Who invented the mechanical watch. The first mechanical watches - the history of watches - watches time and style

Mechanical watches

Pocket mechanical watches

Later appeared pocket watch, patented in 1675 by H. Huygens), and then - much later - wristwatches. At first, wristwatches were only for women, jewelry richly decorated with precious stones, and characterized by low accuracy. No self-respecting man of that time would have put a watch on his hand. But the wars changed the order of things and in 1880 the Girard-Perregaux company began mass production of wristwatches for the army.

Mechanical watch design

A mechanical watch consists of several main parts:

1. The source of energy is a wound spring or a raised weight.
2. An escapement is a device that converts a continuous rotary motion into an oscillatory or reciprocating motion. The escapement determines the accuracy of the watch.
3. The oscillatory system is a pendulum or balance beam (balance).
4. The mechanism for winding and moving the hands is a remontoire.
5. The gear system connecting the spring and the trigger mechanism is an angrenage.
6. Dial with arrows.

Pendulum

Historically, the first oscillatory system was the pendulum. As is known, with the same amplitude and constant acceleration of free fall, the frequency of oscillation of a pendulum is constant.

The pendulum mechanism includes:

• Pendulum;
• An anchor connected to a pendulum;
• Ratchet wheel (ratchet).

The accuracy of the stroke is adjusted by changing the length of the pendulum.

The classic pendulum mechanism has three disadvantages. Firstly, the frequency of oscillation of a pendulum depends on the amplitude of the oscillations (Huygens overcame this drawback by making the pendulum oscillate along a cycloid, rather than along an arc of a circle). Secondly, pendulum clock must be installed motionless; They cannot be used on moving vehicles. Third, frequency depends on acceleration free fall, therefore, clocks adjusted at one latitude will lag behind at lower latitudes and advance at higher latitudes.

Balance

Balance mechanism of a wristwatch

Moon phases

Self-winding has a positive effect on accuracy (the spring is constantly in an almost wound state). In waterproof watches, the threads that tighten the crown wear out more slowly.

Automatic watches are thicker and heavier than manually wound watches. Women's self-winding calibers are quite capricious due to the miniature nature of their parts. Self-winding is useless for sedentary people (for example, those who are elderly or office employees), and also for people who wear watches only occasionally. However, if there is a special device for automatic winding of watches called a “winder”, the watch can be constantly wound. Winders operate from household electricity (220v or 110v) or from rechargeable batteries.

Tourbillon

Tourbillon watch

In the first mechanical watches, the accuracy of the time could depend on the position of the watch in space and temperature environment. To reduce the dependence on temperature, special alloys with low temperature coefficients began to be used.

Power reserve indicator

Shows how many more hours or days the spring will last.

Special types of watches

Alarm

At the moment specified by the user, it gives a sound signal. The signal time is set using an additional arrow. The alarm clock usually rings 2 times a day with a traditional dial divided into 12 hours and 1 time with a rare dial divided into 24 hours

Chronometer

Initially, the chronometer was used at sea to determine geographic longitude. Nowadays, this is the name given to particularly precise mechanical watches (according to the certification of the official Swiss chronometry institute, COSC - Controle Officiel Suisse de Chronometres). The watch receives this status provided that in 5 different positions and at temperatures: +8, +23, + 38 degrees - it runs with an accuracy of -4/+6 seconds per day. Requirements for quartz movements: no more than 0.07 seconds per day.

Stopwatch

A clock that is used to count short periods of time (for example, in sports). The stopwatch allows you to start and stop the time count at any time, as well as quickly reset the readings to zero. Unlike regular watches, stopwatches are not designed to determine the current time, only intervals, from one moment to the next.

Chronograph

A chronograph is a mechanical or quartz watch that is also a stopwatch.

Chess clock

A clock with two mechanisms that serves to control time in chess. Just like stopwatches, they are designed to measure relative time.

Laboratory hours

Timer designed for chemists, photographers

Watch manufacturers

In literature

The hero of Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days,” Passepartout, used a very old pocket watch that he inherited from his great-grandfather, of very high accuracy, which, in his words, “is not wrong even by five minutes a year!” There is doubt that the declared accuracy (+/- 5 minutes per year) was actually feasible for the mechanisms of that time, and, most likely, such watches are the imagination of the author.

Notes

see also

Links

• No description of a watch mechanism is complete without mentioning the balance-spring system.

One of the first inventions of mankind was the invention of the clock. However, the invention of a mechanical clock showing the current time (regardless of cloudy weather, twilight or night time (sunny), the amount of water or sand (water or sand), the amount of oil in a bowl or wax (fire) ... in 1337 in the Paris Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris lit a giant candle-column, which was used to measure whole year life), was the most important invention of mankind.

Researchers studying the history of the invention and the time of the appearance of the first mechanical watches have not come to a common opinion about when the first time-keeping mechanisms appeared. Some give the palm in the invention of mechanical watches to a certain monk from the city of Verona. The inventor's name was Pacificus. Other researchers believe that this inventor was a monk named Herbert, who lived in a monastery in the Spanish city of Sala-Manca in the 10th century. For his scientific research, he was accused of witchcraft and expelled from Spain. This, however, did not prevent him from later becoming pope, Sylvester II. (His papacy lasted from 999 to 1003.) It is reliably known that in 996 Herbert designed and built a weight tower clock for Magdeburg. We can conclude that mechanical watches appeared almost simultaneously and independently of each other in different countries- the course of development of human technical thought led to this.

