Time Writer II - Mr. Gomila
talks
It is the time for the Annual "World Watch
Fair" at Mitsukoshi Department Store in Tokyo. As with last
year, one of this year's biggest events was by Montblanc. As
for last year, it was Montblanc's "Ecrire le Temps" Exhibition that
caught people's eyes here=> montblanc.watchprosite.com
We don't have Montblanc event often here in Tokyo, but this World Watch
Fair is where the big action of MB is seen.
Other
interesting stuff at the Fair will be reported separately on
HoMe.
One of the highlights of the Fair was the Talk
Show of Mr. Gomila and Mr. Hirota (Japan's well known watch journalist)
about Time Writer II. There have been several posts about this
1/1000 sec chronograph on PPro already, and I hope I can report
something new details about it.
For your reference,
below are some of the past posts about this model:
montblanc.watchprosite.com
montblanc.watchprosite.com
montblanc.watchprosite.com
montblanc.watchprosite.com
montblanc.watchprosite.com
1. Mr. Bartomeu Gomila
Sintes
Born and grew up on the island of Menorca of
Spain. Studied at the watchmaker school near
Neuchatel. Now he owns his workshop there "Taller del Temps",
mainly does restoration of the complication and/or historical pieces by
the requests from the museums and private collectors. He does
not belong to MB/Villeret, but he joined this "project" as the special
force (concept, design and development of the special mechanism,
etc.). 33 years old.
2. Talk show
highlights:
Hirota (MH): Today, we
want to ask Mr. Gomila how he made it possible to measure 1/1000 sec
which is theoretically impossible. And we will show you a
schematic which is made public as "world premier".
How did you
get involved in this project?
Gamila (BG): As a watchmaker, I have for a long time
wanted to visit Villeret (where MB's ex-Minerva manufacteur is located)
and I fortunately could do so in 2010 where I met the legendary master
watchmaker, Mr. Cabiddu. He showed me around the manufacteur,
including those projects which had not been made public yet.
One of them was the prototype of the chronograph which can measure 1/100
sec. I asked him why he does not announce such a wonderful
watch and he replied, "I am not sure whether the public appreciate this
level of chronograph now". And I told him that I had some idea
which might enable the chronograph to measure 1/1000 sec., and he
recommended that I make presentation to the high-end horology
R&D Institute. At Villeret, there is a program every
two years where worthy ideas does become the MB's project to make it
really happen. And, my idea was approved there and chosen to
become the project.
MH: Now let's talk about this
watch.
MH: As you can see, this watch has two
"engines". The 1st balance wheel at 7 o'clock is for the watch
- 18,000 bph, and the 2nd balance wheel at 11 is for the chronograph -
360,000 bph. As you know, 18,000 bph makes 5 "clicks" in one
second and many chronograph uses 18,000 bph movement with minute track
divided by 5. And, similarly, 360,000 bph can measure up to
1/100 sec.
MH: But, theoretically speaking, 360,000
bph cannot measure 1/1000 sec.
BG: That is
correct. It is possible to measure 1/100 sec, meaning make the
chronograph second hand "jump" 100 times per second with the "normal"
gear train. In order to measure 1/1000 sec, we had to come up
with the idea of how to make 10 jumps between those 1/100
seconds. The theory is simple. As you can see in the
schematic, there is an additional gear that divided one second (one
round of the chronograph second hand) by
10.
MH: But there is a problem. The
hand in the mechanical watch or chronograph "ticking" causes the hands'
"jump" to slow-start, then accelerate and slow down, then
accelerate.... repeats this cycle. How can you eliminate this
"irregularity"? In other words, this "ticking" is the fate of
any mechanical watch and that would prevent the accuracy, at least at
1/1000th of a second, and how did you manage to have the chronograph
hand evolve at the "constant speed" (imagine "Spring Drive") to measure
such a small amount of time?
BG:
Exactly. That is where the "wheel for homogenization of the
1000th" is needed. It smoothes and make the jumping of movement
of the hand constant.
MH: So, this gear with "black box" makes
the gear evolve at the constant speed? What is
inside?
BG: Yes, that is
correct. Unfortunately, that parts is one of the 23 patents
pending out of this model and I cannot talk in public fully for two
years. But I can say that this is the first mechanism which
runs the gear at the very, very accurate and constant
speed.
HM:
Too bad that we cannot hear about the secret here now, but this "world
premier" schematic is really a huge leap from the version we were shown
at SIHH this year. At that time, this parts was replaced with
fake crap One more question. I
understand that you cannot tell us about this "black box", but how do
you know that your 1/1000 sec chronograph is accurate?
BG: Ah! I thought you would
ask. We put the movement in the dark room equipped with the
strobe system set to flash each 1/1000 sec, with high speed
camera. And voila, the 1/1000 gear was accurate as the strobe
photo confirmed.
