patrickmatthewchu
5
Swan-Neck adjustors on Free Sprung Balances?
I understand that this hairspring in the (beautiful) Zeitwerk movement is free sprung. However, I don't quite understand how this works. I know that having a free sprung balance means that the length of the hairspring is not adjustable via a regulator. Since the speed of oscillation is determined by the weights on the balance, what is the point of the swan neck regulator?
Edit: Photo credit: SJX website.
This message has been edited by patrick_y on 2018-03-07 08:50:44
Swan-Neck adjustors on Free Sprung Balances?
I understand that this hairspring in the (beautiful) Zeitwerk movement is free sprung. However, I don't quite understand how this works. I know that having a free sprung balance means that the length of the hairspring is not adjustable via a regulator. Si...
I think if it's free sprung it's for beat error adjustment
Some Glashuttes have dual swan necks, one for rate and one for beat. It also looks good, otherwise the balance cock is a bit naked.
nwk00 is right.. The swan-neck regulator is for adjusting beat error..
In this case, the swan-neck adjusts the neutral position of the roller jewel. Image courtesy of joel_carvajal: ...
The diagrams and explanations above by nwk00 and Dufourism sums it up beautifully...
Just to clear up/reiterate on terminology (and correct me if I'm wrong) - in the old days before freesprung balances are invented, mechanisms like the swanneck are used to finely adjust the beat rate. Hence, for non-freesprung Lange watches we refer to it...
With reference to Dufourism's picture above, beat error is when the "left swing" and "right swing"
i.e. when the "tick" and "tock" of a watch are of different timing lengths, they need to be adjusted so they are equal duration. This can be fixed by adjusting the position of the start of the hairspring (the stud). A watch can be at the correct beat rate...
Excellent post!
Thank you for sharing your technical knowledge! You're one of the reasons why PuristSPro is the wonderful place it is on the internet for technical information about watches!
