Unit

Micromechanical and Horological Design Laboratory

Laboratory

Summary

The Micromechanical and Horological Design Laboratory (Instant-Lab) at EPFL-Neuchatel Campus, directed by Prof. Simon Henein, focuses on creating innovative mechanisms at the centimetre scale. Inspired by fields like horology, robotics, and aerospace, the laboratory's projects span mechanical watchmaking, biomedical instrumentation, and aerospace mechanisms. Prof. Simon Henein held the prestigious Patek Philippe Endowed Chair from 2012 to 2020. Besides academic research and teaching, the laboratory actively collaborates with industrial partners. Their research includes developing gravity-insensitive flexure-based oscillators for wristwatches, such as the IsoSpring project, which aims to improve chronometric accuracy and power reserve. The laboratory's work has been showcased in various exhibitions and industrial projects, with a focus on miniaturization for watch-scale applications.

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Summary

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Related people (5)

Simon Nessim Henein

Born in 1973 and of Egyptian-Swiss nationality, Simon Henein grew up in Cairo. He obtained an engineering degree at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 1996 and went on to complete his doctorate at the EPFL in 2000. In 2001, he published the book “Conception des guidages flexibles” which has become a reference in precision engineering. He then joined the Centre Suisse d’Electronique et Microtechnique (CSEM), Neuchatel, Switzerland, where he conceived and developed mechanisms for robotic, aerospace, medical and watchmaking applications. He pursued his research career at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland, where he developed instruments for the Swiss Light Source Synchrotron (SLS). Since November 1st, 2012, he is associate professor in microengineering at the EPFL, holder of the Patek Philippe Chair and director of the Micromechanical and horological design laboratory (Instant-Lab).

Charles Baur

Florent Cosandier

Teaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Johan Kruis

Related publications (21)

Micromechanical and Horological Design Laboratory

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

Shaking force balancing of a 2-DOF isotropic horological oscillator

Optical measurement method for mechanical time base characterization