In the first watch movements, six main components could be distinguished:
. Engine;
. Gear transmission mechanism; (the period of rotation of wheels in a gear train depends on the ratio of the diameters of the wheels included in it or, what is the same, the ratio of the number of teeth. By selecting wheels with different numbers of teeth, it was easy to select the ratio of the number of teeth on the wheels in mesh, so that one of them makes a revolution in exactly 12 hours. If you “plant” an arrow on the axis of this wheel, then it will also make a revolution in 12 hours. It was also possible to select wheels with such a ratio of the number of teeth that one of them could. make its revolution in one hour or in one minute. Accordingly, it was possible to connect the minute or second hand to their axes. But such an improvement would be made only in the 18th century. Until then, the clock had only one hand - the hour hand.
. Bilyanets (bilyanets or, in Russian, rocker) - oscillatory system, a prototype of balance that does not have own period hesitation; it was used in stationary and portable watches until the 19th century. Specialists call the device that ensures the uniform movement of the gears of a clock mechanism BILYANETS;
. Trigger distributor;
. Pointer mechanism;
. Arrow translation mechanism.

The engine of the first mechanical watch was driven by the potential kinetic energy of the load due to the influence of the earth's gravitational force on it. A load - a stone or later a weight - was attached to a smooth shaft on a rope. Initially the shaft was made of wood. Later it was replaced by a shaft made of metal. The force of gravity caused the load to fall, the rope or chain to unwind, and in turn caused the shaft to rotate. The power reserve was determined by the length of the cable: the longer the cable, the longer the watch's power reserve. The clock mechanism should have been located perhaps higher. This was a problem for such a mechanism - the load needed to “fall” somewhere. To satisfy the condition, a structure was built, as a rule, in the form of a tower (This is where the first mechanical clock got its name - tower). The height of the tower had to be at least 10 meters, and the weight of the load sometimes reached 200 kilograms. The shaft was connected to the ratchet wheel through intermediate gears. The latter, in turn, set the arrow in motion. The first mechanical watches had one hand (like “primitive” sundial, in which the gnomon, a single pole, indicated the current time of day). And the direction of movement of the hand of the first mechanical clock was not chosen by chance, but was determined by the direction of movement of the shadow cast by the gnomon. The number of time indexes (divisions on the dial) was also inherited from the sundial.

The very first mechanical watches with an anchor mechanism were made during the Tang Dynasty (June 18, 618 - June 4, 907) in China in 725 AD by masters Yixing and Liang Lingzan.

From China, the secret of the clock mechanism came to the Arabs. And only from them appeared in Europe.

The prototype of the first mechanical watch was the Atnikitera mechanism, discovered by the Greek diver Lycopanthis near the island of Antikythera in the Aegean Sea, at a depth of 43 to 62 meters on a sunken ancient Roman ship.

This event took place on April 4, 1900. The Antikythera mechanism had 37 bronze gears housed in a wooden case. The case housed several dials with arrows.

The Antikythera mechanism was used to calculate movement celestial bodies. The dial on the front wall served to display the signs of the zodiac and the days of the year.

Two dials on the back of the case were used to simulate the position of the Sun and Moon relative to the fixed stars.

The first tower clocks in Europe appeared in the 14th century. I wonder what English word clock, Latin - clocca and row similar words in other European languages, the original meaning was not “clock”, but “bell” (very similar to the sound in Russian: bell - clocca - clock). The explanation is trivial - the first tower clock had neither a dial nor hands. They did not show the time at all, but produced signals by ringing a bell. The first such clocks were located on monastery towers, where there was a need to inform the monks about the time for work or prayer.

Visual evidence of the existence in the 14th century of a tradition coming from monastery clocks is the tower clock in England and France - with striking, but without a dial. The first mechanical watch with a dial and a hand (so far one) appeared in Europe in the 15th century. And it was not the arrow that rotated in them, but the dial itself. The dial was traditionally divided into 6, 12 and 24 divisions. The only arrow was located vertically.

Tower clocks, which were invented and built in the 14th - 15th centuries, were also called astronomical. Such clocks were built in Norwich, Strasbourg, Paris, and Prague. Tower astronomical clock were the pride of the city.

The cathedral, located in the French city of Strasbourg, is one of the oldest in Europe. The tower clock appeared on it in 1354. The height of the clock reaches 12 meters, and the diameter of the annual calendar wheel is 3 meters.

Every noon, instead of the standard ringing, the clock showed a whole performance: the guards came out to the crowing of a rooster and three wise men prayed before the Mother of God. The clock showed not only the time, but the current year.

They displayed the dates of the main church holidays V the coming year. An astrolabe was built in front of the clock, which showed the movements of the Moon, Sun and stars. IN certain time The solemn anthem was played on special gongs. The clock was subsequently reconstructed several times. So, after the Great French Revolution (1789 - 1794), a large globe appeared in front of them, demonstrating the location of more than 5,000 stars of the Galaxy in the sky above the city.

More high accuracy was acquired by an astronomical clock with the invention of a pendulum device that ensures the counting of equal periods of time. This invention was made in 1657 by Christian Huygens van Zeilichem (Dutch mechanic, physicist, astronomer, inventor 04/14/1629 - 07/08/1695).

History of watchmaking in Ancient Rus'.

….IN Novgorod Chronicle about the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 you can find: “Blood was shed by the fighting men from the 6th hour to the 9th. If we do not know that the time in the chronicle is indicated according to the church account, then the essence of the question would remain unknown to us. IN ancient Rus' daytime and nighttime were counted separately. And the countdown was made from sunrise to sunset (day hours) and from sunset to sunrise (night hours).

Traditionally, it was believed that watchmaking in Rus' was not held in high esteem. But the first tower clocks in Rus' appeared almost simultaneously with tower clocks in Europe. Upon closer examination archival documents It became clear that even the chroniclers of Veliky Novgorod in the 11th century indicated not only the days, but also the hours of the most worthy and noteworthy events.

The first tower clock in Moscow was erected by the monk Lazar in 1404. The clock was built in the courtyard of Grand Duke Vasily, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, whose palace was located exactly in the same place where the Grand Kremlin Palace now stands. Then it was the second watch in Europe.

