The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd

Montres Breguet S.a.

Benoît Légeret

Marc Stranczl

Gianni Di Domenico

Alain Zaugg

Davide Sarchi

Dominique Lechot

Polychronis Nakis Karapatis

Jérôme Favre

Jean-Philippe Rochat

Sylvain Dauby

Jérôme Macé

Marc Jung

Marc Abt

Stéphane Beugin

Sebastián Alagón Carrillo

Deirdré Lenoir

Sylvain MARÉCHAL

Benoît Junod

Dominique Léchot

A horological movement including a mechanical resonator and a hybrid escapement including an escapement wheel and a pallet assembly with at least one magnetic pallet-stone formed of a magnet and associated with a mechanical banking, the escapement wheel including a periodic magnetised structure defining increasing gradients of magnetic potential energy for the magnetic pallet-stone, and protruding parts associated with the increasing gradients of magnetic potential energy. When the force torque is equal to a nominal force torque or has a value within at least an upper part of a given range of values, one of the protruding parts of the escapement wheel is subjected to at least one shock on the mechanical banking of the pallet assembly after the magnetic pallet-stone has climbed any one of the increasing gradients of magnetic potential energy, thus dissipating at least partially a kinetic energy of the escapement wheel.

Horological movement comprising an escapement provided with a magnetic system

The horological movement includes a mechanical resonator and an escapement including an escapement wheel, which has a plurality of teeth, and an anchor formed by a stick and two arms having respectively two mechanical pallets likely to come into contact, when the anchor is subject to an alternative movement, with any of the teeth according to the angular position of the escapement wheel. To avoid damage to the escapement during rocking of the anchor while the escapement wheel is positioned in an unfavourable angular position, the anchor is arranged, during the rocking of this anchor, to be able to bend being subjected to an elastic deformation. The anchor has an elastic capacity between each of the two mechanical pallets and a fork of the anchor, enabling it to absorb elastically, during the elastic deformation, a maximum mechanical energy that the mechanical resonator can have during the normal functioning of the horological movement.

Mechanical horological movement provided with an escapement comprising an anchor

A detent escapement includes an escape wheel with teeth regularly spaced along a perimeter and a balance having an impulse pallet and receiving driving impulses via the teeth, the balance performing an alternation during which it receives a driving impulse and an alternation without a driving impulse, the detent escapement also including a hook pivotally mounted on the balance and held bearing by an elastic member against an abutment, the detent escapement including a pivotable detent which includes a first arm which collaborates with the escape wheel to block the latter before the start of the driving impulse, as well as a second arm to allow the escape wheel to disengage from its engagement with the first arm at the start of the driving impulse, and which limits the pivoting of this detent to only part of the oscillation of the balance, the detent being configured to again block the escape wheel after the latter has finished providing the driving impulse to the impulse pallet of the balance.

Detent escapement for a timepiece

A horological movement includes an escapement with a magnetic system to generate magnetic force impulses, so as to sustain the oscillation of the mechanical resonator associated with the escapement. In order to make possible an effective self-starting of the assembly formed of the mechanical resonator and of the escapement during a winding of the barrel, after a stop of the horological movement due to the unwound barrel spring, the escape wheel includes teeth and the pallet assembly includes two mechanical pallet-stones arranged to receive, upon starting, at least one mechanical force impulse of the escape wheel via one of the teeth thereof, the mechanical force impulse generating a starting force torque on the pallet assembly that is transmitted to the balance of the mechanical resonator to begin an oscillation of the latter so that the assembly can operate normally after a starting phase.

Horological movement comprising an escapement equipped with a magnetic system

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Ecublens, Switzerland

Benoît Légeret