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Concept

Mechanical watch

Related publications (24)

Room-temperature quantum optomechanics using an ultralow noise cavity

Tobias Kippenberg, Guanhao Huang, Nils Johan Engelsen, Alberto Beccari

At room temperature, mechanical motion driven by the quantum backaction of light has been observed only in pioneering experiments in which an optical restoring force controls the oscillator stiffness1,2. For solid-state mechanical resonators in which oscil ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Pivot, process for manufacturing such a pivot, oscillator comprising such a pivot, watch movement and timepiece comprising such an oscillator

Simon Nessim Henein, Loïc Benoît Tissot-Daguette

The present invention concerns a pivot comprising two assemblies, namely a central assembly (401) and a peripheral assembly (400). These two assemblies are mobile in rotation relative to each other around an axis of rotation (A). The pivot is characterized ...

2024

Optical measurement method for mechanical time base characterization

Simon Nessim Henein, Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann

The recent adoption of silicon components by the mechanical watch industry has triggered the search for new time bases to advantageously replace the traditional balance and hairspring oscillator. In particular, flexure-based oscillators manufactured in sil ...

euspen2021

Shaking force balancing of a 2-DOF isotropic horological oscillator

Simon Nessim Henein, Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann, Hubert Pierre-Marie Benoît Schneegans

Despite centuries of research and significant advances, the escapement mechanism used to count and maintain oscillations of mechanical time bases remains a complex mechanism and a major source of energy losses. We showed in previous work that, instead of t ...

2021

The Role of Geometrical Parameters in the Lubrication of the Swiss Lever Escapement

Stefano Mischler, Alejandro Roda Buch, Sandra Guadalupe Maldonado

The lubrication regimes of a contact pair escapement-ruby pallet of a Swiss lever escapement have been investigated combining the theory of fluid lubrication with a well-established kinematic and inverse dynamic multibody model. The kinematic analytical re ...

2021

Rocker oscillator time bases

Simon Nessim Henein, Ilan Vardi

Since the invention of the pendulum clock by Christiaan Huygens in 1657, precision timekeepers have been regulated by oscillators. Although the pendulum is not an isochronous oscillator, its introduction as a time basis for clock regulation led to a signif ...

2021

Flexure Pivot Oscillator With Intrinsically Tuned Isochronism

Simon Nessim Henein, Ilan Vardi, Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann, Mohammad Hussein Kahrobaiyan

The most important property for accurate mechanical time bases is isochronism: the independence of period from oscillation amplitude. This paper develops a new concept in isochronism adjustment for flexure-based watch oscillators. Flexure pivot oscillators ...

2020

Tribological Approach to the Watch Movements

Valentine Agnès Madeleine Magnin

Mechanical watches are complex and sensitive systems that have to maintain a faultless precision over their lifetime. However, this precision can be altered by disturbances occurring during the functioning time, such as friction, lubricant drying, or wear, ...

EPFL2020

Flexure Pivot Oscillators for Mechanical Watches

Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann

It appears that the concerted efforts of the watchmaking industry are leading towards a limit in mechanical watch accuracy. The general consensus in horology is that the time base's quality factor, a dimensionless number that characterizes the oscillator d ...

EPFL2020

Design of a Flexure Based Low Frequency Foucault Pendulum

Simon Nessim Henein, Ilan Vardi, Patrick Robert Flückiger

The Foucault pendulum is a well-known mechanism used to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. It consists in a pendulum launched on linear orbits and, following Mach’s Principle, this line of oscillation will remain fixed with respect to absolute space bu ...

2020

MEMS for Photonic Integrated Circuits

Niels Quack, Alain Yuji Takabayashi, Hamed Sattari

The field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is reviewed. This field leverages mechanics at the nanometer to micrometer scale to improve existing components and introduce novel functionalities in PICs. This rev ...

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC2020

Conceptual design of a rotational mechanical time base with varying inertia

Simon Nessim Henein, Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann

Flexure pivot oscillators have the potential to advantageously replace the traditional balance wheel-spiral spring oscillator used in mechanical watches due to their significantly lower friction. However, they have inherent nonlinear elastic properties tha ...

2019

Automatically Starting and Secured Detent Escapement for a Timepiece

Simon Nessim Henein, Ilan Vardi

A horological detent escapement for a horological movement arranged to transmit a torque from said horological movement to an oscillating regulating organ of said horological movement, the regulating organ comprising a first mobile body and the escapement ...

2019

MEMS Generator Study for an Embedded Energy Harvesting System

Jasha Poliakine

This work has been triggered by an industrial project targeting the development of a novel regulation system for a mechanical watch. Mechanical watches have been known for over a century as one of the finest example of energy autonomous devices, embodying ...

EPFL2018

Programmable Multistable Mechanisms: Design, modeling, characterization and applications

Mohamed Gamal Abdelrahman Ahmed Zanaty

Multistable Mechanisms are mechanical devices having more than one stable state. Since these mechanisms can maintain different deformations with zero force, they are advantageous for low power environments such as wristwatches and medical devices. In this ...

EPFL2018

Flexure-Pivot Oscillator Restoring Torque Nonlinearity and Isochronism Defect

Simon Nessim Henein, Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann, Mohammad Hussein Kahrobaiyan

Flexure pivot based oscillators can advantageously replace the hairspring and balance wheel, the time base used in mechanical watches, by drastically reducing friction. However, flexure pivots have drawbacks including gravity sensitivity and restoring torq ...

AMER SOC MECHANICAL ENGINEERS2018

Theory and design of spherical oscillator mechanisms

Simon Nessim Henein, Ilan Vardi, Roland Andreas Bitterli, Mohammad Hussein Kahrobaiyan, Lennart Rubbert, Billy Nussbaumer, Nicolas Ferrier

In previous work, we showed that two degree of freedom oscillators can be advantageously applied to horological time bases since they can be used to eliminate the escapement mechanism. We subsequently examined planar two degree of freedom oscillators based ...

2018

Ultrasonic driving method

Jacques Jacot

A method for driving a first component (11) into a second component (12) by superimposing a mechanical wave of ultrasonic frequency (18) onto the movement (17) of at least one of the components (11, 12). The method comprises a step of adjusting the paramet ...

2016

A Wearable System Of Micromachined Piezoelectric Cantilevers Coupled To A Rotational Oscillating Mass For On-Body Energy Harvesting

Nico de Rooij, Danick Briand, Pattanaphong Janphuang, Robert Andrew Lockhart

In this paper, we present a compact, wearable piezoelectric on-body harvesting system that uses a small eccentric mass from a common watch movement to mechanically deflect a set of micromachined piezoelectric cantilevers when excited by the low frequency m ...

IEEE2014

Immobilizing device for a toothed wheel

Simon Nessim Henein, Fabiano Colpo

The invention relates to an immobilizing device for a toothed wheel suitable for the field of horology where it can be part of a direct- or indirect-impulse escapement, in particular in a wristwatch. This immobilizing device (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) comprises: — ...

European Patent Office2011