Slow down…

Listen to the pleasant 18000 vph tic tic of the old pocket watch

Sometimes people say that it was better before. Well that is a truth with modification. Not everything was better back in the days but we can agree on the fact that things went a bit slower than nowadays. When it comes to a watch there is a tic tic tic that we can hear. In the old watch movements the tic tic tic is slower and is heard more clearly. The frequency of 18000 vibrations per hour was a common speed of the balance wheel. In modern mechanichal watches the frequency is higher and lays usually between 28800-36000 vph (4-5 Hertz). Herz refers to the number of oscillations that the balance wheel in a watch’s movement makes in a single second. The famous Zenith El Primero movement works with 36000 vph or 5 Herz. The “high-beat” movements can be more accurate due to the higher oscillations of the balance wheel and therefore small weight-point errors will be reduced. Well we can say that gravity has an impact on the accuracy.
But the pleasant sound of an ancient pocket watch is hard to beat. So in these hectic times, slow down everyone…

Back side of the old pocket watch
An almost two hundred years old pocket watch and still working.