Cartier - ID Two
Basics are the key
The ticking of mechanical timepieces is a quiet but inevitable expression of the intrusion made on time when we attempt to measure its passage. Uniformly flowing time endures being chopped into segments, which can be long or short in duration but are always meticulously predefined and as identical as possible. The gear train counts these fragments and presents its findings. Over the past 700 years, nothing has essentially changed in the principle of traditional time measurement.
Just like any other machine, a mechanical timepiece needs a power source. This driving force is provided either by a clock's weight or by the familiar mainspring in a portable timepiece. The gear train conveys the energy along its route to the rate-regulating organ, via the escapement. As this occurs, a precisely calculated transmission transforms the slow but relatively powerful rotations of the barrel into speedier but weaker rotations. The escapement performs two tasks in this context: first, it assures that the barrel can only gradually release its energy reserve; second, at regular intervals, it supplies the regulating organ (i.e. the balance and the balance-spring) with miniscule energetic impulses that keep the balance oscillating. Ideally, the duration of each oscillation is absolutely identical to all the others.
In a modern wristwatch with a balance that oscillates at a frequency of four hertz, the balance swings in each direction four times per second, which corresponds to eight half-swings, also known as "beats" or "semi-oscillations." One hour has passed when 28,800 semi-oscillations have occurred; an entire day has come and gone after 691,200 such beats. If the number of hourly oscillations is greater than the intended 28,800, the watch runs too quickly and is said to gain; if the number is lower, the timepiece runs too slowly and loses. Gain or loss can be readily determined by comparing the position of the second hand with a precise time signal. The art of the technician and watchmaker accordingly consists of regulating their ticking microcosms so that the intended frequency and the actual frequency remain nearly identical for as long as possible. This is not easily achieved, because potentially disruptive influences abound. The culprits lurk almost everywhere, starting with the Earth's gravity and including other aspects such as friction, air turbulence and aerodynamic drag.
Nonetheless, what a mechanical timepiece achieves, day in and day out, is more than merely astonishing. If it errs by ten seconds per day, which is generally considered quite a large degree of inaccuracy, its precision is "merely" 99.988 percent. Two seconds gain or loss corresponds to 99.997 percent. Furthermore, a watch keeps working quite literally "around the clock," i.e. 24 hours a day, seven days a week and without even the briefest pause. Its pallet doles out 691,200 tiny pushes each day. These add up to 252,288,000 impulses per year. In four years' time, the pallet has delivered more than a billion such movements. That is why mechanical movements sooner or later require routine servicing, which includes thorough cleaning and a dose of fresh oil.
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From Cartier ID One to Cartier ID Two…
In 2009, the Cartier ID One concept watch offered new solutions to solve these problems. Innovative materials and novel technologies enabled the Cartier ID One concept watch to keep time with exemplary accuracy for a lengthy interval and without any adjustment, from assembly through its lifespan. The antimagnetic and temperature-stable oscillating and escapement system, in carbon crystal and Zerodur®1, collaborates with the niobium-titanium case to resist shocks and blows.
In 2012, the saga continues, with the second Cartier concept watch that embodies an unprecedented potential of ideas and innovations. After years of research and development, Cartier presents the Cartier ID Two concept watch, the first High Efficiency watch.
Since time immemorial, progress draws its essence through improved use of available resources. Efficiency optimization is the foundation of major industrial and technological progress.
Until now, insufficient attention has been given to efficiency in traditional watches. Every single
mechanical watch in the world has a low efficiency; 75% of its energy is wasted.
Technicians and watchmakers have left absolutely nothing to chance, from the source of energy to the transmission and finally the oscillator. The only ties with tradition are the principal functional sequences and the division of time into quanta that can be individually counted and accordingly displayed on the dial.
With the Cartier ID Two concept watch, Cartier has addressed 3 major challenges:
• Challenge 1: Store the maximum energy
• Challenge 2: Maximize the energy transmitted from the barrels to the oscillator.
• Challenge 3: Minimize consumption of the oscillator.
Challenge 1: A New Energy Concept to store maximum energy
If the somewhat antiquated calculations performed years ago by Swiss watch engineers can still be trusted, then it would seem that a mechanical movement needs only the minimal propulsive force of one billionth of a horsepower.
The spirally coiled mainspring inside the barrel stores this tiny quantum of energy and releases it to the gear train. This principle has remained essentially unchanged since the early years of the 15th century. But mainsprings made from conventional spring steel are notorious for being the proverbial weakest link in the chain. Made from an alloy of iron, they are virtually unbreakable, non-rusting, resistant to deformation and almost immortal. The energy system is usually conceived so that the mainspring is fully tightened after it has completed seven rotations between its two attachment points.
The fundamental properties of a mainspring and of the propulsive power it generates can be derived from the so-called "spring characteristics." A fully wound mainspring has a very high driving torque, which becomes relatively regular in the midrange and weakens drastically when the spring is nearly unwound. But this diminution of the turning moment isn't solely due to the properties of the material used for the spring. The cause is shared by friction between adjacent coils and by resistance between the outermost wrapping and the inner wall of the barrel. Lubricants can partially, but only temporarily, ameliorate the problem.
