Montblanc - TimeWriter II Bi-Fréquence 1000 Chronographe

 Montblanc - TimeWriter II Bi-Fréquence 1000 Chronographe

 

The biggest novelty of Montblanc this year is the new Timewriter II. A bi-annual project that resulted in the Timewriter I, Metamorphosis, two years ago. This year it’s a chronograph again, but now one that can measure up to 1/1000th of  a second. 

The ‘Timewriter project’ is something Institut Minerva does together with a young watchmaker who does not have the opportunity to create his own idea, because he simply doesn’t have the resources. The Timewriter II is created in collaboration with Bartomeu Gomila and shows a new approach to measuring time to a precision of 1/1000th of a second.

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How does it work? Let’s start with describing how the Timewriter II Bi-Fréquence is started and stopped. Like many chronographs produced  in the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret, the chronograph is operated by a mono-pusher. The pusher is not in the crown, but positioned on the top side of the case, above the 12 o’clock position. The crown is used for winding and setting (when pulled out) the watch. If the crown is turned counter-clockwise (when in the winding position), the mainspring for the chronograph function is being powered.
The time is displayed by the central hour and minute hand and can be read on the small concentric Roman hour markers. The real feat of the watch is of course the chronograph and reading the elapsed chronograph time has been given much attention in the design.

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There are three positions that keep track of the recorded time, or actually four. The minutes and seconds are displayed on one axis at the 6 o’clock position; the seconds are displayed on the black ring with white and red markers and the minute counter records up to 15 minutes and can be read from the inner white circle.
The 1/100th seconds are indicated by the large red central seconds hand and can be read on the outside track that goes from 0 to 100. The 1/1000th seconds are indicated by the red arrow in the dashboard-like display.  Once the chronograph is stopped the red arrow will jump from the N (neutral) position to the actual measured 1/1000th of a second.
                                                                               
And there is one more indicator to the right side of the dial. That is actually the power reserve indicator of the chronograph. Because of the incredible speed, this part of the movement uses a lot of power and the power reserve is limited to 45 minutes (which is actually a lot when compared to ‘the’ other chronograph that measures to 1/1000th). Since this indicator measures the power reserve very precise, it can also be used as a 45 minutes counter. If one wants to measure a longer time than 45 minutes, it’s possible to wind the chronograph while it’s running.

Yesterday I had the chance to talk with mr. Alexander Schmiedt, Director of Watches at Montblanc,and asked him to explain the Timewriter II Bi-Fréquence.

           

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The name already indicates that this watch has two balances, each with a different frequency, hence Bi-Fréquence. The balance for the ‘normal time’, a classical screw balance with Philips terminal curve, has a diameter of 11,4 mm and vibrates at 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour (2.5 hertz). The other balance is for the chronograph and has a frequency of 360,000 (!!) semi-oscillations per hour (50 hertz). This is an incredibly high frequency and a large balance could not keep up with this kind of speed. Therefore the chronograph balance is much smaller, with a diameter of 6 mm.

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 Now the big question is of course how to measure 1/1000th of a second, while the ‘normal’ chronograph parts are able to measure up to 1/100th of a second. The Spanish watchmaker Bartomeu Gomila was inspired by a childhood memory: as a boy on the island of Menorca, Bartomeu loved to play with a big wooden hoop, which he would roll along the beach either by repeatedly pushing it with his hand or striking it with a little stick. He soon realized that he could keep the hoop rolling in a uniform rotary motion if he continually gave it equally strong impulses at equally timed intervals.

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As Montblanc describes it: The secret was a balance with a frequency of 50 hertz (360,000 A/h). This rapid oscillator completes 100 to-and-from motions per second, i.e. 50 times in one direction and 50 times in the other. This tempo not only guides the motion of the trotteuse in the Montblanc TimeWriter II Chronographe Bi-Fréquence 1,000, it also sets the pace for delivering an impulse of energy that sets into rotation an innovative wheel in the gear-train, the so-called “thousandths wheel” (mobile de millième). Powered in this fashion, it rotates around its own axis at a uniform speed of ten rotations per second and thus provides the resolution with which hundredths of a second can be further subdivided into sets of ten increments. The chronograph function is controlled by a two-level column-wheel: one level guides the start, stop and zero-return functions; the other level controls the thousandths wheel.

This solution offers big advantages which make it far superior to every conventional mechanism that has ever been used to measure thousandths of seconds with the aid of a 500-hertz oscillating body. First of all, a frequency of just 50 hertz generates considerably less friction and drastically reduces wear. Furthermore the chronograph now has much more power reserve and this long-lasting power reserve also contributes to the regularity of the amplitude of the hundredths-of-a-second balance which, in turn, enhances the precision of the time measuring.


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The movement itself is a piece of art, with beautifully designed bridges and simply gorgeous hand-finishing. The bridges are finished with Côte de Genève and beveled and the mainplate shows pèrlage. The picture above shows a rendering of what the finished movement will look like, when it’s ready. At the SIHH we got some hands-on time with a fully working prototype and we were very impressed by this concept of measuring time to a precision of 1/1000th of a second.


