Dr. N.
The most vulnerable point in the movement of a mechanical watch is certainly the balance wheel. Mechanical watch manufacturers quickly realized this, and to protect it, a technology was created that is still used today on all watches equipped with a Swiss lever escapement, that is to say, on almost all wrist timepieces on the market: the anti-shock. Let's find out why this component is so important that it has become essential.
What is an antishock used for?
When, with the First World War, the wristwatch began to spread among the male public, a serious flaw was soon noticed: the lack of shock resistance. The problem was not addressed previously, as the pocket watches popular up to that point were carried in the pocket. Here they are protected from the impacts to which a wristwatch is exposed: the maximum risk for a pocket watch is falling to the ground, a risk against which the addition of the almost ubiquitous retaining chain is sufficient insurance. A watch worn on the wrist, however, is by its nature far from the body's center of gravity and is certainly not spared shocks and oscillations.
The first widely distributed wristwatches were little more than pocket watches with lugs welded to the case so that a strap could be inserted. They therefore do not have the technical characteristics necessary to withstand the stresses deriving from being worn on the wrist, in particular considering the much more active lifestyle of men of the early twentieth century. In these watches, the balance wheel rests on non-dampened pins and bearings. These pins are very thin and have a high surface hardness, which reduces friction but makes the metal more brittle. In case of stress, especially if lateral, it is easy for the pins to break.
How an antishock works
In the XNUMXs, the problem was solved with a technology so well thought out that it is still, almost a century later, the reference standard: the Incabloc. Incabloc is actually the commercial name of the company that produces most of the rocker shock absorbers in use today, but it is also associated with its most successful product, although the same company has produced and produces different anti-shock models.
The idea behind the anti-shock is to allow the ruby on which the balance wheel pin rests to move. Ruby is a highly appreciated material in watchmaking, because it allows for very low friction. Its high hardness, however, has a downside, the non-deformability when subjected to blows: for this reason, the - thin - pin of the - large - balance wheel tends to break in case of stress. The anti-shock consists of a clip placed behind the ruby, which holds it pressed in position so that the pin can regularly rotate against it when the watch is not subjected to shocks, but allows the ruby to move when the pin, stressed by a shocko, presses against it too hard, avoiding the risk of the pin breaking.
Incabloc experienced extraordinary success. At the height of its diffusion, in the XNUMXs, almost thirty million pieces were produced per year: practically, the entire Swiss and Western watchmaking industry turned to this company, whose product is immediately recognizable thanks to the lyre shape of the ruby's shock-absorbing clip.
In the XNUMXs, this company, like many others in the Swiss watch industry, fell victim to the Quartz Crisis. Battery-powered timepieces, with fewer moving parts and the balance wheel replaced by a quartz oscillator, are much more robust and do not require particular anti-shock measures.
With the revival of the passion for mechanical watchmaking in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs, Incabloc returned to business, starting to supply its anti-shock devices to the major movement manufacturers again.
Anti-shock today
Anti-shock remains, and will remain, fundamental for the proper functioning of every wristwatch. It is a technology that, like many others in mechanical watchmaking, perfectly fulfills the purpose for which it was created, and which there is no reason to alter. Progress only makes sense if it leads to an improvement: if the product is already fit for purpose, why change it?
One last curiosity: the anti-shock device, despite having spread in the XNUMXs, is actually yet another stroke of genius from the greatest watchmaker in history. We are talking about Abraham-Louis Breguet, inventor of Breguet hairspring, the tourbillonand sound repetition... Two of his creations, the self-winding watch and the anti-shock watch - which he calls "Parachute" - have in common the fact that they became widespread more than a century after his death, when the wristwatch became common use . The pocket watch, in fact, moves too little to stay in motion thanks to the automatic winding and, again due to its intrinsic static nature, it doesn't take enough impacts to justify the presence of an anti-shock system.
The first anti-shock: Breguet's parachute
Only with the wristwatch, automatic winding of Breguet becomes usable, and its anti-shock necessary. Guess who invented the first wristwatch? That's right, again the brilliant Breguet, who in 1810 created the first timepiece to be worn like a bracelet for the Queen of Naples. Who knows if he would have imagined how these three creations of his - the wristwatch, the automatic winder, the anti-shock watch - would continue to transform the watchmaking world, combining with each other, a hundred years after he created them...
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