After the tidal wave of tourbillons that swept over the watch market the past two years, several movement manufacturers have turned their attention to the heart of today’s most pressing issue: the nature of the materials and the construction type of the regulating organ and – a new development – the escapement. This set of parts serving to transform the continuous rotating motion of the going train into an oscillating movement, that of the regulator (balance), is still the most sensitive and most difficult part of a movement to make. While certain master-watchmakers such as George Daniels have sought to find new solutions aimed at enhancing the reliability and/or the precision of the escapement, the Swiss lever escapement has nonetheless enjoyed more than a century of absolute supremacy. Over the past few years, several Manufactures have been focusing research efforts on the escapement and/or the regulating organ. The results of their work are currently arriving in the windows of specialised stores, featuring a varied and fascinating range of innovative solutions. Although these new launches can be find for the time being only on exclusive and resolutely upscale products, they are nonetheless tracing an ideal path that may well pave the wave for new standards of mass production over the coming decades, as indeed already seems to be the case with the use of silicon (see Technical Innovations on the www.gmtmag.com).

As leading pioneers in the field, Denis Flageollet and De Bethune have been working for several years already on a revolutionary regulating organ featuring, in addition to its remarkable technical improvements, a futuristic appearance. It reveals a watchmaking spirit worthy of a far-distant past in terms of the quality of its execution, and of the new millennium in terms of its performances. The escapement chosen is of the Swiss lever type, and it is in fact the complete balance-and-spring assembly that has been entirely redesigned. The latest version presented this year at Baselworld is based on a four-arm balance in blued titanium. To achieve optimal isochronism, the balance must be as light as possible in its centre and have a maximum of inertia around its circumference. Although very hard to work with, titanium provides the required lightness. A new feature is that the four arms are more rounded in order to achieve a streamlined profile conducive to optimal amplitudes. The well-known rigidity of this material makes a perfect match with the other revolution present in this balance, which is not of the annular kind. Each arm has a platinum weight at its tip (to achieve the required maximum inertia). The fact that these weights are cone shaped is not merely to serve as a visual reminder of the brand's aesthetic codes, but also to offer maximum resistance to the air. These perfectly balanced weights slide partially along their respective arms, enabling easy and extremely precise dynamic adjustment. Nonetheless, even such improvements could not satisfy Denis Flageollet’s voracious appetite for perfection. The balance-spring is thus endowed with an exclusive applied terminal curve or “overcoil” and an attachment system that appears to have already inspired certain other manufacturers. Never had one been so close to attaining ideal isochronism. This latest version has been further enhanced with a balance-cock based on a steel “spring” construction mounted on corundum cushions and serving an extremely effective shock-absorbing role.

Watchmakers in the Vallée de Joux are well acquainted with the problems linked to the use of the Swiss lever escapement. Nonetheless, direct impulse escapements had not thus far been adaptable for wrist-worn watches. After several years of research and development, Audemars Piguet caused a sensation with its escapement derived from the Robin escapement and now driving the Cabinet No. 5 watch in the Tradition d’Excellence collection. This is in fact a direct impulse escapement, even though a very distinctive pallet-lever is present. Since the impulses are transmitted directly to the balance, this system requires no lubrication, thereby ensuring constant long-term performances and greatly facilitating maintenance problems. A traditional escapement gives one impulse per vibration; in the new Audemars Piguet escapement, the impulse is transmitted every two vibrations. This reduces the risk of disturbing the adjustment and limits energy losses, thereby achieving an unprecedented level of efficiency. The actual gain amounts to around 20%, which is quite simply phenomenal. Finally, the security system preventing any overbanking and which has hitherto seemed impossible was achieved by the use of an ingenious doublecircumference roller.

The emotional shock experienced by your humble servant at the presentation of the Reverso grande complication à tripyque by Jaeger-Le Coultre was on a par with the impact of the model itself. Since the combination and the astonishing configuration of the various complications it houses are not the topic of this article, I will stick to its incredible escapement. The movement design engineers of Jaeger-LeCoultre, under the leadership of Samuel Meylan, have in fact created the first ever wristwatch to be equipped with a detent escapement. This type of escapement, renowned for having achieved the best results in terms of mechanical adjustments, can be found in most marine chronometers. However, no watchmaker had ever succeeded in adapting such an escapement to a wristwatch, to the point where it was generally believed to be absolutely impossible. Impossible is not a word in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s vocabulary, even though the secret of how the security of this mechanism was achieved remains a closely guarded secret. Nonetheless, it was presented in a fully completed and functional form – and as if that in itself were too easy, it was integrated within a tourbillon!

While some people view these innovations as merely the showcases for the technological power of the major Manufactures, you can be sure that they in fact represent one of the most significant technical breakthroughs of the past century and that they already prefigure the future of watchmaking in terms of precision, efficiency and reliability.