For the first time in the history of watchmaking, Cartier introduces mainsprings in fiberglass. This material, well known by pole-vaulters, relies on highly elastic mechanical properties endowed with a remarkable ability to store energy.
The two barrels of the Cartier ID Two concept watch are equipped with four mainsprings, manufactured from microscopically tiny glass fibers and epoxy resin.
To reduce friction, Cartier replaced the traditional lubrication by an ultra-thin layer of pore-free, transparent and extremely smooth polymer film. The developmental team also devoted plenty of hard work to the barrels. At first glance, there would seem to be only two barrels, so one would assume that there are likewise only two mainsprings. But after opening the barrels, one discovers an innovative two-level construction in which two narrow mainsprings are positioned one atop the other. The duo-level barrels release their power serially.
The third innovative feature in the energy system is ADLC coating for the barrels. ADLC is an acronym for amorphous diamond-like carbon, which is applied at a temperature of 200° Celsius. Highly elastic, extremely hard and extraordinarily smooth, ADLC remains functional over the long term without the need for lubrication.
Compared to barrels with mainsprings made from traditional materials, the Cartier ID Two duo-level barrels with their four fiberglass mainsprings allow 30% more energy from the volume of space inside the barrels. This extra power is available for both the gear train and the oscillating and escapement system.
Challenge 2: A new energy conveyance to maximize the energy transmitted from the barrels to the oscillator.
Friction is unavoidably created when gears and pinions collaborate to increase rotational speed in a gear train. Rubbing occurs where teeth intermesh and in the bearings of the shafts. The speed increasing ratio in mechanical watches is approximately 1: 2,000. The barrel turns at the slow pace of one-third rotation per hour. The minute-, the third- and the fourth-wheel rotate progressively faster. And the escape-wheel spins quickly enough to complete 720 rotations per hour. Power is intentionally reduced from 2.5 to 0.001 Newton millimeters. Ultimately, however, approximately one-quarter of the energy delivered from the barrel is lost.
Instead of the traditional pathway for transferring energy from the mainspring to the balance, a far more energetically efficient differential gear system has been conceived for Cartier ID Two concept watch. A central wheel is accompanied by moving shafts which orbit around the center together with the gears and pinions to which they are affixed. Pinions connect the outer ring gear with inwardly positioned teeth. Inarguable advantages of planetary gear systems are smaller teeth loads and significantly more efficient transmission of energy. But the improvements embodied in the Cartier ID Two concept watch are not restricted to this new construction of the gear train. Antiquated profiles on the teeth have been replaced by contemporary contours. Extraordinarily smooth ADLC-coated pivots at the tips of the gears' staffs reduce friction in the ruby bearings by one-fourth, and they accomplish this reduction without lubrication.
Another innovation lies in the novel materials used for the wheels. Traditional brass and steel have been replaced by carbon crystal-coated silicon. 60% harder and 70% lighter in weight than steel, it's also non-magnetic and resistant to corrosion, as well as having extremely smooth surfaces.
These parts reduce friction to one-fifth of the friction generated by the confrontation between steel and brass. Less friction goes hand in hand with minimized energy consumption and nearly no signs of wear.
The innovative conception and materials used for the Cartier ID Two gear train allow a 10% increase in the energy transmitted from the barrels to the escapement.
The Escapement and Oscillating System
The escapement is one of the most fundamental parts of the mechanical movement; its role being time measurement. With no exceptions, all escapements perform two almost contrary tasks. On the one hand, they prevent the gear train from wildly escaping, i.e. racing ahead unrestrainedly and quickly exhausting its available energy reserves. On the other hand, they keep the balance and its balance-spring in oscillation by providing them with impetuses at regular intervals. The three phases in the swinging of the balance are important for proper functioning of an escapement. They are:
• the impulse
• the forward turn, and
• the backward turn.
During the first phase, the balance receives an impulse from the gear train via the escapement. The balance consumes this tiny quantum of energy throughout the remainder of the arc until it reaches the point where its motion reverses. The backward turn commences and continues until a new impulse propels the balance into its next forward turn.
To achieve this, the escapement consumes quite a large amount of energy. The escapement mechanism alone devours two-thirds of the conveyable power, leaving only a modest one-third of the total energy allowance for the impulses that keep the balance oscillating.
One of the reasons for such high energy consumption is the limited manufacturing precision of traditional materials. This limit in precision causes gear play between the anchor and the anchor wheel.
Using the deep-reactive ion etching (DRIE) methodology, the Cartier ID Two concept watch anchor and anchor wheel are manufactured in carbon crystal for a perfect fit.
