No obstante el trabajo a nivel técnico es alucinante....
An exceptional concept, a lubricant-free movement
Revolutionary by its very nature, the Master Compressor Extreme LAB does away with the need for any lubricants in the movement. All watch parts have been entirely rethought to achieve the supreme horological quest to eliminate oil so as to ensure optimal operation. Traditional mechanical movements use oils or grease to ensure the ideal operating of all the parts in motion. These take the form of oils in varying degrees of fineness for parts with high translation or rotation speeds, or grease for parts subject to powerful pressures or stresses.Unfortunately, the properties of such oils and grease deteriorates over time and the performances of the movement likewise decline if these lubricants are not replaced in due time.
Watchmaking is no exception to this rule, which is why only a lubricant-free watch movement could be genuinely considered as perfect.
Testing conducted during the 1970s on plastic movements had already shown the way towards doing without some of the oils and grease. However, these watches did not stand the test of time, which resulted in wear on the parts that in turn rapidly diminished their chronometric and functional performances.
In its ongoing search to enhance the reliability of mechanical movements, Jaeger-LeCoultre had already renounced the use of lubrication in the ball-bearing mechanisms of automatic winding systems, by introducing ceramic ball-bearings as early as 2002.
Today, the research team at the Manufacture in Le Sentier is raising the bar even higher, exploring totally uncharted territory by making a mechanical movement run without the help of any lubricant whatsoever. This research has culminated in the brand-new Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 988C: the first mechanical movement in watchmaking history to operate in an accurate and reliable manner with no lubricant.
The engineers and watchmakers have resorted to new materials and new combinations of materials in order to rise to this historical challenge. The EasiumTM carbonitride thus makes its grand entrance onto the watchmaking stage. This extremely hard material features extraordinary tribological properties and is therefore particularly suited to the making bearings able to operate without lubricants. This is why, in Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 988C, Easium replaces the traditional jewels lubricated with a fine oil. The burnished steel pivots of the balance-staff are coated with a special surface treatment and turn inside an Easium bearing. The endstone is also made from Easium. This is also a material used to make the two bearings allowing the carriage to turn in the bridges without any need to add jewels that would require lubrication. Watchmakers examining the movement will look in vain for the red gleam of the pallet-stones, noticing instead a distinctive dark substance: black crystalline diamond, a synthetic material as hard as natural diamonds but with considerably enhanced operational properties. Its friction on the silicon teeth of the escape-wheel does not require any oil to improve its operating longevity. All the burnished steel pivots of the wheels and pinions are coated with a surface treatment that obviates any need to oil the jewels.
On the other end of the movement, the barrel grease has also disappeared. Instead, a graphite powder helps the bride to slide smoothly inside the drum when the mainspring has been wound beyond the maximum power reserve by the automatic winding mechanism. The molecular structure of graphite consists in a stack of microplatelets; contrary to grease, it retains its lubricating properties over time, whatever the temperature and the hygrometry level. As for the ball-bearing mechanism of the oscillating weight, in addition to the use of ceramic ball- bearings mentioned earlier, friction has been reduced by optimising the rotor which features carbon fibre arms and a distinctly lighter and more rigid base. Finally, the oscillating weight segment is surprising in itself with its iridium platinum alloy, the densest non-toxic physical body currently machinable. The entire winding/time-setting mechanism is coated with Nickel-PTFE in order to eliminate the customary greasing points. The date jumper-spring features a frictional surface that also operates in “dry” mode.
The early years of each century are particularly propitious to creativity. On behalf of all watch connoisseurs, one may sincerely hope that the discoveries being made by Jaeger-LeCoultre will have a lasting influence on 21st century horology.