patrick_y
[PuristSPro Moderator]
33516
Notice how small the Chopard 1.96 is...
Generally, what you're going to see is larger companies with A LOT OF MONEY and SCALE are going to go towards 28,800 VPH. This higher beat does cost a lot more money in R&D (but can save money in the short run), and it also costs a lot of power reserve! BUT! What you get back is higher accuracy for most wearers - especially active people who abuse their watches by shocking the watch (running, golfing, etc.) as the faster beat allows the watch to "recover" faster from a shock. A higher beat does use more energy, but they manage this by using smaller and lighter parts (which reduce energy use). The higher beat also strains the lubricants a little more. Although, with lighter components, the lubricants are also strained less. And this isn't noticeable to the average client.
Watches are sold with the age old thought process that these things need to be serviced every 5-7 years. Some salespeople say 3-5. So, the above problems generally aren't a problem at the 7 year mark.
In the end, I personally prefer my watches to have a slower beat; 21,600 VPH or 18,000 VPH if it's a Tourbillon (the slower beat is more pleasing to the eye, and one looks at the Tourbillon from time to time). But the world is going more high-beat.
The Chopard 1.96 came out in 1997 as a 28,800 VPH movement. With two barrels (one stacked on the other), it still provides an impressive 65 hours of power reserve.
Bulgari is a 21,600 VPH movement. They wanted to do 28,800, but the power reserve would've suffered and the balance wheel would look small relative to the huge 36mm movement! Keep in mind, this movement is huge, a Rolex men's watch case used to be only 36mm in diameter!
Balance wheel looks fairly decently sized on this Patek 240 caliber, because this one is 21,600 vph.
Parmigiani is still 21,600 vph.
Piaget movement is 21,600 VPH and only has a 44 hour power reserve.
Same 240 caliber from Patek as above. But here, the balance wheel looks a little smaller?
Likely 21,600 VPH
Comparing Bulgari BVL 138 Calibers.
I asked Google to compare the BVL 138 720 and BVL 138 721 movements. This is the summary as compiled by Google Artificial Intelligence. Accuracy score 100%. Zero hallucinations. Much of the reference material is from WatchProSite articles. Bravo Google! B...
That's great! I hope you're wearing it often!
Mine is unfortunately not winding consistently. As you may remember, my watch often will stop at 2AM or 3AM despite having worn the watch for 20,000 steps each of the 2-3 days prior. So, when I wear mine for a week straight, I often have some small proble...
Why do balance wheels tend to be so small these days?
...it seems like they used to be much larger. Is a larger size no longer necessary because of modern materials?
Good question.
It's actually not that small. At around 8mm, for a modern movement, it's actually quite large. The only reason why you think it's small, is because it looks small, relative to the very large movement. The movement is really quite thin, at 2mm, but the mov...
In this case I will buy it...
...but here is a 30-255 PS from a Patek 6119. The balance wheel seems tiny to me. It looks incomplete somehow... ...
Modern movements are higher frequency.
Higher frequency means that they oscillate at a higher frequency. This one is 25,200; which is much higher than 21,600. Keep in mind, watches typically oscillated at 18,000 vph. You'll notice that modern movements oscillate faster but have smaller and lig...
Notice how small the Chopard 1.96 is...
Generally, what you're going to see is larger companies with A LOT OF MONEY and SCALE are going to go towards 28,800 VPH. This higher beat does cost a lot more money in R&D (but can save money in the short run), and it also costs a lot of power reserve! B...
This makes sense and addresses what I asked...
...but aesthetically, I am not a fan of tiny balance wheels : )
Large balance wheels can be very accurate...
Large balance wheels can be very accurate. They have more mass (thus higher inertia). They're slightly harder to shock because they're larger. BUT, once they are shocked, they take forever to gain their sync and recover from that shock. This is due to the...
If you would still have the choice between these 2
I guess EVERYBODY would pick the first, right ?? To e all these changes done by the manufacture have only 1 goal and that is ' make is cheaper to produce so OUR profit margin get's bigger'
Hmm. I think that depends...
So, I'm one of the people who have been a little unlucky with the 1st gen movement. When I wear this watch as my only watch, the winding mechanism doesn't wind very well, and even on fairly active days, mine doesn't build up the reserve. So let's say hypo...
Thanks for this great comparison.
I have the original movement and never had any complaints about the accuracy and winding efficiency. And I certainly value the movement for its beautie....which was one of the main reasons for me to buy the watch! Best, Gerard ...
You should see the gigantic metal box to the Sejima!
It came in a giant metal box that had the little circle pattern on the outside. It's in the left side of the photo. ...
Good to know!
I definitely have experienced some winding problems. It's not noticeable if you are at home and you switch watches often and/or you leave the watch in a watch winder (the watch will wind on a winder, just not on your wrist). But it is noticeable if you're...
From another forum…
…I posted the following a while back: UPDATE: Thanks to a very helpful Bvlgari BVL 138 manufacturing video from WatchAdvisor, the latest iteration (gen. 2) of the calibre seems to be an upgrade, at least in terms of performance and reliability, because ae...