rotor Bulgari.

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Another (slightly unexpected) solution is a hammer winding system. I wrote about hammer winding systems here and here. The Reference 25643BA used a hammer winding system, visible in this prototype movement.

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Purnell Double Spherion

Post by sistem_32 »

TheWATCHES.tv recently uploaded this video introducing a new release from a brand called C. Purnell, the Double Spherion. The "spherion" is a mechanism unique to Purnell, a special kind of gyrotourbillon which rotates unusually quickly. It was developed by Eric Coudray, who also developed the first gyrotourbillon for Jaeger-LeCoultre. The Double Spherion mounts two of these mechanisms side by side, creating a striking visual effect. Unfortunately, there aren't any press images out yet, so you'll have to make do with the video thumbnail.

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Each spherion is powered independently, and their rates are averaged by a differential. Their power is furnished by six barrels stacked in the back of the movement. The top barrels are decorated in the style of Greubel Forsey, with a mosaic of words etched into them.

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While there is obviously some horological merit to the double spherion arrangement, Purnell seems to have designed it more for aesthetics than anything. Mr. Coudray describes it as "an exercise of style."

Clearly, the Double Spherion is a very impressive watch. In fact, I think it may even be good enough to dethrone its single competitor in the field of twin triple-axis tourbillon watches, the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Furious. Hopefully it will at least spark some competition in that field.

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Incidentally, here is how Jacob & Co. describe the Twin Turbo Furious (a $550,000 watch!) on their website:

"World Premiere Combination of a Twin Triple Axis Tourbillon and a Minute Repeater, the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Tourbillon is Resolutely Ahead its Time with a Shape Case and a Distinctive Sportive Allure. In a World Everyday Faster, the Minute Repeater Chimes the Decimal and the Tourbillon 1st axis of rotation is accelerated to 40 secondes. A regulator system guarantees the perfect Balance between the 2 Triple Axis Tourbillon in a Constant Symmetrical Motion."

Poetic.
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Haute Horlogerie for the Holidays!

Post by sistem_32 »

With politically polemical relatives safely returned to their homes and Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge, we can now embrace the real holiday of the holiday season: Christmas! Here are some HH options for you to express your enthusiasm.

From the hydromechanical horologists, the HYT H4 Neo 2 is available in a red and green color scheme. It even has a mechanically powered LED "Christmas" light, thanks to the world's smallest dynamo. The dial is laced with "fluorescent nano-particles," allowing the small perforations to act as additional miniature light sources.

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For the ladies, The Franck Muller Crazy Hours 8880 CH is available with a radiant green enamel dial and green crocodile strap, set in a red gold case. The hour hand jumps around the dial, scrambling to keep up with the flow of time, while the minute hand retains its usual role.

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Of course, if you only want to deck your existing collection for the holidays, you can do so with festive straps such as this one or this one.
Last edited by sistem_32 on Sun Dec 06, 2020 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by sistem_32 »

A while back I wrote about a brand called Habring, owned and operated by the husband-and-wife team Maria Kristina and Richard Habring. They recently gave a presentation at the Horological Society of New York entitled "How Can A Small Family Business Afford to Design and Produce A Proprietary Watch Movement." Just today the HSNY released a recording of their presentation, available here. Interesting stuff!
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by TheJohnP »

My wife ran across an article about a Jacob & Co Bugatti watch that she wanted me to "share with your watch friends."
Definitely make sure to check out that video!

Monochrome article - https://monochrome-watches.com/jacob-co ... ourbillon/
Hodinkee article - https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-j ... ntroducing
A Blog to Watch article - https://www.ablogtowatch.com/jacob-co-b ... lon-watch/

The Jacob & Co Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon
Item Number: BU200.20.AA.AC.A
Retail price is $280,000.
Manufacturer page - https://www.jacobandco.com/timepieces/b ... tourbillon

This is part of a joint collaboration between Jacob & Co and Bugatti to create a range of exclusive Bugatti branded products together.

Ever since the first automobiles competed for the fastest times, watches and cars have been inexorably linked. Car aficionados love watches, reveling in the mechanical precision, beauty and performance that both offer. Now, for the first time, the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon from Jacob & Co. manages to capture the emotions, energy and power of a high-performance car engine in a timepiece. The design of the watch case is inspired by the flowing lines of the Chiron while the movement, or “engine block,” is modelled after the iconic Bugatti engine. When the engine comes to life, a massive sapphire crystal allows you to watch the crankshaft rotate while the pistons pump up and down, just like a real internal combustion engine. The Jacob & Co. x Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon is a true engine for the wrist.



Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


Technical Specifications:

MOVEMENT:
- Caliber: Manufacture Jacob&Co. Manual Winding JCAM37
- Size: 41.7x36mm
- Height: 15.60mm
- Components: 578
- Jewels: 51
- Shock Protection System: Incabloc
- Power Reserve: 60h
- Frequency: 21’600 vib/h (3Hz)

FUNCTIONS:
- 1. Hours, Minutes
- 2. 1 minute Tourbillon cage 30° inclined
- 3. “W16 engine” in a sapphire block
- 4. Animation on demand (pusher on the right) creating a rotation of pistons and crankshaft
- 5. Power Reserve Indicator at 3 o’clock.

CASE:
- Size: 54x44mm
- Height: 20mm
- Material: Black Titanium
- Crystal: Anti-Reflective Sapphire Crystal
- Case Back: Sapphire Crystal
- Crowns and Pushers: Black Titanium DLC
- Water resistance: 30m (3atm)

WINDING & TIME SETTING:
- Left stem: Time setting
- Central stem: Movement Winding (clockwise) and animation (counter clockwise)
- Right stem: Animation on demand creating a rotation of pistons and crankshaft

STRAP & CLASP:
- Strap: Rubber
- Clasp: Titanium Deployment Buckle.
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by MoT »

TheJohnP wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:33 am My wife ran across an article about a Jacob & Co Bugatti watch that she wanted me to "share with your watch friends."
Definitely make sure to check out that video!

Monochrome article - https://monochrome-watches.com/jacob-co ... ourbillon/
Hodinkee article - https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-j ... ntroducing
A Blog to Watch article - https://www.ablogtowatch.com/jacob-co-b ... lon-watch/

The Jacob & Co Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon
Item Number: BU200.20.AA.AC.A
Retail price is $280,000.
Manufacturer page - https://www.jacobandco.com/timepieces/b ... tourbillon

This is part of a joint collaboration between Jacob & Co and Bugatti to create a range of exclusive Bugatti branded products together.

Ever since the first automobiles competed for the fastest times, watches and cars have been inexorably linked. Car aficionados love watches, reveling in the mechanical precision, beauty and performance that both offer. Now, for the first time, the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon from Jacob & Co. manages to capture the emotions, energy and power of a high-performance car engine in a timepiece. The design of the watch case is inspired by the flowing lines of the Chiron while the movement, or “engine block,” is modelled after the iconic Bugatti engine. When the engine comes to life, a massive sapphire crystal allows you to watch the crankshaft rotate while the pistons pump up and down, just like a real internal combustion engine. The Jacob & Co. x Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon is a true engine for the wrist.



Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


Technical Specifications:

MOVEMENT:
- Caliber: Manufacture Jacob&Co. Manual Winding JCAM37
- Size: 41.7x36mm
- Height: 15.60mm
- Components: 578
- Jewels: 51
- Shock Protection System: Incabloc
- Power Reserve: 60h
- Frequency: 21’600 vib/h (3Hz)

FUNCTIONS:
- 1. Hours, Minutes
- 2. 1 minute Tourbillon cage 30° inclined
- 3. “W16 engine” in a sapphire block
- 4. Animation on demand (pusher on the right) creating a rotation of pistons and crankshaft
- 5. Power Reserve Indicator at 3 o’clock.

CASE:
- Size: 54x44mm
- Height: 20mm
- Material: Black Titanium
- Crystal: Anti-Reflective Sapphire Crystal
- Case Back: Sapphire Crystal
- Crowns and Pushers: Black Titanium DLC
- Water resistance: 30m (3atm)

WINDING & TIME SETTING:
- Left stem: Time setting
- Central stem: Movement Winding (clockwise) and animation (counter clockwise)
- Right stem: Animation on demand creating a rotation of pistons and crankshaft

STRAP & CLASP:
- Strap: Rubber
- Clasp: Titanium Deployment Buckle.

Wow! :shock:

It looks like they even got the cylinder firing order correct.
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by PetWatch »

TheJohnP wrote:My wife ran across an article about a Jacob & Co Bugatti watch that she wanted me to "share with your watch friends."
Definitely make sure to check out that video!

Monochrome article - https://monochrome-watches.com/jacob-co ... ourbillon/
Hodinkee article - https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-j ... ntroducing
A Blog to Watch article - https://www.ablogtowatch.com/jacob-co-b ... lon-watch/

The Jacob & Co Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon
Item Number: BU200.20.AA.AC.A
Retail price is $280,000.
Manufacturer page - https://www.jacobandco.com/timepieces/b ... tourbillon

This is part of a joint collaboration between Jacob & Co and Bugatti to create a range of exclusive Bugatti branded products together.

