A New Method For Growing Watch Springs - Hackaday

HACKADAY
A NEW METHOD FOR GROWING

WATCH SPRINGS
by:
Sharon Lin
25 Comments

November 2, 2019
Scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
(Empa) recently developed a new technique for growing watch springs to tiny
specifications. As it turns out, the creation of watch springs is ripe with opportunity
for new materials research.
The technique involves using photo-etching and electrochemical deposition into

cold, aqueous solutions. Compared to drawing and winding Nivarox wires, this is a
fairly unconventional method for manufacturing. For as long as watchmaking has
been around, creating the balance springs has been one of the most difficult parts
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of the job.
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cookies. wires must be drawn to a thickness in the hundredths of millimeters
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and wound and tempered to the exact hardness, ductility, and elasticity while
compensating for environmental factors. Many substances change their properties
during fabrication, so the Empa team decided to look to pure materials research as
a way to find a means for fabricating balance springs that would remain stable.
They took silicon wafers

(the same kind used for
solar panels and computer
chips), covered them in gold
and a thin layer of light
sensitive paint, and etched
the shape of a spring into
the wafer. The wafer was
then dipped into a galvanic
bath containing a salt
solution from a metallic alloy — the spring acts as a cathode so that when an
electric current passes through the bath, metal is deposited at the base of the
spring. Once the spring is built up, it is dissolved from the mold and examined.
After a bit of smoothing, the final spring is washed and sent to a lab for prototype
production.
The electroplated springs are currently on display at the Laboratory for Mechanics
of Materials and Nanostructures at the Empa campus in Thun, Switzerland. In the
meantime, the first pilot tests are being wrapped up, and the team is beginning to
work with Swiss watchmakers to see if their springs can hold up inside watch
mechanisms.
[Thanks to Qes for the tip!]
Posted in clock hacks, Misc Hacks

Tagged Bill of materials, electroplating, fabrication, watch springs, watchmaking
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25 THOUGHTS ON “A NEW METHOD FOR
GROWING WATCH SPRINGS”
tnerbur says:
November 2, 2019 at 4:21 pm
This is similar to the work being done by Firehouse Horology

(https://firehousehorology.com/silicon) in NY. In addition to being able to produce
hairsprings, they’ve also been able to produce escapements (incl. gears!).
Reply Report comment
Drew says:
This is kind of exciting that hackaday posted something like this.
I went to school for 2 years to learn horology and met Stephen Forsey of Greubel
Forsey, and have met and talked with some very prominent horologists.
If anyone is seriously interested in the next generation of watch hairsprings, look up

also LIGA technology.
There is one American company that is extremely small making silicon hairsprings,
called Firehouse Horology.
https://firehousehorology.com/
I myself am working on a handmade mechanical watch opus that may use one of their
hairsprings someday, but I may make my own, from raw steel, and do bimetalic
compensation balance. Just so I can say I made everything myself.
scott.tx says:
I bet you get a lot of weird looks when you tell people you’re a horologist.
TJay says:
i think its only a problem if your in the ghetto.
Michael Thompson says:

November 3, 2019 at 3:26 am
Hats off to you that is some serious serious stuff.
PWalsh says:
This method can be applied to composite metals as well.
Imagine building up a block of metal consisting of alternating layers of different metals,

or (with photo etching) different layers in specific patterns.
There’s a lot of opportunity for research here in materials science.

Comedicles says:
“the creation of watch springs is ripe with opportunity for new materials research”
You mean rife with opportunity? Ripe means ready for harvest. Rife means abundant.
Neither seems to apply to the statement. Now, if it was buggy whips….
daveboltman says:
I think “ripe” is the better word here, since it is “ready for harvest”. To me, “rife”
has a negative connotation, as in an area is “rife with gangs and drugs”. Could be
wrong though…
Lufo says:
Amazing …
Amazing how it is done.
Amazing, or rather enlightening, to realize that old mechanical clock mechanisms still
have a future.
I would have guessed that with the precision and simplicity of quartz movements
watches with spring mechanism were doom to disappear.
Interesting.
Foldi-One says:
They somewhat are as for 99% of use cases quartz is fine. Mechanical watches
are just pretty vanity pieces like the supercars of the world. Though not one
quartz
By using watch
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services, keptexpressly
time onagree
my to
wrist, never looked
the placement into why and
of our performance, not wornand
functionality
a watch
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cookies. years now. The same watches always kept time for the rest of the
more OK
family..
Still have a place however as purely mechanical can work perfectly in
environments electronic won’t (for example my wrist). Not sure how much call
there really is for such things in the real world but they are too intresting to be
allowed to die – If something can last for 100+ years with only a little care it can’t
be a bad thing to refine and improve upon the design.
Comedicles says:
Please if you must say it, use-cases. Avoid hate, hyphenate. (Please
hyphenate use cases cases. Or is it please hyphenate use cases use cases?
Or is it 99% of use boxes quartz is fine?)
Michael Black says:

All my digital watches going back to that TI. LED watch in 1977 have kept
very good time. A difference is the readout is so precise that it’s easy to see
if it’s not on time.
But then my Casio Waveceptor syncs up to WWVB every night, so even if

there’s drift, it can’t go far in 24 hours. Those Longitude people would have
loved it, except it needs a radio station to sync up. If they’d had radio back
then, less need for a watch that keeps accurate time. Though the radio
station needs a good clock.
Foldi-One says:
My old quartz ones would get hours out in a day sometimes usually
30 odd mins.. Not a small drift. But only if I wore them.. My family can
and did use them for ages with no trouble. We always assumed it
must be something to do with my bodies electric field – at the age I
was not like I was playing with electronics that could create a drift
(last time I used a quartz I was still something like 14, so going to
school,
By using our website andclubs, theyou
services, park friends
expressly houses
agree to the etc).
placement of our performance, functionality and
Not tried one since as if I ever need a watch I have a lovely
mechanical one my Grandfather gave me so I could keep time.
Michael Black says:

