The development of watch

In the period of 1700-1800 people invented a variety of escapement and a regulating mechanism, built solid foundation for the further development of pocket watch. In 1725, the British GeorgeGraham (1673 - 1751) improved the "Cylinder Escapement", the escapement gear tooth shape resembling the Chinese word “工”, until the early twentieth Century this mechanism was still used in the watch movement. In 1730, Jean-Baptiste Dutertre (1715-1742) invented the "duplex escapement", this escapement wheel has a double-layer structure and sharp teeth. In 1754, the British Thomas Mudge (1715-1794) invented the "English lever escapement”, and further improved the timing accuracy of pocket watch. In 1769 he made pocket watch with such institutions for George Sans queen. Today, the escapement institution that we use the mechanical watch is based on his invention. In 1775, John Arnald made "detent escapement" which was used in the timing clocks with high accuracy, and he is also the inventor of the “s spiral hairspring”. During the same period, regulating mechanism such as double metal compensation balance, spherical hairspring is also applied in the pocket watch.

 

Accompanied by clock mechanism innovations continuing to emerge, manufacture technology in pocket watch also continuously developed. In 1741, a French watchmaker Nicholas Fardoil invented the cutting gear machine, and then William Blakey in 1744 created the tool of the cutting Gear shaft. In 1776, the French master watchmaker Frederic Japy (1749-1813) took the lead in using the machine to produce substrate of the movement.

 

In the industrial revolution of the nineteenth Century, , GeorgesAuguste Leschot (1800-1884) used the name "Pentograph" for producing machinery parts of watches and clocks, which makes watches parts standardization becoming possible. The Swiss Georges-Federic Raskopf (1813-1889) also made contribution for manufacturing low-cost and universal pocket watch. At the same time, the American watch industry has made great progress and started mass production of various types of pocket watch. In 1875, China also appeared national watch industry (according to Mr. Jiao Dayu's authoritative information, "Li fifty years commemorative book", in 1875 Chinese modern watch industry has begun).

 

Because of the application of the many inventions and the manufacturing technology becoming mature, pocket watch in volume and accuracy has been greatly improved; machinery also can take more complex functions based on the timekeeper function, such as: spring timing, independent timing, calendar, alarm, world time zones and so on. In 1900 Paris World Expo, "Lerey01" super complex pocket watch obtained Expo award, the perfect combination of the 25 different functions made it becoming one of the world's most complex pocket watch.