Ever since the first automobiles competed for the fastest times, watches and cars have been inexorably linked. Car aficionados love watches, reveling in the mechanical precision, beauty and performance that both offer. Now, for the first time, the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon from Jacob & Co. manages to capture the emotions, energy and power of a high-performance car engine in a timepiece. The design of the watch case is inspired by the flowing lines of the Chiron while the movement, or “engine block,” is modelled after the iconic Bugatti engine. When the engine comes to life, a massive sapphire crystal allows you to watch the crankshaft rotate while the pistons pump up and down, just like a real internal combustion engine. The Jacob & Co. x Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon is a true engine for the wrist.



Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


Technical Specifications:

MOVEMENT:
- Caliber: Manufacture Jacob&Co. Manual Winding JCAM37
- Size: 41.7x36mm
- Height: 15.60mm
- Components: 578
- Jewels: 51
- Shock Protection System: Incabloc
- Power Reserve: 60h
- Frequency: 21’600 vib/h (3Hz)

FUNCTIONS:
- 1. Hours, Minutes
- 2. 1 minute Tourbillon cage 30° inclined
- 3. “W16 engine” in a sapphire block
- 4. Animation on demand (pusher on the right) creating a rotation of pistons and crankshaft
- 5. Power Reserve Indicator at 3 o’clock.

CASE:
- Size: 54x44mm
- Height: 20mm
- Material: Black Titanium
- Crystal: Anti-Reflective Sapphire Crystal
- Case Back: Sapphire Crystal
- Crowns and Pushers: Black Titanium DLC
- Water resistance: 30m (3atm)

WINDING & TIME SETTING:
- Left stem: Time setting
- Central stem: Movement Winding (clockwise) and animation (counter clockwise)
- Right stem: Animation on demand creating a rotation of pistons and crankshaft

STRAP & CLASP:
- Strap: Rubber
- Clasp: Titanium Deployment Buckle.
I have to say, the Tourbillon has been outdone by the piston engine. Now let me reach into my pocket see what I find.

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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by MoT »

I miss seeing updates to this thread.

[mention]sistem_32[/mention], anything catch your eye lately that you'd like to share?
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by sistem_32 »

ManOnTime wrote: Sat Dec 05, 2020 9:35 pm @sistem_32, anything catch your eye lately that you'd like to share?
Sorry I've been quiet, I've been putting most of my time into a project that I hope to post about in a few months. I've learned about a couple of interesting things recently:

In September, Grand Seiko unveiled a new show-off movement called the T0. They claim it's the first movement ever to mount remontoire and tourbillon mechanisms on the same axis. The remontoire is charged at one second intervals and acts like a deadbeat seconds hand.

Image

Grand Seiko experimented with new processes and materials in the manufacture of the movement, such as "a special coating for reducing friction to accommodate the great torque generated by the twin barrels." Almost all of the gears were produced via the additive process used to make micro-electromechanical systems, rather than via machining, ensuring extreme accuracy. The end result is a maximum error of half a second per day. Read more from Grand Seiko here and from Hodinkee here.

I also discovered an extraordinary project that's been underway since 2006, when a man named Mark Frank commissioned an enormously complex astronomical skeleton clock from a company called Buchanan Clocks. On his website he says: "My three guiding principals [sic] for the clock were that it had to have scale (an imposing presence), movement (many things happening to catch the eye) and complexity." It certainly does.

Image

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When it's done it will have over 50 complications and 8000 components, regulated by an escapement based on the one in Harrison's H1 and requiring no lubrication. Compare that to the Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260, regarded as the most complicated watch in the world at 56 complications and 2826 components. I can't help but suspect that some aspects of the clock's mechanism have been needlessly overcomplicated simply for the visual effect, but it's still an astonishing piece of engineering. You can read more about the project on Frank's website under the "Astro skeleton" tab and see the clock in motion on his Youtube channel.
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by dumpweed »

Stumbled upon this

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Re: Kerbedanz Maximus

Post by zer »

sistem_32 wrote: Sun Dec 30, 2018 12:20 am One often sees the tourbillon in haute horlogerie, but never on a scale such as this. The aptly named Kerbedanz Maximus showcases an enormous version (27mm according to ABTW) of the renowned mechanism. The watch itself is built on proportions to match, measuring in at a hefty 49mm. The tourbillon requires so much power that four barrels are only able to keep it spinning for a little over 50 hours.
Image
A good writeup: https://www.ablogtowatch.com/kerbedanz- ... lon-watch/
Video of the tourbillon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0xc3s0uN8&t=181s
This gives some serious MB&F vibes! Honestly, I'd take the watch in the picture before an MB&F Legacy Machine, though it's close. I do prefer the black and more industrial look of this one. Anyone have any info on pricing?
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Re: Haute Horlogerie Discussion

Post by MoT »

Reading over this thread lately, and I miss @sistem_32's posts and thoughts on haute horology. I hope they get back to sharing them again!
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