Balance spring is the most responsive in terms of improvements to
timekeeping precision and its performance crucial to the workings of
mechanical watch movement. One of a series of vital parts at the heart
of the movement, its regular oscillations gives the movement its rhythm
and helps regulate the flow of time.
Anthony Louis Breguet conceived the “Breguet overcoil” spring in the
year 1795. Two hundred years later it still is the reference in terms of
balance spring. A.-L. Breguet got the idea of altering the balance
spring’s terminal curve by raising its end and bending it slightly as a
way of improving its isochronism. Another Breguet, Louis-Clement, in
1830 sought to prevail over magnetic fields by crafting balance springs
in glass instead of metal. Breguet himself had made balance springs in
gold to counter oxidation. One such cylindrical spring was fitted in the
celebrated Marie-Antoinette watch; its shape was designed to improve
considerably its isochronism by repoising its centre of gravity.
Over the years and so much progress in the art and science of
horology watchmakers still cribbed about precision. But with arrival of
silicon balance spring, courtesy Breguet in its Breguet Tradition 7047
model launched at Basel World 2010.
The balance spring is a very fine coil spring. Usually made of metal,
it is vulnerable to shocks, magnetic fields and even the pull of
gravity, which can cause warping.
Today, the new Breguet silicon balance spring is featured in the
Breguet Tradition 7047 model with tourbillon and fusee-and-chain
transmission. Inspired by the design of the first tourbillon-equipped
pocket watches devised by Breguet, a platinum version is now available
fitted with a movement fashioned in an anthracite-toned metal alloy.see more replica watch and Bvlgari
