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The first clock, a simplistic, water-powered device, is believed to have been invented around the 16th century BC. The first mechanical escapement came around the 11th century. Spring-driven clocks appeared on the scene in the 1400s. In 1584 came the cross-beat escapement, and in 1670 the anchor escapement; the lever escapement, still used today, followed in the 18th century, and with it the first watch accurate enough to navigate by. The development of horology is slow to the point of being glacial, with generations passing between each major breakthrough. In 1974, this generation was party to the next big leap forward.
George Daniels was a watchmaker, and by this I mean he made watches, by hand. His Space Travellers' Pocket Watch, a masterpiece in every possible way, utilised something new: the oil-free independent double wheel escapement. Although impressive, the double wheel escapement was too big for a wristwatch, but Daniels had another trick up his sleeve in the form of the never-before-seen co-axial escapement.
The traditional lever escapement
In case you don’t know, the escapement is the part of the movement that controls the rhythm, locking and releasing in an intricate dance between wheel, fork and gear to prevent the torque of the tightly-coiled mainspring exploding out in one go. The parts of a traditional lever escapement mesh between five and ten times per second, which over the lifetime of a watch results in an enormous amount of wear that is controlled with lubrication. Daniels' co-axial escapement - through unimaginably clever geometry - removed the element of friction to the point where oiling was no longer required.
So how does it work? With a lever escapement, in both the locking and releasing phases of the beat, the surfaces of the components that make contact slide against one another. It is this friction that causes the wear, but because the escapement uses it by design to transfer power to the balance wheel, allowing it to bounce freely between impulses while simultaneously locking the mainspring, it is impossible - in that configuration - to negate it. Add a few extra pieces and some shrewd math, however, and the problem can be solved.
The co-axial escapement
Where the lever escapement utilises friction to drive the balance wheel, the co-axial doesn't. Using two additional pallet stones and a three-pronged pallet fork, the co-axial escapement cleverly allows the drive of the mainspring to transfer to and from the balance spring without the need for any of the contact patches to rub when they impart their driving forces. Such an epiphany was the co-axial escapement that watchmaking giant Omega chose to use it in their best movements - high praise indeed for a man who, although sadly no longer with us, made our generation an important and historic one in the gradual evolution of watchmaking.
