in the Movement
Transcripción
in the Movement
The Calibre B01 represents the crowning achievement of the company’s 125th anniversary, ushering in a new era for its chronograph movements and validating it as a true manufacture. The Calibre 1887 – TAG Heuer’s first movement built in-house, based on the design of the Seiko 6S37 chronograph movement. All in the Movement The growing pressure to produce movements in-house affects even 5 relative giants such as TAG Heuer and Breitling. Both companies consume ETA/Valjoux movements in six figure volumes on an annual basis and are hyper-sensitive to changes in costs, conditions and supply. No-one, therefore, is more keenly aware of the Swatch Group’s intentions regarding the future supply of movements and ébauches – the late Nicholas Hayek’s public utterances on this leave little room for doubt. Ken Kessler and Peter Roberts FBHI TAG Heuer and Breitling have responded to the Swatch to graduate from the Swiss watchmaking school, Group’s impending withdrawal of supplies with the WOSTEP, ex- lecturer at Hackney Technical College development of new in-house calibres – both automatic where former students included Peter Speake-Marin chronograph movements as befit two brands known for and Stephen Forsey and currently the technical such timepieces. The two companies have, however, director of Bremont – to analyse the two. With decades chosen different paths that reveal much about their of experience at Rolex and other brands behind him, future ambitions and strategies. QP arranged for Master Roberts is one of the pre-eminent authorities on Watchmaker Peter Roberts FBHI – the first Englishman movement design. ©2010 QP Magazine, all rights reserved In-house | 53 TAG HEUER CALIBRE 1887 TAG the director, told us, ‘There is only one movement is named for the year in which Heuer’s Calibre 1887 – piece in the entire watch that is not re- Edouard Heuer invented the oscillating manufactured.’ He wouldn’t tell us what pinion system – was born into a morass of it was, but apparently it’s very small!” The 1887’s column wheel. web-sourced controversy. The company’s initial announcement suggested that What you might call the interface the design was created completely in- between house, sparking immediate negative the chronograph works. Effective, if reactions from aficionados who quickly not elegant in engineering terms, the spotted the resemblance to Seiko’s oscillating pinion connects sets of gears classic TC78. Instead of developing the by moving the pinion horizontally into movement from a clean sheet, TAG Heuer contact. Though as Roberts pointed out: acquired the IP rights to the TC78. As “The latest fad, and we’ll come to that Roberts learned from a meeting with TAG on the Breitling, is what they call the engineers, the Swiss house has made vertical clutch, which works more like the interesting changes to the movement clutch in a car, allowing you to engage since starting work on it in 2007. and disengage the chronograph. A third, the base movement and ‘classic’ system is to use spur gears, “Seiko employed this movement in a which can be engaged or disengaged rather interesting chronograph. It’s a using a coupling device. column-wheel design, with oscillating pinion, which, coincidentally, was invented Reverse engineering by Heuer in 1887. It’s a nice chronograph “If you want to compare them, you made in very much the Japanese way. could say the TAG Heuer system is If you look at the automatic winding very good, very effective, and to give it system, it’s classic Seiko: twin-arm, twin- its full credit, it has been used in more click cam drive. Any watchmaker [or chronographs than probably all of the aficionado] would look at this movement other methods put together – including and immediately recognise it as a Seiko, its use in the 7750. And it is a ‘Heuer even if it had no other markings on it. thing’, so it’s interesting for them that The 1887’s oscillating pinion. Seiko just happened to use it quite “Obviously, it uses a Japanese balance/ independently. It’s a nice coincidence spring, shock absorber – a nice piece, that brings it full circle.” and as usual, as far as Japanese watches are concerned, it’s function before form, Roberts acknowledges that TAG Heuer absolutely. So it’s a good-looking piece, had to do a lot of reverse engineering. but no thrills, no added embellishment. “The designers had to disassemble the It is typically Japanese, beautifully- movement and start from scratch on how engineered, but you don’t get that to make each part. This is not as easy historical touch that the Swiss would as people may think. They see what the give to a watch.” Chinese are doing, who seem to be able to copy things almost instantaneously. As Roberts analysed the Calibre 1887, But it’s not so easy to reverse engineer he felt