If you ask ten different watch manufacturers about their recommended protocol for using epilame in the servicing of a watch, you are likely to get ten different answers; even among watch brands that operate under the same parent organization. Technical documentation from one company will recommend applying epilame to components X, Y, and Z, while another will specify just X, and yet another X, Y, Z, and Q. Recommendations on how the epilame is applied, for how long, and whether it is left to dry on its own or under a flow of warm air also vary from company to company.

This latter point of divergence is one I’ll take sides on. It is critically important that all metal components of a watch that have been treated with epilame be dried under a current of warm air. I would say that it is equal in importance to keeping a movement free from fingerprints. Just as the natural oil from our hands can encourage corrosion, and also draw lubrication away from its intended functioning surface through capillary action, so too can epilame induce corrosion, while the absence of epilame can result in lubrication being drawn away from its intended point of action.

Epilame is a surface treatment that smooths out microscopic imperfections in the surface of a material, similar to the way that a snow or skateboarder uses wax to smooth the surface of their board or rail. Traditionally, the acting medium in epilame was, actually, a wax-like substance known as stearic acid. The modern equivalent of stearic acid is fluoropolyester, which is suspended in a perfluorohexane solvent. When this mixture, in a ratio of approximately 1 part fluoropolyester to 100 parts perfluorohexane, is applied to a surface, the perfluorohexane evaporates rapidly, leaving behind a nanoscopic film of fluoropolyester. The combination works great. However, the reaction between the perfluorohexane and the surrounding atmosphere that causes it to evaporate so quickly is endothermic, meaning that it draws energy in from the surrounding environment, resulting in cooler surface temperature upon which humidity in the atmosphere can condense. If the relative humidity at the time that the epilame is applied is high enough, moisture from the air will become trapped in the surface of the metal and can result in a buildup of corrosion over time. So, to prevent this from happening, the freshly epilamed parts should be warmed to just above room temperature as the perfluorohexane evaporates.

If such precaution isn’t taken, the end result can, literally, bring a timepiece to a halt. This fact was drilled home most poignantly for me when a client brought in their recently purchased Franck Muller wristwatch for service because it had suddenly stopped on them. When I checked under the hood to see what was amiss, I was surprised to encounter the following sight:

Corrosion had built up around one of the arms of the pallet fork, causing it to jam under the pallet bridge, as can be seen in the image below. There was no other corrosion evident anywhere else in the watch and the case itself proved water resistant when tested.

This degree of corrosion in such a concentrated area, in an otherwise perfectly functioning watch, is not something I had ever encountered before. The arc along which the corrosion formed, which can be seen in the smaller image below, suggests that a large drop of epilame was applied to the exit pallet and was left to dry under humid conditions without being subjected to a flow of warm air.

What is most unfortunate about this is that, in the case of the pallet fork particularly, it isn’t necessary for the steel to be subjected to epilame. The only active surfaces requiring lubrication are the ruby pallets themselves, which cannot corrode.

There are a number of different approaches to applying epilame to the pallet fork. The method we employ, which has proven more or less failsafe, is to use a small, tinted, dropper bottle to apply a sufficient amount of epilame directly to pallets. The dropper makes for easy and relatively precise application, while the bottle itself keeps the solution protected from light and premature evaporation. You can find these dropper bottles at most specialty health stores and scientific lab supply shops. Amazon also carries them for less than $2.

Related posts on Tick Talk

• Discussion on the ‘Confessions of an Escape Wheel Killer’
• The Importance of Regular Service

Kello, a portable watch timing machine I built for Apple’s iOS, has been featured in an article in the July issue of International Watch Magazine. For those who can’t get their hands on a physical copy of the magazine or who would like to know more than what was revealed in the article, the following excerpts are from a series of emails in which I answered questions posed by the article’s author, Sheldon Smith.

