Nivarox-far S.a.

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd

Omega Sa

Christian Charbon

Marco Verardo

Philippe Dubois

Pierre Cusin

Lionel Michelet

Jonas Vannod

Thierry Hessler

Alexandre Fussinger

Vincent Fays

Denis Vincent

Guido Plankert

Cedric Von Gruenigen

Gregory Kissling

Yves Winkler

Daniel Mallet

Sebastiano Merzaghi

Thierry Conus

Lionel Paratte

Stephane Lauper

Matthias Imboden

Jean-Pierre Mignot

Alexandre Haemmerli

Stéphane Lauper

Cedric Faure

Cédric Faure

Joel Porret

Rudy Charlery

Maxime Govaerts

José Quintana

José Quintina

Cédric Von Gruenigen

Joël Porret

A timepiece assembly including a first component and a second component assembled under stress, wherein at least one part of the surface of the assembly is coated with a protective layer intended to cover defects such as cracks or incipient cracks after assembly. It also relates to the method for manufacturing this assembly.

Timepiece assembly and method for manufacturing the same

A flexible horological component for an oscillator mechanism of a horological movement, the component extending along a principal plane (P) and including at least a part made of a composite material (), the composite material () including a matrix () and a multitude of nanotubes or nanowires () distributed in the matrix (), the nanotubes or nanowires () being juxtaposed and disposed substantially parallel with an axis (A) substantially perpendicular to the plane (P) of the component, the matrix including a flexible filling material () to fill the interstices between the nanotubes or nanowires (), the filling material () comprising at least in part a thermal compensation material wherein the thermoelastic coefficient (TEC) is of the opposite sign to that of the other materials of the composite material ().

Flexible horological component, particularly for an oscillator mechanism, and horological movement including such a component

A method for manufacturing a spiral spring may include: (a) providing a blank with an Nb—Ti core; (b) beta-quenching the blank; (c) deforming the blank in several sequences; (d) winding to form the spiral spring; (e) final heat treatment on the spiral spring. The blank in (a) may include a layer of X including Cu, Sn, Fe, Pt, Pd, Rh, Al, Au, Ni, Ag, Co and Cr or an alloy of one of these elements around the Nb—Ti core. The method may include heat treating to partially transform the layer of X into a layer of X, Ti intermetals around the Nb—Ti core, and may be carried out between (b) and (c) or between two sequences of (c). The method may include removing the part of the layer of X, which may be carried out between (b) and (c), between two sequences of (c) or between (c) and (d).

Spiral spring for a horological movement and manufacturing method thereof

A balance spring () intended to be fitted to a timepiece balance having fixed inertia, the balance spring () being formed of a core () having lateral faces () connecting an upper face () to a lower face (), the balance spring () including on one of the lateral faces () in one portion of the outer coil (), a coating formed of one or more layers, the coating including two layers with a first electrically conductive layer () coated with a second outer layer () made of a ceramic, or a combined layer (), made of an electrically conductive ceramic. Also a method of manufacturing this balance spring.

Balance spring and method for manufacturing the same

A balance spring () intended to equip a balance of a horological movement, wherein the balance spring () is made of a niobium and titanium alloy containing: niobium: the remainder to 100 wt %; titanium with a weight percentage that is greater than or equal to 1 wt % and less than 40 wt %; traces of other elements chosen from among O, H, C, Fe, Ta, N, Ni, Si, Cu and Al, each of said elements being in the range 0 to 1,600 ppm of the total weight, and the sum of said trace elements being less than or equal to 0.3 wt %.

Balance spring for a horological movement

A balance-spring intended to equip a balance of an horological movement, comprising a core made of Nb—Ti made from an alloy consisting of: niobium: balance to 100% by weight, titanium: between 5 and 95% by weight, traces of elements chosen from the group consisting of O, H, C, Fe, Ta, N, Ni, Si, Cu, Al, each of said elements being present in a quantity between 0 and 1600 ppm by weight, the total quantity formed by all of said elements being between 0% and 0.3% by weight, wherein the core made of Nb—Ti is coated with a layer of niobium, said layer of niobium having a thickness between 20 nm and 10 μm.