that he was looking at a complete something properly and with engineering rebuild, with wholesale design changes. integrity, which is the way TAG Heuer has “TAG Heuer didn’t just buy it and change done things. the name plate, as, say, British Leyland did with the MG 1100. It is totally “This is a tricky job, but it’s still much, their remaking of the movement. As much cheaper than designing an entirely Stephane Linder, TAG Heuer’s technical new movement from scratch. And ©2010 QP Magazine, all rights reserved 54 | In-house the Seiko movement was not just and, of course, the balance assembly designed for price; it was designed is now Swiss with a Nivarox spring, to be built by state-of-the-art, Glucydur balance. Seiko used its own automatic machines using the latest balance, its own springs, its own shock manufacturing techniques.” absorber. All these components are now Swiss, while everything including every The nine main movement parts, the platine or main plate and gear and wheel has been re-engineered and remade. all the bridges are made at the Cornol factory in the “The platine is also totally different: Swiss Jura. Completely certain things are in the same place, but re-equipped the everything else about it is different. All very latest machinery, of the bridges are different, the rotor, of with this is now one of the course, is considerably modified, with its most advanced facilities in own special shape and design, and it has Switzerland. Main assembly a different bearing. There are more jewels takes place at factories in La in the movement: 39 as opposed to 35 Chaux-de-Fonds, also known as T1 in the Seiko. They have also changed Assembly, again using state-of-the- the motion work and the dimensions of art equipment. Wheels, jewels, and the movement.” other smaller components are basically out-sourced, as is normal practice Interestingly, after TAG Heuer’s throughout the watch industry. Roberts reworking, the movement is slightly points out that although TAG could have slimmer at 7.13mm; the Seiko is 7.27mm. made everything in-house, this would Conversely, the diameter of the TAG have tripled the price of the watch in Heuer is slightly greater, reflecting the which the movement is placed. bigger watches of today, but not by much: 29.3mm against 28.4mm. “So it’s a nicely- “One of the main criteria, as far as I can sized movement, although not classically see, was to get an in-house movement slim for an automatic chronograph. The into watches at the same price as a El Primero, for example, is 6.5mm thick. Valjoux 7750 series. And TAG Heuer But nevertheless, it’s still a good size and has pretty much done that, which is it’s not overly large, so it can be put into quite something. Once upon a time, larger or smaller watchcases. 7750s were quite cheap to obtain, The Calibre 1887 is an integrated chronograph movement with 320 parts in total. Of that, about 270 are made in Switzerland, some by TAG Heuer/Cortech (bridges, plates, oscillating weight) and some by specialist suppliers such as Nivarox. Many of these parts have been upgraded from the original design. but now they’re relatively expensive “TAG-Heuer uses 22 out-sourced Swiss so it becomes cost-effective to make suppliers for making various parts, and, movements this way, whereas Breitling as I said, just one part that’s from Seiko, has used a different route. the ‘mystery’ part. But above all, the movement is finished to a proper Swiss “TAG Heuer has changed elements in standard: Cotes de Geneve, perlage, nice the process of reverse engineering, edge finishing with diamond polishing, but has maintained the classic Seiko blued column wheel, nice quality screws wind system, which has been proven in – again, all Swiss-made and engineered millions of watches over the years. It’s to Swiss specification – a very different pretty fail-safe, so why change it? But finish to that used on the original. And they have changed certain things in above all, the watch performs well.” there – the oscillating pinion, of course, as well as much of the mechanism in Roberts doesn’t hesitate when he says the chronograph. that, “TAG Heuer earned the right to call this an in-house movement. If they bought Making it Swiss An original drawing from 1886 featuring Heuer’s column-wheel design, with oscillating pinion. “There is now a Seiko’s movement and just changed the Swiss Clinergic balance, maybe the escapement, and escapement in there, fast-beat, 28,800, fitted a new rotor, you couldn’t say it ©2010 QP Magazine, all rights reserved In-house | 55 was manufacture. But I think it’s safe to the costs will come down. And if you say that this is a TAG Heuer manufacture make another 200,000, the costs movement. The reasons? The company come down further, so year on has redesigned it completely and makes year it becomes