Breguet

Spangles - Dr. Tabby
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I see your Breguet escapement question and raise you a fully magnetic Breguet escapement

www.hodinkee.com

"Because silicon components are immune to magnetism, Breguet was able to use powerful micro-magnets to create a magnetic field around the balance staff. The magnetic field serves as a shock protector for the staff, improving its rotation and stability. Breguet thinks the technology could be a game-changer for mechanical watches.

"We have this technology in one watch at the moment," Esslinger says. That's the Classique Chronométrie 7727, introduced in 2014. "But we want to develop this further."

Breguet has. I saw the next step in a meeting at Baselworld in March with Esslinger and Marc Hayek. Nakis Karapatis, head of Breguet's R&D lab, showed me a prototype of what Breguet calls an "experimental balance wheel." (Technically, it is Project XB5.0. The X stands for "experimental" and the B for "balance wheel.")

It's a new type of escapement for which Breguet engineers removed the anchor and added magnets. The technical details are secret. The bottom line is that this escapement does not have stop-and-go motions. Breguet tests of the prototype show significant improvements in efficiency and accuracy. Which should yield a much longer power reserve.

Karapatis's team has been working on the escapement for two years. There will probably be another three to five years of development and testing before Breguet puts it in a watch, Karapatis said."

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