A French company backed by Timex Group is claiming to have opened a new chapter in watchmaking with the creation of a silicon motor that matches the accuracy of quartz-based movements with the elegance of a mechanical watch’s sweeping hands.
SilMach has made a watch, named TimeChanger, to illustrate the capability of the integrated circuitry at the heart of the mechanism.
It launched on Kickstarter this month and almost immediately secured double its €50,000 crowd funding target.
At the time of writing, 57 people had paid €1,850 to pre-order one of the TimeChanger watches, which are expected to be delivered in December.
SilMach has ambitious plans for the movement, which the company believes is capable of replacing the Lavet stepping motor that has been powering watches and clocks since the early 20th century.
The hope is that manufacturers like Timex will switch to the new technology thanks to its efficiency, anti-magnetic qualities and accuracy of +/- 0.5 seconds per day.
It could bring to an end the trick of spotting a battery powered watch by the jumping motion of its seconds hand because the SilMach motor powers sweeping hands.
Time can also move in reverse, because the motor is seamlessly bi-directional; opening up a raft of possibilities for watchmakers.
TheTimeChanger Watch is designed and assembled in Besançon, Northeast France, and designed by Giorgio Galli, creative director for Timex Group.
It is a 42mm steel watch with a grooved brass dial and stands just 11mm high.
It is sold on a high quality leather strap sourced from the French manufacturer Jean Rousseau.
There are 1,088 pieces being made, which can still be pre-ordered from the Kickstarter page.
Whats new here, the Japanese have made a sweeping hand spring drive yonks ago, yes they only make manual wind or automatic versions of it, but it easily be made to be powered by a battery and made much cheaper by removing the expensive winding mechanism, and glides much smoother than anything else on the market. And not only quartz watches tick, there are many examples of mechanical watches that also ticks. It this a PR drive to sell those unsold pieces on the Kickstarter page?
We already have sweeping battery powered watches