Great animation of a mechanical movement

[HiBoost]

I've seen some others over the years but this is so worth the watch.

https://youtu.be/9_QsCLYs2mY

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[CalSRQ1]

Very enjoyable video

[rmurphy]

Great video, thanks for sharing it.


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[1lastone]

can somebody help me to understand - does the mainspring deliver power to the escapement via the gear train, and the power from the escapement/balance spring is transmitted back through the same gear train which has the hands attached? or does the escapement gear drive a separate set of gears to turn the hands? Also, what determines the beat rate of the balance spring, is it the property of the spring, tension, length etc?

[HiBoost]

The way I think of it is that the hands are connected to the gear train which connects the main spring to the escapement. The oscillator (balance + hairspring) controls the rate at which this train rotates. The hands are basically along for the ride and tell the time as a result. So there's no back and forth power, it's power flowing in one direction and the flow is controlled at the opposite end from the power source.

Now, those other gears you see on the dial side, their purpose is to allow you to set the time. The gear train can keep humming along, but when you move the crown to the time setting position you are engaging this other set of gears and able to move the hands independently of how the gear train is moving. The reason you aren't stripping the teeth off the gears when you do this is because these time setting gears which the hands attach to are a friction slip fit on the gear train pivots. So with no resistance from trying to manually set the time, the two move in unison. But when you do set the time you are able to move them independently.

Beat rate should come from the length of the hairspring and when you regulate the watch you are lengthening or shortening the spring by a very small amount to make this change.

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[Moose500]

Great video! Thanks for sharing.

[palmtree11]

Love to watch, I am kinda in love with it.

[Jster]

Thanks for posting this. That’s one of the best animations I’ve seen on how a mechanical watch works. It’s incredibly fascinating to me.

[twix228]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing it with us!!

[aayates]

It does seem like a kind-of feedback loop to me. The mainspring powers the escapement, and the hair-spring regulates how much power is released. Is this not correct? (I am a novice).

[Ftech1]

Great video! Thank you for sharing.

[Screwly]

Awesome video! Thanks

[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by aayates

It does seem like a kind-of feedback loop to me. The mainspring powers the escapement, and the hair-spring regulates how much power is released. Is this not correct? (I am a novice).

The mainspring is the source of the power. The power goes through multiple gears with the escapement wheel being the last. The speed of the escape wheel needs to be limited by some means. That's where the name comes from - this last wheel on the gear train allows the mainspring's energy to "escape"... it's just a question of at what rate is this happening? Take out the pallet fork and the gears will spin at full speed and exhaust the main spring in seconds. Take out the hairspring (but not the pallet fork) and the "brakes" are fully applied, nothing moves, and the mainspring stays fully wound. So more than a feedback loop you might think of it as an adjustable nozzle at the end of a hose. Even a Seiko spring drive uses this same basic principle. But instead of a hairspring and pallet fork alternately braking, releasing, braking, releasing an escapement wheel, it instead uses an electromagnetic brake to limit the escapement wheel to a slow, but continuous, speed.

[aayates]

Originally Posted by HiBoost

The mainspring is the source of the power. The power goes through multiple gears with the escapement wheel being the last. The speed of the escape wheel needs to be limited by some means. That's where the name comes from - this last wheel on the gear train allows the mainspring's energy to "escape"... it's just a question of at what rate is this happening? Take out the pallet fork and the gears will spin at full speed and exhaust the main spring in seconds. Take out the hairspring (but not the pallet fork) and the "brakes" are fully applied, nothing moves, and the mainspring stays fully wound. So more than a feedback loop you might think of it as an adjustable nozzle at the end of a hose. Even a Seiko spring drive uses this same basic principle. But instead of a hairspring and pallet fork alternately braking, releasing, braking, releasing an escapement wheel, it instead uses an electromagnetic brake to limit the escapement wheel to a slow, but continuous, speed.

Makes sense. thanks for the details.

[77T]

Originally Posted by 1lastone

can somebody help me to understand - does the mainspring deliver power to the escapement via the gear train, and the power from the escapement/balance spring is transmitted back through the same gear train which has the hands attached? or does the escapement gear drive a separate set of gears to turn the hands? Also, what determines the beat rate of the balance spring, is it the property of the spring, tension, length etc?

The escape wheel isn’t powered by the gear train that is used for timekeeping.

Power from the mainspring is
transferred to the balance by the escape wheel.

It has specially shaped teeth that are designed to interact with the pallet fork.

Escape wheels have varying number of teeth based on the desired vibrations per hour (vph) of the movement.

Hope that helps - the video skipped over the part about how the barrel drives the escape wheel.


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[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by 77T

The escape wheel isn’t powered by the gear train that is used for timekeeping.

Power from the mainspring is
transferred to the balance by the escape wheel.

It has specially shaped teeth that are designed to interact with the pallet fork.

Escape wheels have varying number of teeth based on the desired vibrations per hour (vph) of the movement.

Hope that helps - the video skipped over the part about how the barrel drives the escape wheel.

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Not following this explanation at all. That is precisely what the gear train does - transfer power from the mainspring barrel to the escape wheel.

"The gear train is responsible for transmitting torque from the barrel to the escapement" - https://www.hodinkee.com/watch101/gear-train

"The transmission system or geartrain transmits the energy stored in the barrel to the escape-wheel." - https://www.hautehorlogerie.org/en/e...mission-organ/

Your description makes it sound like the barrel is directly driving the escape wheel which is not the case. Surely I misunderstood you?

[77T]

Originally Posted by HiBoost

Not following this explanation at all.

Surely I misunderstood you?

You’re right - I boogered-up that explanation - thanks for bringing those points in a cordial manner.

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[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by 77T

You’re right - I boogered-up that explanation - thanks for bringing those points in a cordial manner.

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Yeah I try to tread lightly when I'm addressing a guy with 34000 posts about watches haha. Cheers!

[Smobews]

If you like that one you’ll love this one. You can manipulate the movement in 3D. Fascinating. It’s the same video, but the website has the 3D moveable movement model.

https://animagraffs.com/mechanical-watch/

[axelbrass]

Really liked the videos shown and my kids also loved the animation.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by HiBoost

The mainspring is the source of the power. The power goes through multiple gears with the escapement wheel being the last. The speed of the escape wheel needs to be limited by some means. That's where the name comes from - this last wheel on the gear train allows the mainspring's energy to "escape"... it's just a question of at what rate is this happening? Take out the pallet fork and the gears will spin at full speed and exhaust the main spring in seconds. Take out the hairspring (but not the pallet fork) and the "brakes" are fully applied, nothing moves, and the mainspring stays fully wound. So more than a feedback loop you might think of it as an adjustable nozzle at the end of a hose. Even a Seiko spring drive uses this same basic principle. But instead of a hairspring and pallet fork alternately braking, releasing, braking, releasing an escapement wheel, it instead uses an electromagnetic brake to limit the escapement wheel to a slow, but continuous, speed.

Originally Posted by 77T

You’re right - I boogered-up that explanation - thanks for bringing those points in a cordial manner.

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Originally Posted by HiBoost

Yeah I try to tread lightly when I'm addressing a guy with 34000 posts about watches haha. Cheers!

You guys crack me up...