Striking Balance

O.K. you're reading the manual to your new automatic wrist watch and you come across 28,800 pulsations per hour. Huh!? What!?! Why? Let CTWG break it down. The 28,800 are the oscillations made by the balance in the watch. The little pallet jewel (the red teeth you see snapping forward and back) is the source of energy, literally, from rotating energy to oscillation energy. This becomes a controlled way to let down power! Count up all of these small but powerful strikes (1.5 million p.s.i.) and there are your vibrations per hour. Typically faster is better, lighter is better. 18,000 was the old standard speed and 28,800 is the modern fast speed. Many other speeds are used but there it is! CTWG

2 comments December 28th, 2006