On the Name

Kello is the Finnish word for clock. Kari Voutilainen, who is a fabulous, independent watchmaker from Finland, was incredibly helpful and supportive in answering a lot of my questions about some of the finer aspects of watchmaking (Grossman curves, tourbillons, anglage, etc.) during my years spent training as a watchmaker, before his career really started to take off. I have great respect for him and am a big fan of his work, particularly his Masterpiece Number 7 and Observatoire watches. I named the app Kello in honour of Kari and the master clocks that watchmakers of old timed their watches by before the advent of modern timing machines.

[I should also mention that I like the way the word sounds. I lived in Finland through 2002 & 2003 and - with the exception of a few -45°C mornings - absolutely loved the time I spent there, the people, and the language. I have never experienced anything else quite like a good savusauna, followed by a dip in the lake and a fire roasted HK Sininen. The balance between high technology and rustic, natural living there is incredible, and the country also happens to be home to one of the best watchmaking schools in the world.]

On Inspiration

It’s hard to say exactly where the inspiration for the app came from. I have a strong distaste for poor user interface design. I use Witschi’s products daily and I find their devices to be very utilitarian. The touchscreen interfaces on their newer products are clunky and reminiscent of Windows 3. They do the job, but I don’t particularly enjoy using them. Witschis are also prohibitively expensive. With the early iPhones and iPod Touches, I had – for the very first time – an affordable touch interface that was essentially a blank canvas. So I took a shot at seeing whether I could program a timing machine for iOS. Kello is the early result of that effort. The feature set is fairly barebones at this point, though. As the hardware evolves and I am able to implement more of the features I’d like to into Kello, it is my ambition to evolve it into more of the kind of tool that I wish the Witschis were.

On Microphones

To get the best results with Kello, a mic with a consistent frequency response up to 20kHz is ideal. A lot of inexpensive microphones have a frequency response that caps out at 4kHz. You can read more on frequency response here.

Most professional grade timing machines use a piezo-electric pickup as the “mic” for their timing machines, which translates mechanical/kinetic energy very effectively into an electrical signal. If you ever have the chance to interact with a Witschi, I encourage you to see what happens if you hold a watch a fraction of a millimeter away from the metal half of the sensor clamp during measurement. In short, the measurement will stop. The machine won’t pick the ticking of the watch up. These units do not use a mic in the traditional sense most of us think of. The watch has to physically be in contact with that piece of metal, which in turn is connected to a very sensitive, piezo-electric strip. To prove the physicality of this sensor even further, I encourage you to see what happens if you gently draw your finger or a feather across the metal half of the clamp. The signal that the timing machine picks up will go off the charts. It’s quite ingenious. When left untouched, the sensor is incredibly sensitive to the motions of the escapement, while remaining more or less oblivious to any extraneous noise pollution. Unfortunately, there aren’t any readily available, turn-key solutions to bring this level of sensitivity to iOS devices (yet). [Since the time that this interview occurred, one of our readers here on the blog introduced me to a website that offers handmade contact microphones for the iPhone, which are a step in the right direction. Update: The seller of these contact mics has not been following through with delivery of placed orders.]

On my Programming Background

My background as a programmer is pretty basic. I started with Turing back in high school and did a bit of object oriented programming in university.

On Noise Cancellation

The noise cancellation they are referring to is built into the iPhone 4. That is what the small hole beside the headphone jack on the top of the phone is for. Yes, it does help clean up the signal, but not considerably enough to make a significant difference for this type of application. The noise cancellation mic was introduced in the iPhone primarily to prevent feedback loops when using the speaker phone or applications like FaceTime or Skype. Loud noises can still effect results.

What helps more, is DSP, which Kello also does.

On Developing for Android

I have tinkered with Android but am not satisfied yet. The hardware is too fragmented. Even with the iPhones and iPod Touches, which are more homogenous, I’ve had to code in discrepancies to deal with differences in the way that various models handle and sample audio. With Android, the differences at this point are overwhelming.

As the hardware evolves and gets faster, the smaller intricacies of analyzing audio become less of an issue as the sheer speed allows you to process far more information with a more brute force approach. When this happens, developing on Android will be much more simplified and handsets from both sides of the equation will be better poised to take on professional grade timing machines.

I know there is a small team working on an Android based timing app. The last I heard, they were having some difficulties with it as well. If I hear anything further, I’ll definitely let you know.

