ei8htohms
8555
it's still pretty new territory for watches
Hi Scott,
Silinvar is bascally just a temperature stabilized form of silicon. From what I can gather, they form the parts using some of the silicon UV Liga and/or DRIE techniques and then bombard them with oxygen in a vacuum to form a silicon oxide layer on the surface of the parts. I suspect that this outer layer not only makes the parts temperature stable (hence the -invar portion of the name), but is also harder and tougher than the pure silicon.
The key attributes to the Pulsomax escapement as I understand it are these: It is lubrication free and has precisely controlled locking due to the notched locking plane of the pallet fork.
The fact of being lubrication free is a huge advantage assuming it does not come with unacceptable tradeoffs in terms of wear and tear. Generally the first component in a watch to basically stop working due to old, dirty or dry lubrication is the escapement. If you can do away with lubrication on the pallet stones, you could arguably increase the service interval significantly, although certainly after 5-7 years some other components would start to wear out as the lubrication on the pivots degrades (the rest of the Patek movement is traditional, with steel pivots riding in jeweled bearings).
The flexibility and extreme accuracy of the processes used to create parts out of Silinvar has also allowed them to create pallets with notched locking faces, thus doing away with the need for traditional banking. This allows you to dial in the escapement geometry much more precisely, and thereby optimize the efficiency of the escapement.
The other aspect of this watch that is likely to give you pretty amazing accuracy is the Silinvar hairspring with Patek's special terminal curve. It allows the hairspring to breathe concentrically even though it is flat, thereby providing better positional performance and possibly even isochronism (rate stability relative to state of wind). I'm not really sure to what extent the performance advantages of an overcoil hairspring have been duplicated or perhaps even superceded by this new hairspring.
My concerns about this type of technology are the extent to which they make watch components "disposable". I can't imagine that anything can be done to adjust, alter, refinish or repair these kinds of parts, meaning that they must simply be replaced should they fail, or become worn. While they may last 20 or 30 years without suffering undue wear under optimal conditions, what then? Assuming you can get the replacement parts from Patek, that's great. But if you can't, how many watchmakers will have the ability to make replacement parts out of Silinvar?
I can imagine one possible future where a lot of these watches using silicon parts are made to work again by moidfying them to take replacement parts made out of traditional materials or are otherwise relegated to the junk drawer because they can't be repaired. Of course another possible future is that many watchmakers will have the ability to "grow", "3d print" or otherwise manufacture these parts on a table top machine hooked up to their computer from downloaded tech docs licensed for X many fabricated parts. Time will tell I guess.
It's also a potential cause for concern that these very high tech manufacturing methods are increasingly relegating any semblance of "hand work" to cosmetic flourishes only. Are the manufacturers accidentally killing their own golden goose by undermining all of the traditional craftsmanship?
Don't get me wrong, I am not at all opposed to modern technology in watchmaking (far from it) and am not in any way a luddite in these regards. But I do think it's something to consider carefully along the way.
_john
Tiffany Unveils New Patek Philippe Salon in its Flagship NYC Store
Did you see the Pulsomax escapement?
I did catch a quick climpse...
