A Major Horological Event

[Java]

On the 30th of DecemberI had the enormous pleasure to witness a major horological event.

This annual event centers around one of the most absurdly interesting and superfluously complicated watches ever to leave the watchmakers hand.

The Glashutte Original Calendar Week





Most years have 52 weeks. every 400 years there are 71 years with 53 weeks.

The GO calendar week knows this. Sadly, it doesn't know which is which, so in the 329 years when there are 52 weeks, you have to manually advance the week from 52 to 53 . If you are an OCD WIS like me , you do this a week or two ahead so that even during those 329 years you get to witness this wonderful event.


Because the two digit, mono level, concentric large display, which counts the weeks must have one digit counting to 5 and another to 9. The transition from 53 to 01 is not a simple affair. Not even slightly simple.


*
Firstly, the entire calender week watch itself consist of 475 parts [in comparison the complex IWC DaVinci perpetual calender chronograph consist of 474 parts] with 206 of these dedicated for the calender week module alone. The calender week watch actually has 3 springs in total; 2 springs from the mainspring double barrels of the cal 100 and one individual 17cm long (0.052mm diameter) for the calender module itself.


Secondly, the calendar week change always takes place on Sunday night with the week wheel turning one tooth further. During every change, the spring storing the energy is tensioned one-sixtieth in order to save up enough energy for the big change that occurs at the end of the year. Over the course of 52/53 weeks in the year, this additional 17cm long spring is slowly tensioned and acts as the energy store for when the year is up.


Thirdly, the change from calendar week 53 to 01 takes place when calendar week “54” is next on the list. A release opens the stored energy and the week wheel turns the seven steps necessary to get to get from 53 to calendar week 01. This process uses up the energy that the 3rd spring has been storing for the preceding 52 weeks.


And Lastly, if this was not enough, the movement designers of the watch also incorporated a centrifugal force regulator (i.e centrifugal brake) to proportion out the energy when this yearly 7-step advancement change occurs. The only other complication that I know of that requires a 'centrifugal regulator' mechanism is the minute repeater. [In a minute repeater the centrifugal regulator is the spinning item that ensures and regulates the rate of the chime is not too hurried or not too slow when activated]*


That Night I had the great privilege to watch this happen first hand on my wrist.

A truly major horological event, to be repeated for my pleasure annually.

I feel lucky.




The new first week. ( the 01 will settle straight in the next hour or so)




No-one needs a watch that counts the weeks. The excuse for this huge horological indulgence is that traditionally, work scheduling in Europe has been based on week numbers.

This has never been popular in Asia nor USA.

But what a great excuse to build such an amazing watch.
I love that it is so complex yet almost entirely superfluous. Aren't all mechanical watches so.

This is one of the things that I love about them.

Apart from that. I enjoy that it gives me a weekly perspective on the flow of the year, where all my other watches see the year in monthly terms.


* Four paragraphs taken from Watchprosite review, because I couldn't have put it better.