The new science of time revealed at the SSC Study Day

Those who drink the words of Euripides should go on their way. Budding versifiers, incorrigible belletrists, the Société Suisse de Chronométrie Study Day is assuredly not for you. Anyone with a scientific bent and an interest in the latest developments in watchmaking, or who is simply curious to learn the state of the art in research and development, on the other hand, will find what they are looking for. Hence why close to a thousand people converged on the brand-new SwissTech Convention Center at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) for this key industry gathering, which more than lived up to expectations. Numerous presentations gave the lie to the endlessly repeated litany that contemporary watchmaking can do nothing but replicate the inventions of its illustrious forebears.

This Study Day highlighted the importance of research and development in an industry built on mechanical principles which may indeed be several centuries old, but which no less benefit from the foremost advances in science and technology. And in this domain, Swiss watchmaking can count on the contribution of some of the world’s most competent universities, a hotbed of ideas for the branch and a laboratory for fundamental research. Unsurprisingly then, the SSC chose the Swiss federal institute of technology in Lausanne (EPFL) as the venue for the event which hosted speakers from such prominent institutions as the Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM), Haute École Arc Ingénierie in Neuchâtel, and EPFL’s own Laboratoire de Conception Micromécanique et Horlogère.

China in the spotlight

The day’s theme of “Vectors for innovation in watchmaking: materials, conception and calculations” gave the various participants ample opportunity to report on findings made by their research and development departments. Rolex set the ball rolling with an explanation of the science behind its GMT Master II whose bezel, which incorporates red and blue Cerachrom inserts, attests to advances made by the brand in coloured ceramic. For the red ceramic, Rolex has replaced zirconium dioxide with alumina. Both the red and the blue deliver impressive mechanical and aesthetic qualities. Very few companies have ventured into red ceramic, and none with such impressive results.

After a presentation of “creep parameters in UV-LiGA components” by engineers at Cadfem and Mimotec, the latter co-founded by Ulysse Nardin, it was the turn not of a Swiss company, for once, but a Chinese firm, Tianjin Seagull Watch, established 1955, to take the floor. It announced the forthcoming release of an astronomical watch which it has developed. “We are unveiling a new display which we have named the ‘septentrional calendar’ in reference to Ursa Major, which plays an important role in Chinese culture as its apparent annual rotation has been used since ancient times to indicate the seasons,” explained Yu Fu, representing Tianjin. “Innovative functions are the hour display and the traditional Chinese calendar display which is driven by a mechanism we have invented based on two rotating discs, one of which corresponds to the septentrion and the other to the calendar indications.”

Saving the best for last

Acoustic characterisation of a watch component by Haute École Arc Ingénierie; optimisation of visual inspections, in particular those used for Poinçon de Genève certification; predictive functioning of horological concepts from Audemars Piguet all captured the audience’s interest, despite a growing eagerness to learn more about the last two presentations of the day. “The concept for a mechanical regulator capable of achieving a power reserve of more than a month has been found,” expounded Takahiro Hamaguchi, representing Vaucher Manufacture, with a solemnity that wouldn’t have been out of place had he just announced the coming of a new Messiah. The product of research led by Pierre Genequand at CSEM in association with Vaucher Manufacture, this new regulator, comprising an escapement and an oscillator, minimises energy consumption and loss. The two keys to the concept are to have replaced conventional pivots with flexible structures, and the use of silicon for its mechanical properties combined with DRIE micro-etching. A first prototype has been given the green light following results described as “exceptional”. A second prototype should follow in early 2015 and, ultimately, the challenges inherent to putting this new regulator into industrial production.

In a similar vein, Simon Henein, current incumbent of the Patek Philippe Chair at EPFL, presented the first findings of research by the laboratory under his direction, namely a completely new type of mechanical oscillator. Inspired by Isaac Newton’s theory of an isochronous solar system, this invention has been named the IsoSpring. It does away with most of the intermittent mechanisms which, theoretically, achieve the isochronism required by a timepiece. This two-dimensional oscillator turns continuously in one direction, its movement maintained by a simple mechanical transmission similar to a telescopic crank. The movement no longer requires an escapement, paving the way for fabulous advances in timekeeping precision and power reserve. What one can legitimately call a Eureka moment!