Lazar Serbin was born in Serbia from here and received this nickname. Lazarus came to Moscow from the “Holy Mountain”. This is Mount Athos, located in the southeastern part of the Greek island of Aion Oros in the Aegean Sea. The monastery near the mountain was founded back in 963.

How these clocks were constructed is not known for certain. In “Litsevoy”, published in Moscow in the third quarter of the 16th century, chronicle code Ivan the Terrible” or “Tsar-Book”, there is a color miniature depicting the launch of the “clockmaker” (these clocks were also called “hours”).

Monk Lazar tells Grand Duke Vasily I about the structure of his clock. Judging by the drawing, they had three weights, which indicates the complexity of the clock mechanism. It can be assumed that one weight drove the clock mechanism, the other - the mechanism bell chime and the third is the planetary mechanism. The planetary mechanism showed the phases of the moon.

There are no hands on the clock disc. Most likely, the dial itself was rotating. More likely “bukvoblat” because instead of numbers it had Old Slavonic letters: az-1, buki-2, vedi-3, verb-4, dobro-5 and further according to the alphabet of Cyril and Methodius.
The watch caused genuine delight among the population and was considered a real curiosity. Vasily the First paid Lazar Serbin for them “half a ruble.” (at the exchange rate of the beginning of the 20th century, this amount would have been 20,000 gold rubles).

For decades, this tower clock was not only the only one in Moscow, but throughout Rus'. The installation of the first tower clock in Moscow was mentioned in chronicles as an event of great national importance.

….55.752544 degrees north latitude and 37.621425 degrees east longitude. Geographical coordinates location of the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin...

The most famous watches Rus' and Russia - Kremlin chimes, clock-chimes installed on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin.

Courante (French) - courante (dance, first salon), from dancecourante - (literally) “running dance, from courir - to run< лат.сurrerre - бежать. Музыка этого танца использовалась в старинных настольных часах.

In 1585, clocks were already on three gates of the Moscow Kremlin towers. Spasskaya, Tainitskaya and Troitskaya.

In 1625, the English mechanic and watchmaker Christopher Galloway, together with the Russian blacksmiths and watchmakers who helped him Zhdan, his son Shumila Zhdanov and grandson Alexei Shumilov, installed a tower clock on Spasskaya. 13 bells were cast for them by foundry worker Kirill Samoilov. During a fire in 1626, the clock burned down; in 1668, the same Christopher Galloway restored it again. The clock “played music” and showed the time: day and night, indicated by Slavic letters and numbers. And the dial then was not a “dial”, but a “word indicator circle, a circle of recognition.” The role of the arrow was played by the image of the sun with a long ray, fixed vertically and motionlessly in the upper part of the circle. The disk itself rotated, divided by 17 equal parts. (This was the maximum day length in the summer).

At different times, the chimes played: the march of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, the melody of D.S. Bortnyansky “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion”, the song “Ah, My Dear Augustine”, “The Internationale”, “You Fell a Victim”, works by M.I. Glinka : "Patriotic Song" and "Glory". Now the Russian anthem is being played to the music of A.V. Alexandrova.

Such a detailed acquaintance with the structure and operation of the clock mechanism of a tower clock makes it easier to understand the operation of the clock mechanism of a wall clock. The use of a weight (weight), and later a spring, as a motor driving the gears of a clock mechanism (photo of a balance spiral, photo of a balance pendulum), together with the invention and use of a device in a clock mechanism that ensures uniform movement of the gears of a clock mechanism, BILYANTS made it possible to reduce both the dimensions and weight of the watch. The use of a fusee in the design of the watch mechanism also greatly contributed to the reduction in the dimensions of the watch.

The engine, driven by the kinetic energy of the load due to the gravitational force, where the rotation of the gear wheel mechanism was almost uniform (the weight of the changing length of the rope or chain can be neglected) was replaced by a clock with a spring. But a spring motor has its own “nuance”. The steel spring, as it “unfolds,” transmits a “subsiding” force to the gear mechanism. It “weaken” and the torque changes. This drawback was eliminated by the use of a device in the design of the clock mechanism to preserve and maintain uniform spring force. This device is called a fusee (emphasis on the “e”).

The invention of the fusee was attributed to the Prague watchmaker Jacob Zech. Researchers attribute the first use of this device to early XVI century (about 1525).

Until drawings were found in the archives of Leonardo da Vinci describing the same device, and their author was “a genius of all times and peoples.” The drawings are dated 1485. Historical justice has triumphed. The authorship of the invention was assigned to Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci.

LeonardodiserPierodaVinci (April 15, 1452 - May 5, 1519), painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, writer, inventor. A striking example“universal man” (lat. homouniversalis).

The fusée is a truncated cone that is connected to the mainspring barrel using a special chain.

Among experts, the chain is known as the Gaal chain. On the side surface of the fusée, a groove is machined in the form of a conical helical spiral, into which the Gaal chain fits when the latter is wound around the fusée. The chain is attached to the cone at its lower part (at the point of greatest radius) and is wound around the cone from bottom to top. At the base of the cone there is a gear that transmits torque to the main wheel system of the watch. As the spring winds down, the fusee compensates for the drop in torque by increasing the gear ratio, thus increasing the evenness of the watch over the entire period of operation of the mechanism from one winding to the next. (photo 300px-Construction_fusei). After the invention of the free anchor movement by the English watchmaker Thomas Muidge in 1755, the need to use a fusee in the watch mechanism disappeared.

The introduction of these inventions contributed to the reduction in the size of watches. The clocks were able to “live” with people in their homes. This is how the room clock appeared.

FIRST ROOM CLOCK. ALLFALFA CLOCK.