cost-effective every significant part of it. What it against the increasing costs of doesn’t make – the jewels, the balance, acquiring the mainspring, etc – most manufacturers This is the main reason why so don’t make these, either.” many companies are introducing in-house Branching out Valjoux movements. movements. I don’t think that TAG Heuer or Breitling Because of the scale of TAG Heuer’s for operation, it’s likely that the company been quite so spurred on into that matter would have will need every movement it can doing this if they were without make. It would be a delicious irony if the worries of supply issues from the TAG Heuer could produce enough to Swatch Group.” supply other brands that weren’t able to produce their own calibres in the As far as one can see from the figures, wake of Swatch’s decision to scale TAG has achieved its goal at a quarter of back OEM production. With the present the cost of starting from scratch. “It’s factories, output hard to give an exact figure as to what capacity for 50,000 movements per it would cost to develop a movement year, starting with 25,000 per year, like this from a plain sheet of paper, with the plan to increase it by 10,000 instead of re-developing the Seiko. per year. At the moment, they’re only But thinking in terms of percentages putting this movement into one range rather than exact development costs, of watches. After that there are likely TAG Heuer has got it within the price of to be modifications to it and then the the Valjoux.” TAG Heuer has Available with white or black dial both with either a leather strap or bracelet, the TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 1887 is the first piece to feature the new movement. movement will be used in other models. The proof is the price of the launch As Roberts says: “To produce this is very watch, the Carrera Calibre 1887: it sells expensive, but if you can make 50,000, for an astonishingly affordable £2,350. BREITLING CALIBRE B01 Everything changes when you turn to probably began development with this the Breitling, the most vivid and telling one a little bit earlier: from the numbers element being the price of the watch I have, 2004 is when they first started in which the B01 makes its debut. working on it. And as you know, in 2004 Depending on which version of the things were still going pretty well as Chronomat selected, the price is roughly regards the world’s financial climate and double that of the Carrera Calibre 1887. in the watchmaking world.” Breitling But this approach liberates Breitling completed the design around 2007, from the price constraints applied to the enabling production to commence in TAG Heuer, enabling them to create an 2008 and a public launch in 2009. entirely new calibre. The B01 features an optimised columnwheel device that provides precise control of chronograph functions. The race to be first Breitling generously sent Roberts a “If you go back to 1969, Breitling, with movement to examine. “This is truly our friends at Heuer and Hamilton/Buren, Breitling’s first manufacture movement produced the Calibre 11, which was one and the company has gone a different of the first self-winding chronographs – a route from TAG Heuer. The designers close call with the Zenith El Primero and, ©2010 QP Magazine, all rights reserved 56 | In-house coincidentally, Seiko’s first automatic done it in a very up-to-date way because chronograph. closely the designers have used a vertical involved in the overall design, although Breitling was clutch for the connection between the main work for the chronograph the timepiece and the chronograph, module was by Dubois-Depraz. instead of an oscillating pinion or normal coupling clutch spur gears.” “If you look at the Calibre 11, it’s a B01. Here you have a movement Oscilating pinion V vertical clutch fitted with an integrated self-winding Thus one of the primary differences work, utilising a micro-rotor, resulting between the TAG Heuer and the Breitling in a very slim design upon which is is the oscillating pinion versus the mounted a chronograph module that vertical clutch system. “The vertical can be removed in one piece – 3 screws. clutch system, which is very fashionable Unfortunately we now have quite a at the moment, is a nice system. thick movement. Although not a new idea it works different type of design from the very “The other way to make a self-winding well with modern materials and technologies. chronograph is to integrate all of the mechanisms into the movement; this “When you engage the drive on the was done on the El Primero and is B01, it runs the chronograph seconds what Breitling has done with the hand, the minute recorder and the hour B01. A disadvantage, however, recorder, all from the same drive. This for the watchmaker is that when is a nice idea because it