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Jaeger-LeCoultre - Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon

Jaeger-LeCoultre - Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon


At the SIHH 2012, the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre presents three new timepieces in its Master Control line, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It was indeed in 1992 that the Grande Maison in the Vallée de Joux introduced this classically inspired line named after a merciless set of tests, the 1000 Hours Control, introduced that same year in order to guarantee the reliability, the sturdiness and the precision of its timepieces, even in the most extreme conditions.

 

  Since 1833, watchmaking inventiveness has had a firm home base in the Vallée de Joux. That was the year the brilliant young Antoine Lecoultre founded his own establishment in Le Sentier, dedicated to the production of horological components. He had just developed a revolutionary machine designed to cut pinions, a key element of watch mechanisms. It represented a decisive breakthrough that paved the way for movement standardisation and series production. This first venture off the beaten track set an invaluable precedent, and remains an enduring source of inspiration for the founders’ successors. Antoine LeCoultre did not take the success with which his first efforts were rewarded as an encouragement to rest on his laurels – quite the contrary. He extended production to encompass other timepiece components and constantly sought out new means of enhancing production quality. Barely ten years went by before he developed the millionometer, the first instrument capable of making micron-accurate measurements corresponding to one millionth of a metre. The invention was to have a considerable impact in that, as well as ensuring greatly improved precision, it also served to incorporate within pocket-watches certain horological complications that previous generations could only dream of. The new accomplishments generated great enthusiasm and the Vallée de Joux, the cradle of Fine Watchmaking, soon earned the nickname of the “Valley of Complications” – a title that has remained unchallenged ever since.

The pink gold case frames a dial on which the observer’s gaze is inexorably drawn towards the tourbillon at 6 o’clock. This imposing and majestic device testifies to the exceptional precision of the Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon, as well as to the inventive strength of the Manufacture that propelled the tourbillon, invented in the latter years of the 18th century, firmly into the 21st century. In 2004, the Gyrotourbillon caused a sensation by introducing the world’s first spherical tourbillon. Four years later, the Grande Maison in the Vallée de Joux unveiled the Reverso Gyrotourbillon, the first three-dimensional tourbillon to feature a cylindrical balance-spring. Barely twelve months later, Jaeger-LeCoultre presented the Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication combining a flying tourbillon and celestial indications in the form of a sidereal zodiac calendar. This extraordinary range of inventions is of course anything but coincidental.

Six years ago, the Master Tourbillon returned to the roots of the tourbillon, of which the primary function consists in optimising the precision and the reliability of a timepiece by compensating for the detrimental effects of gravity on the regulating organ. Its tourbillon is distinguished by its generous dimensions and its high frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour, which remains a rarity for a tourbillon movement. It also features a diaphanously light titanium carriage weighing a mere 0.33 grams and representing an undeniable asset in reducing the energy required by a barrel that is wound by a rotor mounted on ceramic ball bearings. This high-precision instrument won first prize in the Chronométrie 2009 international timing competition.

In 2012, the Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon featuring this same tourbillon is an anthem of praise to this prestigious device. In this stupendously slender execution, it is held by a filigree-worked bridge providing an exquisite view of its perfectly proportioned orbit. Set against an eggshell-white dial, the applied pink gold hour-markers retain the modesty required to avoid distracting the gaze from the true focus of attention. The gold hour and minute hands accompany the small seconds at 6 o’clock which, interdependent with the rotations of the tourbillon, performs a complete turn once a minute. The result of decades of patient research and development appears in a state of perfection and simplicity such that no one admiring it could possibly imagine the efforts involved in making it. This is indeed the hallmark of all authentic masterpieces. In homage to this artistic and technological accomplishment, the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre will offer the Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon exclusively with a pink gold case measuring 40 mm in diameter and measuring an incredible thin 11.3 millimeters.

Throughout its rich history, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s inventiveness has been attested by the filing of almost 400 patents. More eloquently than any other, this statistic illustrates the tirelessly innovative momentum of the Manufacture, although it only takes on its true significance when one recalls that 80 of them have been awarded for decisive breakthroughs made since the dawn of the third millennium. For the Grande Maison in the Vallée de Joux, the acceleration of history is no mere myth.

For twenty years, the strict demands of the 1000 Hours Control have been conducting rigorous test procedures on all Master Control models, which embody the latest developments stemming from the research undertaken in the Manufacture’s laboratories. For two decades, the performances and the reliability of the timepieces in the Master Control line have been enthusiastically welcomed by the public and by horological experts who salute their avant-garde technology. In 2012, three new timepieces celebrate a watch line that has truly come of age. Each expresses a particular aspect of the vast range of expertise cultivated within the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre: prodigious horological classicism conveyed through a minimalist expression radiating breathtaking beauty; a contemporary expression of the power reserve in an ultra-thin case; and a tourbillon featuring a slenderness that is an outstanding feat in its own right.

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