mkvc
1382
In a chronometer competition or on the wrist?
My understanding is that a big balance wheel can be regulated for great accuracy but cannot be made to oscillate as quickly as a smaller wheel (all else being equal). The fast oscillation makes for quick recovery after movements, so the smaller, faster wheel may be most practical on the wrist. In a chronometer competition, where watches stand still in each tested position, a large wheel may be a good alternative.
Does size matter: Balance Wheel Size in a movement
Hello fellow Purists, This is a question which does not get much coverage and I am wondering if this is 'cause size of balance wheel does not matter, or because few consider the movement, or something completely different... So, the NOMOS Encyclopedia rea...
my guess is that
assuming that the balance wheels are poised equally well, a bigger and more rapidly beating wheel (as well as one that is more massive) should have the higher angular momentum, a conserved quantity, and should therefore be less easily disturbed, and thus ...
Bigger is not faster in this case, though...
In these two models, the big balance wheel beats at 18,000 and the small one is at 28,800
Bigger is never faster
The size of a balance wheel is a tradeoff between size, which gives you stability, and speed, which allows errors to be corrected more rapidly and have less effect on timekeeping. Neither is "better" or "worse" they are different approaches that attack th...
correct
but if what I say is true and angular momentum is the important quantity, then you can calculate the moment of intertia of the two wheel sizes and the angular velocity corresponding to the frequency, multiply (which gives you angular momentum) and compare...
Unless it's my imagination...
I noticed, for example, in the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra with the 8500 calibre that the balance wheel seems bigger than the one I've seen in the older AT's with the 2500C calibre, both of them being, of course, the co-axial technology escapement. I also ...
Bigger is not better when it comes to illustrations, or balance wheels
could you downsize these images please! They "turn" too slowly Thanks Cazalea
Sorry, don't know how... (links from IWC site)
Apologies for the oversized images - I cross-linked directly from the official site and have no idea how to downsize them,.
In a chronometer competition or on the wrist?
My understanding is that a big balance wheel can be regulated for great accuracy but cannot be made to oscillate as quickly as a smaller wheel (all else being equal). The fast oscillation makes for quick recovery after movements, so the smaller, faster wh...
This is a good summary, thanks
I think this is closest to my understanding as well - especially in a world where the latest tech and lube is used. Thank you, guys - I never intended to go down the path of calculating angular momentum, just wanted to know if either had any advantages da...
sorry for my late input but here is what I was told by my watchmaker
I discussed two years ago this topic with my watchmaker, the larger balance wheels were usually found in marine chronometers or in early 1900's observatory competition chronometric watches who usually had bimetallic balance wheel, breguet hairspring and o...
from what I have read...
.... (smaller balance wheel+ higher beat rate) = (less easily disturbed + more sensitive to improper service/ lubrication) & the other way round. So, I suppose, movement design is all about compromises Also, I would assume it would take a lot of power...