Horological Meandering

This is a modern marvel!  It’s all about the dead-seconds: look at that lovely, big yellow seconds-hand against a muted, minimalist background. Conservative (37mm) straight edged DLC case; very plain hands; Bauhaus indices; dark grey markers and hands on matt black dial, then a screaming gloss ‘Giallo Modena’ seconds hand. Think ‘Nomos meets Grönefeld One Hertz’.

It is absolutely mesmerising to watch the dead-seconds hand ‘tick-halt-tick-halt-tick-halt’ its way around the dial, with no springing back after each little leap. It seems so much more…active…than those other watches whose seconds hands sweep almost imperceptibly towards their destination.

What, though, makes this watch the modern marvel that it is?  Well, here’s the thing.  Somehow – somehow! – the watchmakers have managed to achieve this dead-seconds action without all of the usual special gearing, separate drive trains and constant force mechanisms utilised for that purpose.  In a daring manoeuvre worthy of Ludwig Oeschlin, the watchmakers have striven for the fewest number of moving pieces in order to meet their goal.  The cleverest move of all?  Do away with the barrel, mainspring, hairspring and the pesky balance wheel! 

Reviving arcane know-how almost lost since the seventies of the last century, the watchmakers have implemented a small but ingenious part made from piezoelectric silicon dioxide through which they pass a small current, causing it to oscillate 32,768 times per second.  A thing they call a ‘circuit’ (probably from the late 14th century Old French ‘circuit – going around’) registers the oscillations and on each 32,768th oscillation emits a pulse which drives a miniature stepping motor, and that then turns the hour, minute and (most important of all...) second hand of the watch.  All of this in such a tiny case!  Yet the dead-seconds action is identical to that of the more complicated (and costly) pieces that we know and love, such as the FPJ Tourbillon Souverain à seconde morte, the aforementioned Grönefeld One Hertz, the De Bethune DB25T, the Habring ‘Jumping Second’ and even the Panerai PAM 080 ‘Independent’.  Such elfish magic!

The best thing of all?  These wizards are Australian.  This is a new brand from Melbourne, Australia, wittily named ‘Stock’.  Listen to the chuckles when you ask if they have any in stock.  You, too, could finally become a legendary Aussie stockman, just by wearing this watch.

JPoros, are you out there? This has all the hallmarks of your kind of watch, does it not???

Cheers,

pplater.

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