Quote:
Originally Posted by saxo3
Tribology is a broad and very complex field in science, not only for watches, and a lot of fundamental research is done worldwide.
|
True.
But the fields of research aren't going to necessarily be specific to this application.
Let's face it. How much Rolex lube in total would be used world wide per annum?
3 litres?
Maybe a little more, maybe be a little less?
It's hard to imagine the same amount of resources being ploughed into it from the best and brightest in the industry as there would be for a necessary an upgrade from Dexos to Dexos 1(for example) to combat the problems associated with LSPI.
All this talk about lubes is interesting, but what's changed in real terms regarding the lubrication needs of a fairly basic but admittedly specific machine design in terms of requirements from the old to the new movements???
The answer is pretty much nothing, apart from the escapement itself
We have to accept that lubricants have changed a lot and are getting better(in some respects) but it's always been an incremental improvement.
Synthetics weren't particularly new(though comparitively exclusive) until the Germans needed them in the early 40's.
In automotive terms in was another 2 decades before they became boutique lubes for a small subset of automotive enthusiasts after the military adopted them out of a technological necessity for jet powered aircraft. Then another couple of decades before they were marketed and sold to the wider populace where they were put on the map to be in the consciousness of the consumer.
Migration of lubes is discussed here, but there is a reason why they are viewed as migrating away from where they are supposed to be