The first clocks, indoor ones, which could be used indoors, began to appear in the 14th century in Britain. They were so huge and heavy that it never occurred to me to hang them on the wall. For this reason they stood on the floor - a grandfather clock. According to your scheme and structural elements, they were not much different from a large tower clock. The wheel system with weights and bells was located in a housing made of iron or brass.
The so-called "alfalfa" (modern) appeared in English watchmakers around 1600. Initially, the cases of these watches were made of iron. Later, bronze or brass was used as a material for the manufacture of wall clock cases. The name “alfalfa” supposedly arose because of the shape of their body (they resembled old candle lanterns). According to another version, their name arose from the word “lacten”, which meant “brass”.

Both versions are quite elegant:
. From Latin lucerna - candle, lamp;
. Lactten - brass.
. Lucerne (German: Luzern)

Lucerne is a city in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Lucerne, at the foot of Mount Pilatus. The city was founded during the Roman Empire; some researchers place the date of its founding even earlier. The official year of foundation of the city is 1178.

During religious wars in France in the second half of the 16th century, Huguenots, fleeing massacre, were forced to emigrate to Switzerland. Among them were many talented craftsmen and watchmakers, among others.

Today, the Swiss watch industry ranks third among its own exporting industries. The watch industry in Switzerland is at special place. (This variant of the origin of the name “alfalfa wall clock” has not yet been taken into account by anyone and has not been considered as a possible explanation for the origin of the definition “alfalfa”).

As for the first household or pocket watches in Rus', here, until the beginning of the 20th century, the first creaks were played by foreign watchmakers. The first watches were very expensive and looked more like a piece of jewelry. They began to be imported to Russia under Ivan III at the beginning of the 16th century. They were either ambassadorial gifts to the king and his court or expensive goods for the rich. At the beginning of the 17th century, the first wall clocks appeared in Rus'. English watchmakers started making them.

THE FIRST ROOM AND WALL CLOCKS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.

The “Window to Europe, opened” by Peter I, gave Russia the opportunity to get acquainted with watchmaking in the West. Catherine I, Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine II were given pendulum and pocket watches from the best European watchmakers of that time.

In Russia, Catherine II the Great even made attempts to create a watch industry.

In 1774, watchmakers Basilier and Sando, thanks to financial assistance and material support on Catherine's part, they organized the first watch manufactory in Russia in Moscow. In 1796, two watch factories were founded. One is in St. Petersburg, and the other is in Moscow. However, the factory in Moscow closed after operating for less than 10 years. The factory in St. Petersburg existed a little longer, but it also closed.

His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky (09/13/1739 - 10/05/1791) organized a factory-school on his estate Dubrovna (Belarus) in 1781.

The Swede Peter Nordsteen (1742-1807, Ruotsi, Sweden) was invited to transfer knowledge in watchmaking. In this factory-school, 33 serf students studied watchmaking. After his death, Catherine II bought the factory-school from the heirs of G.A. Potemkin. The Empress issued a Decree according to which the factory was transferred to Moscow. A special building was built for the factory in Kupavna, Moscow province. Clocks of “every kind” produced at the factory: wall clocks, striking clocks, pocket clocks, were not inferior in quality to the watches of European masters. But only a small part of them was sold, and the bulk was provided to the royal court.

In Russia, indoor wall and table and pocket clocks began to spread widely in the 18th century. On Myasnitskaya in Moscow a “Clock Yard” was formed, where many watchmakers worked. Watch workshops continued to open on this street. Among them was the watch workshop of brothers Nikolai and Ivan Bunetop. In the middle of the 19th century, their “craftsmanship” gained fame, and the brothers were called to restore the Kremlin chimes on the Spasskaya Tower. On Tverskaya there were famous watch workshops of D.I. Tolstoy and I.P. Nosov. At the beginning of Nikolsky Lane in house No. 1/12 there was a watch shop of the merchant Kalashnikov. Mikhail Alekseevich Moskvin served as its clerk. From childhood he became interested in mechanics and the design of watches. In his father's house there was a family heirloom - a clock from the late 18th century. Mikhail Moskvin learned his skills from the best watchmakers in Austria. So already in 1882, watches with the “MM” stamp appeared in Russia. And the first clocks branded “MM” were floor and wall clocks.

Pavel (Pavel-Eduard) Karlovich Bure (P.Bure1810 - 1882) watchmaker, St. Petersburg merchant, founder of the famous watch brand “Pavel Bure”. PC. Bure founded his business in Russia in 1815. The quality of the watches made was recognized, and he became a supplier to the “Court of His Imperial Majesty.” However, these were mainly pocket, table and mantel clocks. They were mainly used by wealthy people.
The mechanisms of pocket and wall watches were made by the watch company “V. Gaby”.

WALL CLOCK OF ROYAL RUSSIA. (End of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century).

In our country (Russia), cheap and rough wall clocks (the so-called “walkers” or “yokal-shchiki”) are made by artisans in the village of Sharapova, Zvenigorod district, Moscow province.
Walkers are small mechanical wall clocks with a simplified device with weights.
Walkers are a very cheap (from 50 kopecks) wall clock, with one weight, without a strike.

Here is what you can read in the Proceedings of the Saratov Scientific Archival Commission: (Published by the printing house of the Shchetinin brothers of the Serdob district, Saratov province. Serdobsk - 1913):
“...production of walkers and wall clocks in the village of Sharapovo, started in the 60s years XIX century, continued to develop at the beginning of the 20th century... ...the production of wall clocks in Moscow was no higher than in the village of Sharapovo... ...In Moscow, the technology for the production of wall clocks is still at a low level..."

WALL CLOCK IN SOVIET RUSSIA.

