So, these watches are all pre-sold and we can't buy one? When would be able to buy a watch with this innovative mechanism?
They only made 10 of them.
I'm guessing they will make other watches with this movement eventually.
New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
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Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#12I am a long-time watch nut, and I loved this write-up - it concisely explained what makes this mechanism unique and was most educational.
Fun to see a departure from the norm - until this, the probably largest innovation horology over the past couple of hundred years was George Daniels' coaxial escapement (which basically eliminated friction from the equation, ensuring all transfer of energy in the escapement took place between components tangential to each other, allowing for excellent long-term precision)
The plural of anecdote is not data, but my ten year old Omega with coaxial escapement (in a c.2500C) is still accurate to within a second a day without ever having been serviced. That,in my book, is remarkable.
(It is due for a service soon; I do not intend to run it into the ground...)
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#13So, these watches are all pre-sold and we can't buy one? When would be able to buy a watch with this innovative mechanism?
The usual answer to these types of questions is “In 20 years, when the patent expires.”
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eventually you will, hopefully it won't be as expensive as the gyrotourbillon that one is the most amazing mechanism I've seen. https://youtu.be/lmxLAZZ2fhM https://youtu.be/IQJTGPtYtqA
Wow, that is truly amazing, are there large versions of the gyrotourbillon out of interest, as in for a clock.
The thing about clocks is, they sit in only one position, so there's no justification for a tourbillon, which averages out the errors caused by change of position.
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow, that is truly amazing, are there large versions of the gyrotourbillon out of interest, as in for a clock.
The thing about clocks is, they sit in only one position, so there's no justification for a tourbillon, which averages out the errors caused by change of position.
Wasn't one of the first tourbillon mechanisms in a carriage clock though?
I thought this was pretty cool regarding tourbillons: http://www.laimer.ch/laimer_tourbillon
I'm not sure what that would be classed as though.
Edit: Oh, doh, I misunderstood you, yeah I see what you mean
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#16All this technology is amazing, but does it have any applications beyond mechanical timepieces?
Realistically, no. The design is very clever, but nothing is truly new here. You could have made this out of wood 200 years ago, but it would have been much bigger and less precise. Using silicon for a mechanical device is neat, but not new. All the technology in terms of the movements- springs, levers, escapements, wheels, gears- has been known for a while.
New designs are pretty much all digital (for better or for worse). If a spaceship needs a backup timepiece, it will just carry a second digital clock. If a spaceship needs a mechanical lockout, it will just do it with microswitches, solenoids, and digital logic.
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#17So, these watches are all pre-sold and we can't buy one? When would be able to buy a watch with this innovative mechanism?
If you want a watch with a neat movement that is widely available, get a Swatch Sistem 51. Granted it has 5x as many moving parts as the Zenith Defy Lab, but it is actually affordable and pretty neat.
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing about clocks is, they sit in only one position, so there's no justification for a tourbillon, which averages out the errors caused by change of position.
Wasn't one of the first tourbillon mechanisms in a carriage clock though? I thought this was pretty cool regarding tourbillons: http://www.laimer.ch/laimer_tourbillon I'm not sure what that would be classed as though. Edit: Oh, doh, I misunderstood you, yeah I see what you mean
Yeah, that would make sense. And (googles) you can get a tourbillon clock in your carriage today -- if your carriage is a Bentley Bentayga.
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#19It's likely that this is a paid post. And if that's the case, then I think it's money well-spent, as this is a beautiful post and an effective advertisement.
Only 10 have been made and all have been sold for some exorbant amount, so mostly it’s genuinely motivated coverage of some cool tech.
Re: New oscillator system in Zenith mechanical watches
#20I am a long-time watch nut, and I loved this write-up - it concisely explained what makes this mechanism unique and was most educational. Fun to see a departure from the norm - until this, the probably largest innovation horology over the past couple of hundred years was George Daniels' coaxial escapement (which basically eliminated friction from the equation, ensuring all transfer of energy in the escapement took pl…
> the probably largest innovation horology over the past couple of hundred years
There was this little thing called the quartz revolution though :) Just because it turned out you can make really cheap watches with it doesn't make it less of an innovation.
But limiting the field down to mechanical watches, there is also Seiko's springdrive which manages to combine the durability of mechanical watches whilst approaching the accuracy of quartz watches by using a complete new method of escapement.
Co-ax movements are surely a worthy innovation, but I wouldn't want to claim it was the most significant horological innovation of the last few centuries.