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The intoxicating beauty of click springs
In some of my previous threads, I've highlighted this small, but crucial and sometimes wonderfully beautiful component of a watch's movement.
The click is a pawl often shaped like a beak or as a cam with two tips. It's held in tension by a spring that forces it against the ratchet wheel of the mainspring barrel or intermediary gear, preventing the mainspring from unwinding.
The click and its dedicated spring are often two distinct elements and they aren't always visible. But it also happens that the click is somehow integrated to the end of the spring.
So, let's have a look at some wonderful clicks and click springs (during my research for this post, I found this article by Ryan Schmidt on Quill & Pad, which has helped me a lot).
Best, Emmanuel
1/ GRAND SEIKO, ref. SLGW004 (dedicated thread here)
The click of calibre 9SA4 is shaped like a wagtail bird, a tribute to the bird native to the area where the GS Studio Shizukuishi manufacture is located.
In a video at the end, you can see the click in action.
credit: monochrome & wikipedia (Japanese wagtail - Motacilla grandis)
2/ YOSUKE SEKIGUCHI's PRIMEVÈRE (dedicated thread here)
Like in the Jules Jürgensen pocket watch calibers which served as a source of inspiration, the blade click spring has an omega shape and the click is an invisible pawl finger placed at the end of the blade.
credit: hodinkee (1 & 4), Sjx (2-3) & personal photo
3/ XHEVDET REXHEPI'S Minute Inerte (dedicated thread here)
The shape of the click spring is directly inspired by the segmental pediments found in the Tribuna room of the Palazzo Grimani di Santa Maria Formosa in Venice.
credit: hodinkee (1, 2 & 5) @Xhevdet Rexhepi (3) & artsupp (4)
4/ PHILIPPE DUFOUR Simplicity
The click spring is designed like a ”cutthroat razor”.
credit: quill & pad (1-3 & 6) & the naked watchmaker (4-5)
5/ LAURENT FERRIER Tourbillon Double Spiral, ref. LCF001.G1.D2AG
Another example of crossbar or long blade click spring in this calibre LF (or FBN) 619.01:
credit: hodinkee
6/ AKRIVIA AK-04 Tourbillon Regulator
Here, the spring is anchored on the right, reaching the click on the left across the top of the movement.
credit:esperluxe
7/ ARNOLD & SON Double Tourbillon Escapement, ref. 1DTAW.S01A.C121W
The click spring of the caliber A&S8513 is designed like an ouroboros (ancient symbol depicting a snake or dragon eating its own tail).
credit: watch collecting lifestyle (1 & 4), deployant (2) & Wikimedia (3)
8/ GREUBEL FORSAY Signature 1
Here, the click is ingeniously concealed in the tripod bridge of the barrel.
In a video at the end, you can see the click spring in action.
credit: hodinkee
9/ JAEGER-LECOULTRE Duomètre à Chronographe, ref. 6012521 (aka: Q6012521)
With caliber 380A, things gets complicated because the movement has two independent mainsprings (each located in its dedicated barrel) coupled by the same manual winding transmission (through one single crown) to power two independent complications (hours/minutes & chronograph). To charge one mainspring you turn the crown clockwise, to charge the other you turn it counterclockwise.
So, in order to achieve such a transmission that can wind in both directions, while not unwinding in either, each winding wheel has not one but two complementary or twin “passenger” clicks, each held in tension by the spring of the other.
credit: a blog to watch
10/ KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN Cinema, ref. K200PT0A05LS
Like the caliber of the JLC Duomètre, the caliber K.06-0 has two winding barrels, one for the zoopraxiscope module (which, at the bottom, provides animated images of a galloping horse) and the other one for the movement of the minute and hour hands at the top.
In a video at the end, you can see the zoopraxiscope in action.
credit: watch pro (1 & 4) & a blog to watch (2-3)
11/ PHILIPPE DUFOUR Grande Sonnerie Pocket Watch n° 1 (an in-depth analysis by JX Su can be found here)
Last, but certainly not least, here's another example of twin-train masterpiece with twin "passenger" click springs reminiscent of a "double-ouroboros".
In a video below, you can listen to the watch chiming.
credit: Sjx (except for the two dragons eating each other's tails: line engraving from Abraham Eleazar's 'Uraltes Chymisches Werk,' Leipzig, Germany, 1760)
VIDEOS
The intoxicating beauty of click springs
In some of my previous threads, I've highlighted this small , but crucial and sometimes wonderfully beautiful component of a watch's movement. The click is a pawl often shaped like a beak or as a cam with two tips. It's held in tension by a spring that fo...
Thank you, Salman!
This post is very dear to me, so I'm glad you liked it. Best, Emmanuel
Great post!
Thanks for educating us on how this often overlooked component can also be a thing of beauty!
Thanks for your enthusiasm!
This post is really dear to me, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. Best, Emmanuel
Very informative read
I don’t have those brands, but my LF with that blade style click lever really feels great with the fine clicks but being buttery smooth with next to no resistance.
Yes, LF has done two wonderful calibers with such click springs:
the Tourbillon and the Classic origin. Thanks for your comment. Best, Emmanuel
Thanks for sharing. Those aren’t actually clicks in the two train watches, as in they don’t retain the mainspring.
It’s a reversing system for tandem winding, basically the same as you’d find in the reverser wheels of an ETA or Rolex movement. There is another click underneath the ratchet wheels to retain the mainspring, as can be seen in this image from Amanico . It'...
Thanks a lot for your insight and knowledge, Andrew!
I knew that by tackling such a technical subject, I risked making mistakes. But in the end, it doesn't matter, because fortunately, there are people like you who know more and it’s an opportunity to learn! Best, Emmanuel
Thanks for another amazing post
I enjoyed every bit of it, the legend was useful. The finishing of the movement plates on the Philippe Dufour pocket watch is exquisite. Laslty I got a chance to play with the GS a few weeks back and it is a very tactile movement, I hope they use it in mo...
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it
because this post is very dear to me. I hope to be able to handle the GS next time I go to Paris. Best, Emmanuel
Yes, this tribute to Edward Muybridge is really great.
I’m glad you like it too. Best, Emmanuel
Wow - that’s quite the collection 👏🏻🙌🏻
Thanks for compiling all of these - a truly nice detail executed perfectly in the examples shown 👍🏻
I'm glad you liked this compilation!
This thread means a lot to me because it touches the heart of what I love so much about watchmaking. Thank you and have a nice day. Best, Emmanuel
Thank you, Goh!
I'm glad you enjoyed it because these click springs really belong to what makes horology so exciting for me. Best, Emmanuel
Thank you for this fun compilation of click springs! I'm a fan :)
One of these days I would like to own a watch with a traditional blade style click spring. The Chaykin double barrel is one I hadn't seen before, very cool, and I am a big fan of the Greubel implementation since it feels so 3d in a very 2d world. Garrick ...
Oh, I didn't know that one: I like it a lot, it looks very nice.
Thank you for the discovery! I hope you'll find the blade-style model of your dreams someday. Best, Emmanuel
fabulous piece on a well deserved topic
The shape of that Laurent Ferrier spring endears me to that watch forever. You opened my eyes to so many more!
Thank you, I’m really glad you enjoyed this thread,
which means a lot to me as it deals with those little things that make me love watchmaking. Best, Emmanuel