Exotic materials: love them or hate them? And where are you in regard to plastics, which are ever-increasingly appearing in wristwatch cases and movements? Here’s a recap of that story so far.
This is one of the most important yet under appreciated parts of a watch: the crown. The humble crown has played an extensive role in helping Rolex – and the rest of the watch industry – get to where it is today. Here’s why.
Resonance. No, it is not a Tesla-themed Evanescence cover band. Resonance is a physics principle that, to be honest, most people will never need to know to go about their daily lives. So what is all the hubbub about resonance these days? It’s a word that is, even in the watch world, so mysterious and rare that it is heard only once or twice a decade. In this article Joshua Munchow explains how resonance works and why it matters.
New 5G cellular wireless technology will soon transfer data – including the correct time – 50 times faster than existing 4G services. 5G also enables constant internet connection. Here is what that means to the timekeeping world.
There has been a lot of talk and promises made by the watch industry about ceramics and their use in timepieces, so it would seem that a primer on the subject might make us much more informed consumers. And Joshua Munchow delivers that right here.
Ever wondered how Titleist gets its logo on bumpy round golf balls? Well this is your lucky day as Joshua Munchow reveals the secret of one very specialized printing process that goes on in the world and how it has its roots in watchmaking. In fact, you still see the results of this process every time you look at your watch dial.
Uneven power delivery is a dilemma that watchmakers have always faced, causing a continual challenge to find the perfect micro-mechanical solution. One of the solutions in the search for constant force in the seventeenth century was the chain and fusée. But what’s it doing in some modern watches?
Marketing material for the modern mechanical watch almost always includes a description of the the movement’s frequency. You may have even sensed that the higher the frequency, the more accurate a movement gets. But is this entirely true? Ryan Schmidt shares what he has learnt here.
The balance wheel is the regulatory organ of a mechanical watch, which is expected to deliver a consistent frequency with a tolerance of as little as 0.001 percent. With so much at stake, why complicate things by altering a pure and simple geometric shape? Why reinvent the wheel? Here Ryan Schmidt presents five balances that reinvented the wheel.
Imagine my surprise when, in one of my rare predictions about the future of 3D printing in watchmaking, I got one right: the Panerai Lo Scienziato Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Titanium says it all. It is (as far as I know) the first production watch to utilize 3D direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) printing for the case construction. The case is made of titanium for extra lightness, but that’s not the only, or even the main, reason for using DMLS titanium.