HM: Wow, I
really wish to see the inside the black box. I understand that
even this world premier schematic may never be shown
again. But let me continue. This is
one of my favorite chronographs and this manages to measure 1/100 sec,
enabled by stopping escapement and intermediate wheel. The
idea seems similar to yours. So, there are precedent in "dividing the frequency"
to achieve high frequency chronograph. What is the major
difference between the past ideas and yours?
BG: I am not
familiar with that model but it is completely different from my
mechanism. I believe it is similar to foudroyante.
My mechanism, although I am sorry that I cannot explain too much, has
two engines (watch and chrono),
chronograph system
moves homogeneously and with constant speed, and can measure 1/1000
sec.
MH: Finally, this watch has very good
legibility, too. On 12 is the window of 1/1000 sec which is at
N (neutral) when the chronograph is running. 1/100 sec marker
is on the outside of the dial while the watch dial is smaller, inside
the dial. On 3 is the power reserve for the chronograph which
is 45 minutes at maximum. And on 6 is the small dial in which
red dial shows the minutes and the black hand shows the
second. Any special consideration
here?
BG: Yes, I
believe these "machine" must instantly tell you what you
want. I placed the dials in one vertical line - you just have
to move your eye from the bottom to the top. Therefore, the
bottom tells you the minute and the second. Then the
chronograph hand tells you 1/100 sec and the top window tells you the
1/1000 sec. Also, I want you to pay attention to the back
side. As a watch restorer, I believe that the watch must be
beautiful and the motif of the back side design is, obviously, a
flower.
MH: So, the bottom line
is that 1/1000 sec chronograph CAN be achieved based on the traditional
watchmaking. Here is, for now, the only working sample of
this model. The audience can see how it works at Montblanc
booth later. Thank you very much for today.
==========================================================================
3.
After the session:
See
the big balance wheel for watch at 7 and small balance wheel for
chronograph on 11.
See the super high speed spinning of the
balance wheel on 11 when the chronograph starts.
(note that
since this is still the first working sample, this needs a bit of
adjustment - the second hand of the bottom subdial is not exactly at
zero)
Longer version of promotion video made by
MB. You can see more clearly how it works.
(Sorry, I
took the screen of the monitor....
The watch power
reserve is 5 days. Single barrel in which there are two-storey
springs.
I asked additional
questions:
PPro: I see your name on the dial
(a little below the center of the dial). Did you insist
this?
BG:
Yes. And there is another thing I insisted on the dial
design. The legibility and the dial placement, of course, and
two balance wheels be seen from the dial side. These mechanism
are so beautifully done and I want everybody to see them.
PPro: What else, I
assume one of many, can you tell us about the difficulties during
developing this model?
BG: Well, obviously, there were many. But
one thing I remember is Mr. Cabiddu told me to make the chronograph
balance wheel which spins at 360,000 bph with only 3 rounds of the hair
spring. Yes, the longer the hair spring, the slower the
balance wheel spins. But three rounds is not enough in terms
of isochronous precision . So I had a headache for a
long time. But I came up with the idea to use "double hair
spring" which uses two set of hair spring powers to the opposite
direction. Now I made the chronograph balance wheel with 11
rounds of hair spring as the normal balance
wheel.
PPro: This
must be a dumb question, but speaking of durability, 360,000 bph is so
fast and the friction or wear of the parts must be a problem,
too?
BG: If you
run the chronograph 24 hours a day, you are correct. We
calculated, based on the assumption that you use the chronograph for 45
minutes per day (same as one full power reserve time). Then,
chances are, the watch mechanism requires servicing before chronograph
mechanism requires
servicing.
Thank you
very much, Mr.
Gomila.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On
my wrist....
LE of
36.
The
backside is not really finished because this is still the
sample.
I also
asked whether Montbanc intends to make other than black/red
version. But with 36 LE model, they do not have a plan to make
other color of this model.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr.
Gomila is a very gentle, young and obviously talented watchmaker who is
passionate about watchmaking. Very pleasant to spend time
with. Although a bit of frustration was left in me with
respect to the "black box", I would certainly hope to learn more some
day and except more exciting projects from the WATCH BRAND, Montblanc
going forward.
Special thanks to:
Mr. Bartomeu Gomila (Taller del Temps)
Mr. Masayuki Hirota (Watch journalist for Chronos Japan)
Ms. Yuka Akasaka (Richemont Japan: Montblanc)
Mr. Shingo Hisai
(Richemont Japan: Montblanc)
Mr. Yoshikuni Kawazoe (Manager, Montblanc Boutique Ginza)
* all the slides and videos
are posted here with permission.
Thank you for reading.
Ken
This message has been edited by KIH on 2012-08-30 07:34:54 This message has been edited by MTF on 2012-08-31 02:02:46