IN Soviet Russia The production of wall clocks was mastered at the Second Moscow Watch Factory, where household alarm clocks and industrial and outdoor electric clock systems were also produced.
The decision to create our own watch industry was made by the Council of People's Commissars in 1927. In September 1930, the 1st State Watch Factory opened its doors in Moscow, and in 1931 - the 2nd State Watch Factory.

Walkers is the affectionate name for a simple home kitchen wall clock. They were so simple, cheap and unpretentious that their production continued for many years. And it all started with artisans from the village of Sharapovo - “Switzerland near Moscow”...

WALL CLOCK OF MODERN RUSSIA.

Modern mechanical wall clocks also use a weight or spring power source. The accuracy of such a mechanism is: + 40 -20 sec/day (first class accuracy).

Wall clocks with a quartz clock mechanism and a battery power source are also widely used. They use a quartz crystal as an oscillating system. The first quartz watch was released by HAMILTON in 1957. High-quality household quartz watches have an accuracy of +/- 15 seconds per month.

In modern life, wall clocks are used not only as instruments for measuring time, but also function as interior details and room decoration. Wall clocks often reflect the tastes of the homeowners.

Designers come up with wall clocks that amaze and amaze with their originality.

* ***** **** ***** **** *** ** *

The most accurate watch- atomic. The most accurate atomic clock are located in Germany.
In a million years they will only “sin” for ONE second.

Craftsmen who make and repair watches are called watchmakers. In art, mechanical watches are a symbol of time.

Mechanical watches are inferior in accuracy to electronic and quartz watches (1st class accuracy of mechanical watches - from +40 to −20 seconds per day; the error of quartz watches ranges from 10 seconds per day to 10 seconds per year). Therefore, at present, mechanical watches are turning from an indispensable tool into a symbol of prestige.

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The prototype of the first mechanical watch can be considered the Antikythera mechanism, discovered by archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century among the wreckage of an ancient trading ship and dating back to the 2nd century BC. [ ]

The first mechanical watch with an anchor mechanism was made in Tang China in 725 AD by masters Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan. From China, the secret of the device apparently came to the Arabs.

Currently, the oldest tower clock in Europe is located in Grodno, Republic of Belarus. They have been in working order for over 500 years. .

Later, pocket watches appeared, patented in 1675 by H. Huygens, and then - much later - wristwatches. At first, wristwatches were only for women, jewelry richly decorated with precious stones, and characterized by low accuracy. No self-respecting man of that time would have put a watch on his hand. But the wars changed the order of things and in 1880 the Girard-Perregaux company began mass production of wristwatches for the army.

Mechanical watch design

A mechanical watch consists of several main parts:

1. The source of energy is a wound spring or a raised weight.
2. An escapement mechanism is a device that converts continuous rotational motion into oscillatory or reciprocating motion. The escapement determines the accuracy of the watch.
3. The oscillatory system is a pendulum or balance beam (balance).
4. The mechanism for winding and moving the hands is a remontoire.
5. The gear system connecting the spring and the trigger mechanism is an angrenage.
6. Dial with arrows.

Pendulum

Historically, the first oscillatory system was the pendulum. As is known, with the same amplitude and constant acceleration of free fall, the frequency of oscillation of a pendulum is constant.

The pendulum mechanism includes:

• Pendulum;
• An anchor connected to a pendulum;
• Ratchet wheel (ratchet).

The accuracy of the stroke is adjusted by changing the length of the pendulum or the length of the spring.

The classic pendulum mechanism has three disadvantages. Firstly, the frequency of oscillation of a pendulum depends on the amplitude of the oscillations (Huygens overcame this drawback by making the pendulum oscillate along a cycloid, rather than along an arc of a circle). (Galileo published a study of pendulum oscillations and stated that the period of oscillation was independent of its amplitude, which is approximately true for small amplitudes.) Second, pendulum clocks must be mounted motionless; They cannot be used on moving vehicles. Thirdly, the frequency depends on the acceleration of gravity, so a clock calibrated at one latitude will lag behind at lower latitudes and advance at higher latitudes.

Balance

Moon phases

An eccentric is installed in a wristwatch (in watchmaker's language rotor or sector, since it is made in the form of a light plate with an overlay in the shape of an arc sector made of a heavy tungsten alloy; In expensive watches, gold alloys are used, which are even heavier), which rotates when the hand moves and winds the spring. Therefore, if you wear your watch all the time, you don’t need to wind it at all. The self-winding mechanism and the spring are connected by a friction clutch.

Self-winding has a positive effect on accuracy (the spring is constantly in an almost wound state). In waterproof watches, the threads that tighten the crown wear out more slowly.

Automatic watches are thicker and heavier than manually wound watches. Women's self-winding calibers are quite capricious due to the miniature nature of their parts. Automatic winding is useless for people who are sedentary (for example, those who are elderly or in a sick condition), as well as for people who wear their watches only occasionally. However, if there is a special device for automatic winding of watches called a “winder”, the watch can be constantly wound. Winders operate from household electricity (220v or 110v) or from rechargeable batteries. . The accuracy of watches with a tourbillon is: −1/+2 sec. per day . Often the tourbillon is made visible through a window in the dial. In fact, the tourbillon rotates the entire watch mechanism around its axis within one minute, which, due to the influence of the Earth's gravity, makes the watch rush for half a minute and lag for the next half a minute, which neutralizes the influence of the Earth's gravity on the accuracy of the time.

In 2003, the famous watchmaker Frank Müller invented a new version of the Tourbillon pendulum - it was the two-axis Tourbillon Revolution 2. It consists of 2 carriages that can simultaneously rotate horizontally and vertically. So it fixed the problem [ which one?], which was inherent in watches with a Tourbillon device. A year later, the same inventor presented the Tourbillon Revolution 2 watch, which could rotate in 3 planes.