Plasma polishing optimally smoothes the surfaces so the anchor-pallets can meet the escape-wheel's teeth without the need for lubricant. The low weight of an escape-wheel made from carbon crystal is particularly advantageous. In an escapement with a frequency of four hertz, this wheel must be momentarily halted and then instantly accelerated eight times per second. The pallet too benefits from this innovative process: made in one piece, it is fully functional without the need for conventional ruby pallet-stones affixed via adhesive lacquer to the tips of its arms.
When manufactured according to this new method, the set formed by the escape-wheel and pallet is both lightweight and low in friction. The geometry has also been carefully recalculated and the subassembly is shaped accordingly. These components are optimally complemented by shafts that taper to ADLC-coated pivots.
The optimized ID Cartier escapement in carbon crystal not only enhances precision, but also yields a 15% improvement in the efficiency with which the energy is transferred.
Challenge 3: Cartier invents the Airfree™ technology to minimize consumption of the oscillator
The humble balance-spring can be considered to be the soul of a mechanical timekeeper because no wristwatch could ever tick more than once without it. If you remove it, its indispensability immediately becomes apparent. A balance without a hairspring completes only one half turn. Afterwards, the gear train stops dead. Shaking and tapping are of no avail because the life-giving power to start the balance on its return swing is contained within the slender and lastingly elastic hairspring, which is typically between 1/100th and 3/100ths of a millimeter thick.
The process of manufacturing metal hairsprings is quite complex. Optimal rate results also demand that each balance-spring must be precisely paired with its balance. Fine adjustment is usually accomplished with the aid of a regulator, to the rearward end of which an index or "key" is attached that can be very slightly shifted to alter the active length of the balance-spring.
Thanks to an innovative design employing breakthrough materials and technologies, the Cartier concept watches, Cartier ID One and Cartier ID Two, do not require the usual adjusting components of mechanical movements:
• conceived as a mono-bloc piece and manufactured in carbon crystal (material that allows the use of a micron-engraving technology), the balance-wheel is directly well balanced
• calculated to obtain an optimum chronometry and manufactured in an innovative material called Zerodur®2 (material that allows the use of a micron-engraving technology), the active length of the hairspring is directly adapted to the balance wheel
After solving the adjustment and lubrication problems, with the Cartier ID Two concept watch Cartier challenges one of the oscillator's most significant sources of energy consumption: air friction.
Turbulence and changes in air pressure influence the oscillations of the rate-regulating organ, and moving parts necessarily consume additional energy when they're obliged to struggle to overcome aerodynamic drag.
The advantages of reduced air resistance are evident, for example, in aeronautics. An A 380 Airbus consumes roughly 2,800 liters of kerosene per 100 kilometers when it flies at an altitude of 1,000 meters through atmospheric pressure of 900 millibars. Air pressure declines to only 180 millibars at a cruising altitude of 12,000 meters, where the aircraft burns only 800 liters per 100 kilometers.
With the Cartier ID Two concept watch, Cartier has achieved the unprecedented feat of enclosing a nearly 100% vacuum inside the case of a wristwatch.
The ingenious Airfree™ technology allows the amount of air present inside the case to be reduced to an insignificant level. The balance wheel therefore oscillates without friction to air, thus lowering its consumption by 37%.
These innovative techniques significantly improve the so-called "quality factor," which is calculated by counting the number of oscillations that a balance and its hairspring can complete without receiving any additional impulses. The balance in a conventional watch movement in the horizontal position typically swings through 300 beats, i.e. it grinds to a halt in the flat position after about two minutes of activity. The Cartier ID Two concept watch, by contrast, will keep "breathing" for about three minutes, so its quality factor is 450.
Manufactured in only two parts, the perfectly transparent Calibre de Cartier case is made of Ceramyst™, an innovative fully transparent polycrystalline ceramic.
This new materials offers many advantages:
• Fully transparent, it allows a case design with only two parts, thereby reducing the necessary gasket length by 48%.
• With its nanoparticle gaskets and minimally porous material, it preserves the vacuum inside the case for at least ten years. For sake of comparison: it takes only three months for normal atmospheric pressure to reestablish itself inside the classically constructed case of a watch that is watertight to 3 Bar. It also provides plenty of latitude to conceive highly complex shapes like the Calibre de Cartier case.
32 days of energy power reserve in a Calibre de Cartier 42 mm
The Cartier ID Two concept watch extends the limits of traditional watchmaking. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology and new materials and manufacturing processes, this second Cartier concept watch rises to the challenge of high energy efficiency.
The Cartier ID Two concept watch produces 30% extra power and consumes half as much energy as a traditional watch!
In the Calibre de Cartier 42mm volume, the Cartier ID Two concept watch offers 32 days of energy power reserve.
With its ID Two concept watch, the first high efficiency watch, Cartier opens the way for fundamental changes for watchmaking: higher efficiency means many improvements, such as miniaturisation, increased autonomy without increasing the volume, durability, more complications and of course improved chronometry.
Cartier has opened a new chapter in the history of mechanical watchmaking.
[Rating: 5 / 5 stars]
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