In our last Technical Notes piece, we talked about the hairspring and its future in silicon. It only makes sense to give a similar treatment to the escapement. At Baselworld 2014, two watchmakers announced exciting escapement news that will likely have a major impact on the watch world in different ways.
Lever Escapement (CLICK TO SEE IT IN ACTION)
Before I get into the details of the news, let’s talk about what the escapement is. The first thing I’d like to clear up is the terminology. Some folks refer to the escape wheel, pallet, balance wheel and hairspring as the escapement. Others just refer to the escape wheel and pallet as the escapement. While either is correct, for the purpose of this article, when I say “escapement”, I’m simply referring to the escape wheel and pallet. And to further erase confusion, I will use “assortiment” when speaking to the entire group of parts.
If the balance wheel and hairspring is part of the heartbeat of the watch, the escapement has to be the other part. While the balance wheel oscillates, it’s the escapement that controls the power from the gear train, or going train. In harmonious fashion, the semi-oscillations of the balance helps “trip” the pallet back and forth. When the pallet is tripped, it allows the escape wheel to, well, escape – for a moment, anyway. The force of the mainspring sending its energy through the going train forces the escape wheel to advance until the other side of the pallet catches one of the teeth on the wheel. Have you heard the “tick” of your mechanical watch? That’s the pallet making contact with the escape wheel.
If it weren’t for the pallet, the escape wheel would continue to spin until the mainspring’s energy expires. Your beloved 40-hour power reserve would be reduced to basically nothing. In fact, your power reserve is very much tied to the tick-tick-ticking of the pallet. If you’ve ever heard hi-beat movements having shorter reserves, or at least requiring a larger mainspring to maintain power reserve, it’s because the mainspring’s energy is released at a faster rate. Many of the long power reserve movements stick to a lower “beats per hour” in order to achieve such impressive durations. It’s all coming together, folks – let’s get to the good stuff.
NOMOS Swing Escapement
One of the things I pointed out in the last Technical Notes was the hold Nivarox (more importantly, The Swatch Group) has on the hairspring market. This grasp actually extends to all parts of the “ticking” mechanism, or assortiment. Like the Standard Oil of escapements, that market share may be slipping, thanks to watchmakers like NOMOS.
NOMOS Metro Caseback
NOMOS’ new swing system escapement has sent a shockwave, and message, to the rest of the watchmaking world. The Swatch Group has already tightened up on the distribution of its ébauches, and the fear is that the tightened grip may reach the escapement.
The in-house escapement counters this fear, but it’s not a simple task. NOMOS has doubtless spent large amounts of time and research on R&D perfecting the swing system prior to production. As they say in their literature, “the pallet, escape wheel and balance (and the other tiny parts that also belong to the swing system) do not only have to be perfect in themselves, exact down to the mu, but also an extremely well functioning team.” To create great individual parts with out the harmony is the sports equivalent to a team of all-stars that have no chemistry.
The coup de grâce of NOMOS’ advancement is the price. Since it’s a safe assumption they spent a fair amount of money in development, it’s also a safe assumption the price of their timepieces would increase. However, this is hardly the case. As far as the eye can see, the NOMOS Metro (the only current reference using the swing system) is only marginally more expensive than its closest NOMOS relative. If NOMOS can integrate this escapement to the rest of its lineup without so much as a blip in price changes, you can chalk this up as a major score for the Glashütte watchmaker.
Ulysse Nardin Anchor Escapement
For over 150 years, Ulysse Nardin has made it a mission to push the boundaries of innovation and creativity – be it through design or engineering. In more recent times, say, the last 15 years, they’ve managed to lead the way in use of silicon and diamond in different parts of the assortiment. In 2006, they even managed to cultivate diamond crystals using silicon as a matrix. If Ulysse Nardin himself merely imagined that last sentence, it would have been grounds for a witch-hunt (early 1800s, mind you).
Ulysse Nardin Anchor Escapement
Well, the pioneers in silicon watchmaking are at it again. This time they’ve not only used silicon where most use metal, Ulysse Nardin has completely re-engineered how the pallet interacts with the balance and escape wheel.
To help put things into context, I’ll start with describing the pallet. The arms of the pallet are attached at the end of impossibly thin blades (all of this is made from silicon) – they’re essentially suspended. The blades act as an energy conduit, transferring a precise amount of tension to the arms from the oscillations of the balance wheel. If this is hard to picture, think back to shop class. If you ever “wobbled” a thin piece of sheet metal, you can get an idea of what the movement of these silicon blades would be. The difference between your shop class memory and the Anchor Escapement’s blades is how little an amount of trigger energy is required to induce the blades’ alternating flexion and extension movements.
If you were to just focus your eye on the pallet arms, the action would appear similar to the more common lever escapement. The impulse of energy which makes its way through the blades to the arms, allows the arms to pivot in such a way that the escape wheel is free to release the mainspring’s stored energy, in ticks, as planned.
Due to the pallet’s construction, there’s no friction, which saves energy and reduces wear and tear. And because the back and forth movement of the blades is a restorative one, even more energy is conserved. Since the energy used in one direction is immediately sent back in the other direction in full – consistent and accurate action can be anticipated without worry. This is an excellent display of silicon capabilities, going beyond simply using it as a replacement material.
Ulysse Nardin expects to begin utilizing their new escapement technology this year. While it certainly allows some room to brag, it’s great for the rest of the watch industry as well. I think it’s safe to predict other watchmakers will look to improve their materials and technology to not only bring attention to themselves, but to stay up to par with the leading edge brands. There’s nothing worse than stagnation of technology, as it allows large brands with market share to get comfortable. But as displayed by Ulysse Nardin, it only takes one innovative mind to keep the rest on their toes.
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