The effectiveness of tourbillons has been questioned many times since their invention. According to watchmaker Alexander Milyaev, automatic machines make such balanced wheels that a tourbillon is simply not needed, and watches with tourbillons are “an indicator of the exceptional skill of the watchmaker and high status owner."

Power reserve indicator

Shows how many more hours or days the spring will last.

Special types of watches

Alarm

At the moment specified by the user, it gives a sound signal. The signal time is set using an additional arrow. The alarm clock usually rings 2 times a day with a traditional 12-hour clock face and 1 time with a 24-hour clock face

Chronometer

Initially, the chronometer was used at sea to determine geographic longitude. Nowadays, this is the name given to highly precise mechanical watches that comply with the ISO 3159 standard. In Switzerland, certification is carried out by Official Swiss Chronometer Control. A watch receives the status provided that no more than 10 seconds pass per day (15 seconds for second class chronometers).

Stopwatch

A clock that is used to count short periods of time (for example, in sports). The stopwatch allows you to start and stop the time count at any time, as well as quickly reset the readings to zero. Unlike regular watches, stopwatches are not designed to determine the current time, only intervals, from one moment to the next.

Chronograph

A chronograph is a mechanical or quartz watch that is also a stopwatch.

Mechanical watches, similar in structure to modern ones, appeared in the 14th century in Europe. These are watches that use a weight or spring energy source, and they use a pendulum or balance regulator as an oscillating system. There are six main components of a watch movement:
1) engine;
2) transmission mechanism made of gears;
3) a regulator that creates uniform movement;
4) trigger distributor;
5) pointer mechanism;
6) mechanism for moving and winding the watch.

The first mechanical clocks were called tower wheel clocks and were driven by a descending weight. The drive mechanism was a smooth wooden shaft with a rope attached to it, a stone acting as a weight. Under the influence of the gravity of the weight, the rope began to unwind and rotate the shaft. If this shaft is connected through intermediate wheels to the main ratchet wheel connected to the pointer arrows, then this entire system will somehow indicate the time. The problems with such a mechanism are the enormous heaviness and the need for the weight to fall somewhere and the not uniform, but accelerated rotation of the shaft. To satisfy everything the necessary conditions, to operate the mechanism, huge structures were built, usually in the form of a tower, the height of which was no less than 10 meters, and the weight of the weight reached 200 kg; naturally, all the parts of the mechanism were of impressive size. Faced with the problem of uneven rotation of the shaft, medieval mechanics realized that the movement of a clock could not depend only on the movement of the load.

The mechanism must be supplemented with a device that would control the movement of the entire mechanism. This is how a device that restrained the rotation of the wheel appeared, it was called “Bilyanets” - a regulator.

The bilyanets was a metal rod located parallel to the surface of the ratchet wheel. Two blades are attached to the bilian axis at right angles to each other. As the wheel turns, the tooth pushes the paddle until it slips off and releases the wheel. At this time, another blade with opposite side The wheel fits into the recess between the teeth and restrains its movement. While working, the Bilyanian sways. Each time it swings completely, the ratchet wheel moves one tooth. The swing speed of the bilian is interconnected with the speed of the ratchet wheel. Weights, usually in the form of balls, are hung on the rod of the bilyan. By adjusting the size of these weights and their distance from the axle, you can make the ratchet wheel move at different speeds. Of course, this oscillatory system is inferior in many respects to a pendulum, but can be used in watches. However, any regulator will stop if its oscillations are not constantly maintained. For the clock to work, it is necessary that part of the motive energy from the main wheel constantly flows to the pendulum or beater. This task is performed in the clock by a device called the escapement distributor.

Various types of Bilyans

The escapement is the most complex component in a mechanical watch. Through it, the connection between the regulator and the transmission mechanism is carried out. On the one hand, the descent transmits shocks from the engine to the regulator, which are necessary to maintain the oscillations of the regulator. On the other hand, it subordinates the movement of the transmission mechanism to the laws of movement of the regulator. The exact movement of the watch depends mainly on the escapement, the design of which puzzled the inventors.

The very first trigger mechanism was a spindle one. The speed regulator of these watches was the so-called spindle, which is a rocker with heavy loads, mounted on a vertical axis and alternately driven to the right or to the left. The inertia of the loads had a braking effect on the clock mechanism, slowing down the rotation of its wheels. The accuracy of such watches with a spindle regulator was low, and the daily error exceeded 60 minutes.

Since the first watches did not have a special winding mechanism, preparing the watch for operation required great effort. Several times a day it was necessary to lift a heavy weight to a great height and overcome the enormous resistance of all the gears of the transmission mechanism. Therefore, already in the second half of the 14th century, the main wheel began to be fastened in such a way that when reverse rotation shaft (counterclockwise), it remained motionless. Over time, the design of mechanical watches became more complex. The number of wheels of the transmission mechanism has increased because the mechanism was under heavy load and quickly wore out, and the load dropped very quickly and had to be lifted several times a day. In addition, to create large gear ratios, wheels of too large a diameter were required, which increased the dimensions of the watch. Therefore, additional intermediate wheels began to be introduced, whose task was to smoothly increase gear ratios.

Tower clock mechanisms

The tower clock was a capricious mechanism and required constant monitoring(due to friction they needed constant lubrication) and participation service personnel(lifting a load). Despite the large error diurnal cycle, for a long time These watches remained the most accurate and widespread instrument for measuring time. The clock mechanism became more complicated, and other devices began to be associated with the clock, performing various functions. Eventually, the tower clock evolved into a complex device with many hands, automatic moving figures, a varied striking system, and magnificent decorations. These were masterpieces of art and technology at the same time.