Balance-spring for horological movement and method for manufacturing same

A rigid horological component () for an oscillator mechanism or for an escapement mechanism of a horological movement, the component extending along a principal plane (P) and including at least a part made of a composite material (), the composite material () including a matrix () and a multitude of nanotubes or nanowires () distributed in the matrix (), the nanotubes or nanowires () being juxtaposed and disposed substantially parallel with an axis (A) substantially perpendicular to the plane (P) of the component, the matrix () includes a rigid material () to fill the interstices and join the nanotubes or nanowires () to one another, the material () having rigid mechanical properties to block the elastic deformation of the component, the rigid material () comprised in the component having a Young's modulus greater than 2 GPa.

Rigid horological component for an oscillator mechanism or for an escapement mechanism and horological movement including such a component

A flexible timepiece component, in particular for an oscillator mechanism or for a barrel of a horological movement, the component extending along a main plane (P) and including at least a part made of a composite material (), the composite material () including a matrix () and a multitude of nanowires () distributed in the matrix (), the nanowires () being juxtaposed, the matrix () including a material () for filling the interstices between the nanowires () to join them to each other, each nanowire () forming a solid one-piece tube, the nanowires () being disposed substantially parallel to an axis (A) substantially perpendicular to the main plane (P) of the component ().

Flexible timepiece component and horological movement including such a component

The present invention relates to a spiral spring for a balance wheel made of an alloy of niobium and titanium with an essentially single-phase structure, and the method of manufacture thereof which comprises:

Spiral spring for clock or watch movement and method of manufacture thereof

A spiral spring is configured to equip a balance of a horological movement. The spiral spring is made of an alloy consisting of: Nb, Ti and at least one element selected from V and Ta, optionally at least one element selected from Zr and Hf, optionally at least one element selected from W and Mo, possible traces of other elements selected from O, H, C, Fe, N, Ni, Si, Cu, Al, with the following weight percentages: a total content of Nb, V and Ta comprised between 40 and 85%, a total content of Ti, Zr and Hf comprised between 15 and 55%, a content for W and Mo respectively comprised between 0 and 2.5%, a content for each of the elements selected from O, H, C, Fe, N, Ni, Si, Cu, Al between 0 and 1600 ppm with the sum of the traces less than or equal to 0.3% by weight.

Spiral spring for a horological movement

A spiral spring intended to equip a balance of a horological movement, wherein the spiral spring is made of an alloy consisting of Nb, Ti and at least one element selected from Zr and Hf, optionally at least one element selected from W and Mo, possible traces of other elements selected from O, H, Ta, C, Fe, N, Ni, Si, Cu, Al, with the following weight percentages: a content of Nb comprised between 40 and 84%, a total content of Ti, Zr and Hf comprised between 16 and 55%, a content for W and Mo respectively comprised between 0 and 2.5%, a content for each of said elements selected from O, H, Ta, C, Fe, N, Ni, Si, Cu, Al comprised between 0 and 1600 ppm with the sum of said traces less than or equal to 0.3% by weight. The method for manufacturing the spiral spring is also disclosed.

A balance spring intended to equip a balance of a horological movement, wherein the balance spring is made of an alloy consisting of Nb, Ti, H and possible traces of other elements selected from O, C, Fe, N, Ni, Si, Cu and Al, with the following weight percentages: a Ti content comprised between 1 and 80 wt %, a H content comprised between 0.17 and 2 wt %, a total content of all other elements of less than or equal to 0.3 wt %, the remainder to 100 wt % consisting of Nb. A manufacturing method for the balance spring is also disclosed and includes a step of thermochemically treating a blank made of a Nb and Ti alloy in an atmosphere including hydrogen so as to enrich the Nb and Ti alloy with hydrogen in interstitial form.

A substrate for forming timepiece components includes a first part based on photostructurable glass and at least a second part based on at least one second material. One surface of the first part is made integral with a surface of the second part so as to form a one-piece timepiece component.

Timepiece component based on photostructurable glass

A non-magnetic watch component () comprising a substrate () made of a copper alloy, wherein at least one part of the substrate () has a surface layer () including CuTiintermetallics, and a method for manufacturing this watch component.

Non-magnetic watch component with improved wear resistance

A platinum alloy consisting, by weight, of the following elements: 95.00 to 96.00% of Pt, 1.00 to 4.95% of Ru, 0.05 to 2.00% of Ge, 0 to 2.00% of Au, any impurities with a total content 0.50%.

Growing community of inventors

Chezard-St-Martin, Switzerland

Christian Charbon