means that you integrate them, you have all they must always be in synchronisation of these complexities on top of with each other. With a lot of other and mixed up with each other, so if chronographs, the hour recorder, in something goes wrong somewhere, particular, is driven separately. It’s not a you often have a lot of disassembly. great disadvantage, but this method is a Breitling has gone a long way with bit of a plus.” its new design to address this. Breitling also fitted the B01 with self- The B01 project has created a specialised assembly process that involves an ultra sophisticated computer programme that monitors and routes each movement throughout the various paths of assembly. “With the new B01, Breitling has centring reset hammers. “These are the integrated together, fly-back hammers of the chronograph, which tends to make a slimmer everything which, for manufacturing/assembly and watch. Not afraid to use old for later servicing, are also a big plus. technology, the company uses Again, this is the latest design trend a column wheel, which is still as used by Rolex and others. In the considered lovers old days, when operating the return- as the nicest device to use as to-zero, the watchmaker often had to the adjust these hammers by filing and by operating watch system inside your chronograph. polishing – a skilled and time-consuming operation. “There’s the hammers have a flexible, self-centring system column wheel that we all love built into them so they find their own watchmakers. about Nowadays, a as something are natural positions when they are reset. also much easier to make This makes manufacturing and repair so nowadays precision They with modern much quicker. engineering. But Breitling has “These systems are very dependable. One must remember that modern watches are made on machines, with hand-assembly used only when strictly necessary. Therefore, these systems, although nice ©2010 QP Magazine, all rights reserved In-house | 57 for the watchmaker, are there as much to top of the spring’s power, so it gives a help with assembly in large numbers and more consistent torque to the watch. It’s to keep the costs down.” a nice bonus that you can take it off for the weekend and it will still be running Breitling has made a major point of on Monday, but it’s mainly done so the having a fine-index adjustment on watch uses the better part of the power regulation. “Having examined it in the curve of the mainspring, thus giving movement, it looks rather simple. The better time keeping.” watches perform very accurately, very precisely, but it appears that if you Another nice touch is that Breitling operate the micro-adjuster, it will give has designed the movement so that you an exact adjustment against an it is possible to get to the barrel index, which doesn’t normally work very without taking half the mechanism well on watches with curb pins-type apart, regulation, which this watch has. mainspring replacement. In keeping therefore simplifying a with its price point, the B01’s finish is to “Normally if you want this precise a high standard, with Cotes de Geneve, adjustment, you have to go for free- snailing, stippling, diamond bevels on sprung, where you adjust the weights the edges and other nice touches. on the actual balance wheel. When you move the index on all normal watches “So, we have a very fine watch, but a lot with a curb pin system, it’s a little more expensive to produce than the bit hit-or-miss. So you need a timing TAG Heuer, probably pushing it into a machine to do it accurately. This new higher price bracket. Interestingly, like index adjustment is calibrated so one the TAG Heuer, the new movement, can make an exact adjustment ‘+ or –’ at the moment, appears only in in seconds per day. This is another step one range – the Chronomat. This page: The new Chronomat B01 range of chronographs is the first collection to be powered by the new movement. up and they are getting fantastic results from it. It will be interesting to see how “We’re not talking Patek it performs as time goes by, as watches Philippe quality standard of come in for servicing.” finish on either the TAG Heuer or the Breitling movements In keeping with current tastes and – that is unnecessary in their demands, price brackets. But we are a B01’s generous 70 power reserve hours. “Nowadays is still dealing with nice-looking everyone wants a watch that will run for movements finished to superior the weekend; this movement runs for levels. To me, the Breitling has an three days when you take it off. More excellent finish that fits its price importantly than that, for the first 24 range, as does the TAG Heuer at a lower hours of its run, you’re using the very price point.” 8 Further information: www.tagheuer.com www.breitling.com ©2010 QP Magazine, all rights reserved