• Insider
    3 Mar 2013, 11:05 p.m.

    Firstly, I cannot believe that I have been a member for five years and I am still looking for a watch for my fiftieth. Anyhow, whilst coming closer to a decision I have noticed that some watches state that they have a Breguet Spring others have a soft iron cage or a Glucydur beryllium alloy balance with high precision adjustment cam on balance arms.

    Whew! What a mouthful.

    What effect does not having a soft iron cage have on a Breguet Spring?

    What is a Breguet Spring please?

    What was the other thing with precision balance arms?

    I am trying to validate a purchase of a Pilot or Portofino Automatic or should I extend myself to a Portofino eight day hand wound movement or Portuguese Automatic seven day movement. Maybe even a Big Pilot?

    How do these things effect accuracy and daily time keeping?

    Five year old newb trying to understand mechanical watches. I have searched Wiki and the archives. Still ignorant.

    Thank you for your help.

  • Connoisseur
    3 Mar 2013, 11:31 p.m.

    Whew!

    I'll try in a very non-technical way to explain.

    The Breguet Spring is actually a hairspring bent with an overcoil at one end. It is intended to compensate, partially, for "isochronism error", which is the error caused by a difference in force as a spring unwinds. If you think about it, a spring has much more power initially unwinding than at the end. That difference can affect timekeeping (consistency). Most watches don't need a Breguet overcoil today, since modern metals have different coefficients of elasticity --but it can make a difference, especially with large balance or watches with lengthy power reserves. Breguet invented the overcoil technique over 200 years ago, and today all but one company has the bending done by hand, which is highly-skilled artisanship. An expensive and nice addition to a watch.

    A Faraday or soft-iron cage shields the watch movement from magnetic impulses. It has nothing to do with the Breguet overcoil. It is nice, but most watches today for normal use survive just fine without a soft-iron cage.

    A Glucydur beryllium alloy balance is the wheel that revolves, as the hairspring unwinds, and initiates the timekeeping process. Today, 99.9% of fine watches have balances made of this alloy. The alloy has a low coefficient to temperature changes, and helps avoid the timekeeping consistency being very far off as the watch is exposed to normal changes in heat and cold.

    The high precision adjustment cam on the balance arms, however, is a big deal --balances sometimes run a little fast or slow (sometimes due to a knock, etc.) and need to be regulated. The traditional way is by having a "regulator" index, which when moved left or right shortens or lengthens the hairspring. The better way is by cams on the balance or arms with act like mini-weights, and change the inertia of the balance. That is more complicated to adjust but those seldom go out a whack, unlike a spring regulator. Such balances with cam adjustment often are called "free sprung" balances.

    By the way, all the above are reasons that IWC Calibres 5xxxx, as used in the Big Pilot, the Portuguese Automatic, etc., are both costly and really fine movements. And beyond just timekeeping or avoiding repair, there is a real craft to the assembly of these movements --and to me the name of the game is craft.

  • Insider
    3 Mar 2013, 11:48 p.m.

    Thank you Michael for detailed post. I have been all the more enlightened. You have made my selection all the more easier yet more expensive.

    Does the eight day Portofino come with cams? I am asking because it appears to fit the guidelines of a 5xxxx calibre.

  • Connoisseur
    4 Mar 2013, 12:23 a.m.

    Paul -- to my knowledge, the calibre 59210 used in the Portofino does not have a Breguet overcoil but has a free-sprung balance, with the cams (macelots I think is the French wording) and not a regulating spring.

    Candidly, I think I wouldn't focus on all the technical details (and I'm a techie and traditionalist). This watch has a great movement and it's not "better" or "worse" than the Portuguese ones. It's just different, and in many ways more very modern.

  • Insider
    4 Mar 2013, 1:18 a.m.

    Thank you Michael for clarifying that up. Though they do mention a Breguet spring on their page:

    www.iwc.com/en/collection/portofino/IW5101/

    In the second burst/block and in the white block description. Just trying to un-confuse myself. Thank you again for your help.

  • Connoisseur
    4 Mar 2013, 1:22 a.m.

    I guess then there is one --sorry for misinformation,