More space for time – Style

The French microelectronics company SilMach (Silicium Machinery), together with the Americans from Timex, released TheTimeChanger watches with a new mechanism, even with two. The watch with retrograde minute and hour hands was produced in a quantity of 1088 pieces; it was designed by the chief designer of Timex, Italian Giorgio Galli. But the watch itself is not as important as the mechanism installed in it.

Created using silicon microtechnology, it is intended to replace the quartz movement design developed back in the 60s by the Japanese company Seiko (which was the first to release quartz watches in 1969) and is still used by all manufacturers today. Moreover, all quartz calibers produced today contain another, earlier invention: a miniature stepper electric motor, created by the French engineer Marius Lave in 1936.

Pierre-François Louvigne from SilMach explains that the company is ready to produce new calibers in millions of copies, and assures that watchmakers have already appreciated the new product. He is not surprised when we ask him how successful the launch of a new digital watch that costs €1,850, twice the price of a Longines quartz watch, could be. For this amount of money you can even buy a watch from Frederique Constant with an automatic, that is, a mechanical caliber certified by COSC as a chronometer (highly precise watch). Our interlocutor patiently explains that TheTimeChanger are not important in themselves, although their commercial success is already obvious. Their task is to show that watchmakers can use a new “motor” developed on the basis of silicon technology.

It still costs the same as conventional movements, but is more technologically advanced in production, much more durable and more energy efficient (it can run up to 10 years on one battery), and most importantly, it is half the size of the smallest quartz caliber currently in production. It can be stamped directly on the board and placed in any part of it, not just along the central axis. The TimeChanger watch is an example of how a 42mm steel case can accommodate two mechanisms: one for the minute hand, the other for the hour hand. Theoretically, there is room for a third, and the ability to change the direction of rotation allows you to make the minute hand retrograde – reaching “60” and returning to zero.

“This is especially important for smartwatch manufacturers,” says Pierre-François Louvigne, “who are very constrained by the lack of space inside the case. They are very interested in our engines, and we are ready to supply them in commercial quantities.”

The manufacturer has another goal. Besançon, located near the Swiss border, has always been the center of the French watch industry. It was there that the production of the country’s main mass brand Lip, born in 1867, disappeared 110 years later, was revived again in 2002 and is only now gradually recovering from numerous crises.

The TimeChanger’s first watch is not a goal, but a declaration of intent. Silicon electric motors can be used in a variety of mechanisms, in the automotive and aviation industries, but it was the creation of watches, according to Mr. Louvigne, that caused the greatest response from the public: “The presence of new technology allows us not only to negotiate with many brands, but also to create our own models. With our miniature movement, which can be positioned anywhere in the case, you have enormous freedom in watch design.” So TheTimeChanger will be followed by new models, competitive with the products of its Swiss neighbors.

Alexey Tarkhanov