They say that the wrist keeps the watch a constant temperature,
which of course is good to keep the crystal at the same
freuqency.
Maybe it was just a guess I read someone suggested.about the

wrist, but constant temperature is good for crystals.
Report comment
Foldi-One says:
I suppose being a very active child fluctuating temperatures

could do it.. But I’d not expect the minor variations of body heat
even under those conditions to make such a huge difference,
surely can’t be more than a few degrees of variation unless you
are really ill or feverish.
Report comment
Jul13 says:
Amazing, or rather enlightening, to realize that old mechanical clock mechanisms

still have a future.
Why? Some people still think swords are pretty neat. Some people are still
making fire drills. Some people will always have obsessions with obscure and
outdated technology
Dale A Kaup says:
There was a clockmaker in the 1720s who made clocks accurate to within a few
seconds a month and one of his secrets was to use wooden gears rather than metal
ones. The documentary was called “The search for Longitude”
Drew says:
John Harrison, self taught English clockmaker. His real tricks in that were realizing
how to orient the grain of the wood in the right orientation to take the least wear,
and using a special wood that had, unlike almost all woods, an exceedingly high
toughness and wear resistance- but was also naturally self oiling, called Lignum
Vitae.
Theres a lot more to the clock of his that still runs, I believe it was a grasshopper
escapement. The man’s story and his singular tenacious insanity are captured
beautifully in Dava Sorbel’s book “Longitude”. He is the reason timekeepers got
temperature compensation springs- because he invented the bimetallic strip that
allowed it, and by extension, modern meat thermometers, oven thermometers,
and outside analogue thermometers with a hand- all possible because of him.
Dale A Kaup says:

I work procuring parts for electronic and appliance repairs. There are still
some bimetallic strips in a lot of new devices.
Drew says:
Yup. He invented a fundamental mechanical technology with the

brass steel bimetallic strip for temperature compensation that can be
used and
By using our website to measure temperature
services, you directly
expressly agree to the if used inofreverse
placement and withfunctionality
our performance, a and
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scale of measurement calibrated to it. It still works with only 1 part, OK
probably will be used 2000 years from now. Gridiron pendulums on
longcase clocks use the same tech for their rods- it keeps the length
of the pendulum near constant regardless of temperature, keeping
the period of swing of the pendulum consistently accurate for good
timekeeping.
eng says:
If you enjoyed “Longitude” then I can highly reccomend “The Perfectionists:

How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World” – by Simon
Winchester. Like Dava Sobel, Winchester spins an excellent yarn, in this
case about how we got to here, chapter by chapter he relates the people
and processes which see an order of magnitude increase in precision.
Drew says:
Funny- I’m currently reading that. Also as a machinist, I can attest that
it’s an excellent book. Lot of precision history in there.
MattyD says:
His name was Khan Noonien Singh? I had to drop in a Star Trek joke once I
saw John Harrison lol
Mongrel
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cookies. Learn says:
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In the meantime, the first pilot tests are being wrapped up, and the team is beginning to
work with Swiss watchmakers to see if their springs can hold up inside watch
mechanisms…….
I would have done that at the start. Before spending any money. This is how you set
yourself up for failure. By failing to check if your good idea, is actually good.
Taper Wickel says:

It’s all very well to say that, but, surprisingly enough, the experts can’t tell if your
new device will hold up under physical stresses if it doesn’t actually exist.
(I’d wager they did a lot of computer modeling and consulting with watchmakers
beforehand, but that’s not a substitute for building the thing and testing it – and
when you’re inventing the tools to invent the thing, there’s a lot of room for theory
to go awry.)
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HACKADAY

A NEW METHOD FOR GROWING

The technique involves using photo-etching and electrochemical deposition into

They took silicon wafers

[Thanks to Qes for the tip!]

Posted in clock hacks, Misc Hacks

← FORGET PRINTING LABELS FOR YOUR BATHTUB HOOCH, WHY NOT

RARELY ADJUSTED SLICER SETTING MAKES A DIFFERENCE →

This is similar to the work being done by Firehouse Horology

Reply Report comment

This is kind of exciting that hackaday posted something like this.

If anyone is seriously interested in the next generation of watch hairsprings, look up

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

i think its only a problem if your in the ghetto.

Reply Report comment

Michael Thompson says:

Hats off to you that is some serious serious stuff.

Reply Report comment

This method can be applied to composite metals as well.

Imagine building up a block of metal consisting of alternating layers of different metals,

There’s a lot of opportunity for research here in materials science.

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Amazing how it is done.

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Michael Black says:

But then my Casio Waveceptor syncs up to WWVB every night, so even if

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Michael Black says:

Maybe it was just a guess I read someone suggested.about the

I suppose being a very active child fluctuating temperatures

Amazing, or rather enlightening, to realize that old mechanical clock mechanisms

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Dale A Kaup says:

Reply Report comment

Yup. He invented a fundamental mechanical technology with the

Reply Report comment

If you enjoyed “Longitude” then I can highly reccomend “The Perfectionists:

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Reply Report comment

Taper Wickel says:

Reply Report comment

NEVER MISS A HACK

ERROR CODES AND THE LAW OF LEAST

THE REAL SCIENCE (NOT ARMCHAIR SCIENCE) OF

MINING AND REFINING: FROM RED DIRT TO

More from this category

HACKADAY PODCAST 149: BALLERINA BOT

THIS WEEK IN SECURITY: LOG4J, PDF CPU, AND I

KEYNOTE VIDEO: ELECIA WHITE FINDS TREASURE

More from this category

NEVER MISS A HACK

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