For example, the Prague Tower Clock, built in 1402, was equipped with automatic moving figures that performed a real theatrical performance during the battle. Above the dial, before the battle, two windows opened from which 12 apostles emerged. The figurine of Death stood on the right side of the dial and at each strike of the clock turned its scythe, and the man standing next to him nodded his head, emphasizing the fatal inevitability of death. hourglass, reminded of the end of life. By left side On the dial there were 2 more figures, one depicted a man with a wallet in his hands, who every hour jingled the coins lying there, showing that time is money. Another figure depicted a traveler rhythmically striking the ground with his staff, showing the vanity of life. After the striking of the clock, a figurine of a rooster appeared and crowed three times. Christ appeared last at the window and blessed all the spectators standing below.

Another example of a tower clock was the construction of the master Giunello Turriano, who required 1800 wheels to create a tower clock.

This clock reproduced the daily movement of Saturn, the hours of the day, the annual movement of the Sun, the movement of the Moon, as well as all the planets in accordance with the Ptolemaic system of the universe. To create such machines, special software devices were required that were driven by a large disk controlled by a clock mechanism. All the moving parts of the figures had levers that rose and fell under the influence of the rotation of the circle, when the levers fell into special cutouts and teeth of the rotating disk. Also, the tower clock had a separate striking mechanism, which was driven by its own weight, and many clocks struck noon, midnight, an hour, and a quarter hour in different ways. After wheel clocks, more advanced spring clocks appeared. The first mention of the manufacture of watches with a spring motor dates back to the second half of the 15th century. The manufacture of watches with spring motors paved the way for the creation of miniature watches. The source of driving energy in a spring clock was a wound spring that was wound up and trying to unwind. It was an elastic, hardened steel strip rolled around a shaft inside the drum. The outer end of the spring was attached to a hook in the drum wall, the inner end was connected to the drum shaft. The spring sought to unfold and caused the drum and the gear wheel associated with it to rotate. The gear wheel, in turn, transmitted this movement to a system of gear wheels up to and including the regulator. The masters faced a number of difficult technical problems. The main one concerned the operation of the engine itself. Since for

the right move

Since the spring has unequal elastic force at different stages of its unfolding, the first watchmakers had to resort to various tricks to make its movement more uniform. Later, when they learned how to make high-quality steel for watch springs, they were no longer needed. In modern inexpensive watches, the spring is simply made long enough, designed for approximately 30-36 hours of operation, but it is recommended to wind the watch once a day at the same time. A special device prevents the spring from collapsing completely during the factory. As a result, the spring stroke is used only in the middle part, when its elastic force is more uniform.

The next step towards improving mechanical clocks was the discovery of the laws of pendulum oscillation made by Galileo.

The creation of a pendulum clock consisted of connecting a pendulum to a device to maintain its oscillations and count them. In fact, a pendulum clock is an improved spring clock. At the end of his life, Galileo began to design such a clock, but the development did not go further. And after the death of the great scientist, the first pendulum clocks were created by his son. The device of this watch was kept in strictly confidential

, therefore they did not have any influence on the development of technology.

Independently of Galileo, Huygens assembled a mechanical clock with a pendulum in 1657. When replacing the rocker arm with a pendulum, the first designers encountered a problem. It consisted in the fact that the pendulum creates isochronous oscillations only with a small amplitude, while the spindle escapement required a large swing. In the first Huygens clock, the swing of the pendulum reached 40-50 degrees, which violated the accuracy of the movement. To compensate for this shortcoming, Huygens had to show ingenuity and create a special pendulum, which, while swinging, changed its length and oscillated along a cycloid curve. Huygens's clock had incomparably greater accuracy

In 1676, Clement, an English watchmaker, invented an anchor escapement, which was ideal for pendulum clocks that had a small amplitude of oscillation. This descent design consisted of a pendulum axis on which an anchor with pallets was mounted. Swinging along with the pendulum, the pallets were alternately embedded in the running wheel, subordinating its rotation to the period of oscillation of the pendulum. The wheel managed to turn one tooth with each vibration. Such a trigger mechanism allowed the pendulum to receive periodic shocks that prevented it from stopping. The push occurred when the running wheel, freed from one of the armature teeth, struck with a certain force against another tooth. This push was transmitted from the anchor to the pendulum.

The invention of Huygens' pendulum regulator revolutionized watchmaking technology. Huygens spent a lot of effort on improving pocket spring watches. The main problem of which was in the spindle regulator, as they were constantly in motion, shaking and swaying. All these fluctuations had negative impact for precision. In the 16th century, watchmakers began to replace the double-shouldered rocker arm with a round flywheel. This replacement significantly improved the clock's performance, but remained unsatisfactory.

An important improvement in the regulator occurred in 1674, when Huygens attached a spiral spring - a hair - to the flywheel.

Now, when the wheel deviated from the neutral position, the hair acted on it and tried to return it to its place. However, the massive wheel slipped through the balance point and spun in the other direction until a hair brought it back again. This is how the first balance regulator or balancer was created, the properties of which were similar to those of a pendulum. Brought out of the state of equilibrium, the balance wheel began to make oscillatory movements around its axis. The balancer had constant period fluctuations, but could work in any position, which is very important for pocket and wrist watches. Huygens's improvement produced the same revolution among spring clocks as the introduction of the pendulum into stationary wall clocks.

The Englishman Robert Hooke, independently of the Dutchman Christiaan Huygens, also developed an oscillatory mechanism, which is based on the oscillations of a spring-loaded body - a balancing mechanism.

The balance mechanism is used, as a rule, in portable clocks, since it can be used in different positions, which cannot be said about the pendulum mechanism, which is used in wall and grandfather clocks, since immobility is important for it.
The balancing mechanism includes:
Balance wheel;
Spiral;
Fork;
Thermometer - accuracy adjustment lever;
Ratchet.

