3-Watch Thursday #35
Parachrom balance springs, power red and
Hello hello hello,
Welcome to 3-Watch Thursday #35, the watch related newsletter that you seem to read when you’re having a slow morning 👀.
All jokes aside, thanks to those who reached out with info about brand signed modern Tudors. It’s been a real eye opener and I’m looking to pull together a bit of a longer piece. If anyone has any information or resources that could be useful, it’d be much appreciated if shared and I’ll owe you a pint.
Anyway, that aside you’re here to read/watch/listen to 3 different watch related pieces of media, so let’s get straight into it.
Why blue?
Has anyone else noticed that Rolex have been pretty active on Instagram recently with a new technically driven set of ads and explainers?
Or is it just me?
I spotted this post earlier in the week posing the question “Why blue?”
Whilst it’s true blue is synonymous with quality watchmaking being the colour steel turns in a specific temperature window, I’d never paused for thought as to why the Rolex balance springs are blue.
Rolex don’t use steel balance springs opting for their Parachrom or Syloxi balance springs instead. As an aside, I have noted before that Rolex were one of the companies that did have access to the silicon balance spring IP before it expired recently manifesting itself in the Syloxi balance spring.
A Parachrom balance is one made from niobium, zirconium and oxygen. Going from this Hodinkee article the balance spring is constructed by heat treating a piece of niobium and a piece of zirconium together. Historically, bimetallic components in clocks, watches etc are to account for temperature compensation and maybe this is part of why Rolex does this, I just struggle to understand the technical benefits of these two materials other than anti-magnetic materials.
Returning to the processing. The blue colour is formed when the spring is exposed to oxygen at this elevated temperature. It seems reasonable to assume this is an oxide outer layer that forms, however it appears to have complete coverage meaning the spring might have near uniform composition across it. This would lead me to believe that the balance spring is not a bimetallic for thermal reasons in the sense of two metals that expand at different rates based on temperature to compensate for temperature changes.
I must stress this is simply me postulating and thinking out loud based on the materials science I know. The Parachrom system is proprietary to Rolex and I know nothing more than the next person.
If anyone does know more than this, I’d gratefully be corrected.
Given what I’ve written above you’d be forgiven for thinking there is no benefit of the Parachrom hairspring. This isn’t true, I simply don’t know the numbers or why these two particular metals have been chosen.
The Parachrom hairspring has its advantages in being resistant to impact from magnetic fields in a similar way that silicon does, except its advantage over silicon is it is likely less brittle by being metallic in composition. Metals tend to be more ductile at room temperature, meaning under high load it is less likely to fail in a brittle manner whereas silicon is more susceptible to brittle failure.
When I set out to write this part, I didn’t expect to do a materials study of the Parachrom balance spring, however with my background and training in materials that’s what’s appeared to happen. I enjoyed writing this as materials science isn’t just about researching the best performing materials, it’s often about compromise and choosing the best material for the job.
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll try to do some more in future.
Power Red is Making a Comeback
I spotted this article over on Instagram by Tell the Time about how red watches will become a thing this year.
Go check it out as it’s a short piece, but Dana Li is definitely onto something.
Looking at how the green dial watches of 2021/22 followed the green trend in fashion, already this year we’ve seen lots of fashion designers go red in a powerful way.
Keep an eye out for more red watches to follow this year.
Returning to AI
I’m once again returning to the topic of AI and watches thanks to this post by @watches_and_culture
They’ve taken the approach of adding this year’s novelties to the wrists of historic figures. Here we have a Chopard 1860 on the wrist of a caveman. I assume the base image of the person has been generated using Midjourney and the watch photoshopped on, but what an excellent and fun idea.
I can’t wait to see more!
That’s all from me this week.
I could’ve sworn I had more to write this week. Maybe I should keep a better draft each week and fill it in as and when articles come up etc.
Anyway, I hope you all have a good end to your week and a lovely weekend.
Owen