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Old 26 January 2021, 02:58 PM   #1
HiBoost
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Great animation of a mechanical movement

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

https://youtu.be/9_QsCLYs2mY

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Old 26 January 2021, 04:20 PM   #2
CalSRQ1
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Very enjoyable video
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Old 26 January 2021, 11:03 PM   #3
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Great video, thanks for sharing it.


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Old 27 January 2021, 03:22 AM   #4
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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?
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Old 27 January 2021, 01:02 PM   #5
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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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Old 27 January 2021, 11:53 PM   #6
Moose500
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Great video! Thanks for sharing.
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Old 29 January 2021, 02:28 AM   #7
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Love to watch, I am kinda in love with it.
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Old 29 January 2021, 01:16 PM   #8
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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.
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Old 30 January 2021, 01:57 AM   #9
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Awesome video! Thanks for sharing it with us!!
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Old 30 January 2021, 03:42 AM   #10
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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).
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Old 30 January 2021, 03:10 PM   #11
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Great video! Thank you for sharing.
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Old 30 January 2021, 03:36 PM   #12
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Awesome video! Thanks
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Old 2 February 2021, 07:36 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aayates View Post
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.
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Old 3 February 2021, 01:48 AM   #14
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Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by HiBoost View Post
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.
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Old 3 February 2021, 02:06 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1lastone View Post
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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Old 3 February 2021, 03:03 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 77T View Post
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.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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?
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Old 3 February 2021, 10:12 AM   #17
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Great animation of a mechanical movement

Quote:
Originally Posted by HiBoost View Post
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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Old 3 February 2021, 11:16 AM   #18
HiBoost
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 77T View Post
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!
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Old 16 February 2021, 09:23 AM   #19
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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/
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Old 16 February 2021, 03:29 PM   #20
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Really liked the videos shown and my kids also loved the animation.
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Old 16 February 2021, 05:10 PM   #21
Andad
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HiBoost View Post
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 77T View Post
You’re right - I boogered-up that explanation - thanks for bringing those points in a cordial manner.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiBoost View Post
Yeah I try to tread lightly when I'm addressing a guy with 34000 posts about watches haha. Cheers!
You guys crack me up...
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