To regulate the accuracy of the stroke, a thermometer is used - a lever that removes some part of the spiral from working. The wheel and spiral are made of alloys with a low coefficient of thermal expansion due to sensitivity to temperature fluctuations. It is also possible to make a wheel from two different metals so that it bends when heated (bimetallic balance). To increase the accuracy of movement, the balance was equipped with screws; they allow you to accurately balance the wheel. The advent of precision automatic machines freed watchmakers from balancing; the screws on the balance sheet became a purely decorative element. The invention of a new regulator required a new escapement design. Over the next decades, different watchmakers developed

With the development of science, the clock mechanism became more complex, and the accuracy of the movement increased. Thus, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, ruby ​​and sapphire bearings were first used for the balance wheel and gears, which improved accuracy and power reserve and reduced friction. Gradually, pocket watches were supplemented with more and more complex devices, and some samples had a perpetual calendar, automatic winding, an independent stopwatch, a thermometer, a power reserve indicator, a minute repeater, and the operation of the mechanism was made possible by a back cover made of rock crystal.

The invention of the tourbillon in 1801 by Abraham Louis Breguet is still considered the greatest achievement in the watch industry. Breguet managed to solve one of the most big problems clock mechanisms of his time, he found a way to overcome gravity and the associated movement errors. A tourbillon is a mechanical device designed to improve the accuracy of a watch by compensating for the effect of gravity on the fork, and uniform distribution lubrication of the rubbing surfaces of the mechanism when changing the vertical and horizontal positions of the mechanism.

The tourbillon is one of the most impressive movements in modern watches. Such a mechanism can only be produced by skilled craftsmen, and the company’s ability to produce a tourbillon is a sign of its belonging to the watch elite.

Mechanical watches have always been a subject of admiration and surprise; they fascinated with the beauty of their execution and the difficulty of the mechanism. They also always pleased their owners with unique functions and original design. Mechanical watches are still a source of prestige and pride today; they can emphasize status and will always show the exact time.

The first mechanical watch.

The first mention of mechanical watches dates back to the end of the 6th century. Most likely, it was a water clock, in which a mechanical device was built to operate additional functions, for example, the combat mechanism.

True mechanical watches appeared in the 13th century in Europe. They were not yet reliable enough, so they had to constantly check the time using a sundial. Their clock mechanism worked using the energy of a descending load, which was used for a long time as stone weights. To start such a clock, one had to lift a very heavy weight to a considerable height.

It is worth noting that mechanical watches created in the 13th-14th centuries were very large and were used extremely rarely. They were installed only in monasteries so that the monks could get ready for services on time. It was the monks who decided to put 12 divisions on the circle, each of which corresponded to one hour. Only in the 16th century did clocks appear on city buildings.

IN XIV-XV centuries The first floor and wall clocks were created. At first they were quite heavy, as they were driven by a weight that had to be tightened every 12 hours. Such clocks were made of iron, and a little later of brass, and their design was similar to that of a tower clock.

In the second half of the 15th century, the first watches with a spring motor were created. The source of energy in such watches was a steel spring, which, when unwinding, turned the wheels of the clock mechanism. The first table spring clock was made from bronze by an unknown craftsman. The height of this clock was half a meter.

The first portable spring clocks were made of brass and shaped like a round or square box. The dial of such a watch was horizontal. Convex brass balls were placed in a circle on it, which helped determine the time by touch in the dark. The arrow was made in the shape of a dragon or other mythical creature.

Science continued to develop, and along with it, mechanical watches improved. The first pocket watches appeared in the 16th century. Such devices were very rare, so only rich people could afford them. Very often, pocket watches were decorated with precious stones. But even then they continued to check the time using a sundial. Some watches even had two dials: mechanical on one side and solar on the other.

In 1657, Christiaan Huygens assembled a mechanical pendulum clock. They were distinguished by their extraordinary accuracy compared to all timekeeping instruments existing at that time. If before the advent of the pendulum, clocks that were slow or fast by 30 minutes per day were considered accurate, but now the error was no more than 3 minutes per week. In 1674, Huygens improved the regulator of the spring clock. His invention required the creation of a qualitatively new trigger mechanism. A little later this mechanism was invented. It became an anchor.

Huygens' inventions received wide use in many countries. Watchmaking began to actively develop. The clock error gradually decreased, and the mechanisms could be wound once every eight days.

Due to the increasing accuracy of watches, in 1680 the first mechanisms with minute hand. At the same time, a second row of numbers appeared on the dial plate to indicate minutes, using Arabic numerals. And in the middle of the 18th century, watches with a second hand appeared.

At this time, the Rococo style dominated in all types of art. In watchmaking, his influence was expressed in the variety of watch shapes and materials used, the abundance of carved patterns, scrolls, external decorations made of gold and precious stones. At the same time, carriage clocks came into fashion. It is believed that travel or carriage clocks appeared thanks to the French mechanic and watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet.

Most often they were rectangular shape with glass side walls. A brass handle was attached to the top of the case, which served to carry the watch. All brass surfaces of the watch were plated with gold. It is worth noting that appearance Travel clocks remained virtually unchanged throughout the century.

Improvements to the clock mechanism in the second half of the 18th century made watches flatter and smaller in size. But, despite the changes in the appearance of watches, they still continued to remain the prerogative of a select few. Only in the second half of the 19th century did they begin to be produced in large quantities in Germany, England, the USA, and also Switzerland.

Mechanical watches have evolved for at least five centuries. Today they are conventionally divided not only by the type of clock mechanism (pendulum, balance, tuning fork, quartz, quantum), but also by purpose (household and special).

Household clocks include tower, wall, table, wrist and pocket clocks. Specialized watches are divided depending on their purpose. Among them you can find diving watches, signal watches, chess watches, antimagnetic watches, and many others. The prototype of modern mechanical watches is the pendulum clock created by H. Huygens in 1657.