On the Future

There are still limitations to how far you can push the boundaries of current mobile devices. With the debut of the A5 processor in Apple’s latest iPad, those boundaries are starting to fade, but we’re still not quite at the point yet where Kello can compete with professional grade timing machines. I am continually tweaking, testing, or trying entirely new algorithms to yield better results, but I haven’t hit on anything that I am totally satisfied with yet. [I hadn't fully developed the algorithms running under the hood in the 2.32 release of Kello yet at this point.]

Apple is one of the world’s biggest driving forces of MEMS development, as their mobile devices use such a wide variety of MEMS-based sensors and they sell tens of millions of these devices each fiscal quarter. The MEMS space is currently one of the most rapidly developing areas of new, precise timing solutions. Over the past two years SiTime has made incredible headway into usurping quartz oscillators as the de facto cheap/precise/mobile timing solution. The PPM error of SiTime’s silicon based oscillators now rival and are beginning to surpass that of quartz. Not only that but MEMS oscillators from SiTime and other manufacturers consume far less power than quartz – which is something that Apple is paying close attention to in every detail of their portable computing line-up. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we see thermally stable, 100,000+ Hz MEMS oscillators with an error of less than 1 PPM in the next decade. Even if silicon oscillators were out of the picture, engineers at Yale recently announced new breakthroughs in low-power, nanoscale oscillators made from Liquidmetal – a technology that Apple is heavily vested in. All considered, the present rate of progress in all aspects of Apple’s hardware roadmap, not to mention all of the other smart phone makers out there as well, definitely holds the potential to eventually surpass the current precision of professional grade timing machines.

On Competition

I am pleased to see another timing machine on the app store. Competition is healthy. If any one of us can hit that higher level of performance we’re all striving for, perhaps some of the bigger firms will finally take note and start delivering more competitively priced solutions.

As featured in the article, both Kello watch timing app and ONYX’s Clockmaster, a clock timing app, are available on the App Store.

Jaeger-LeCoultre first debuted their AMVOX 2 chronograph in late 2005, in partnership with English car manufacturer Aston Martin. While most chronograph watches will use at least one or two pushers to the control the chronograph mechanism, the AMVOX 2′s innovative design uses an incognito, ‘vertical trigger’ system to engage and reset the chronograph functions of the watch, rendering the appearance of the watch free of any pushers whatsoever. The feeling of starting and stopping, or resetting, this chronograph, by pushing on the crystal at 12:00 & 6:00, is reminiscent of the way that the click wheel of the iPod classic operates. This sublimely simple system was engineered into existence by Jaeger-LeCoultre design engineer, Francis Cretin, an incredibly brilliant, yet very humble, young designer, who already has quite a number of patents under his belt.

In order for the vertical trigger to operate, while still maintaining the water resistance necessary to protect the delicate mechanism inside the watch, the AMOVX 2 uses a three part cradle system to support the main body of the watch. The body of the watch is anchored in the center of the cradle by two screws, and pivots in a teeter-totter like fashion within the cradle, providing a means for the “pushers” to be engaged. For an insightful and informative look at how the AMVOX 2 operates, check out the following slideshow with audio commentary by Ron DeCorte. The duration of this article will focus on how to properly dismantle the cradle surrounding  the main body of the watch in order to access the watch’s movement.

Opening the Case

There are a lot of screws holding the case of the AMVOX 2 together, particularly on the backside, and not all of these screws need to be removed in order to open the watch. Two of the most critical screws holding the main body of the watch to the cradle are the screws positioned in the side of the case which enable the vertical trigger to operate.

As can be seen in the image above, the pivot screw on the crown side of the watch can only be accessed through a recess in the side of the crown, directly below the Jaeger-LeCoultre insignia. This feature can be seen even more clearly in the following pre-production design sketch by Magali Metrailler (red arrows and lettering added for emphasis).

To remove the main body of the case from its cradle, begin by unscrewing the two pivot screws from the sides of the case, at the 9:00 and 3:00 positions. The image below shows the screw at the 3:00 position unscrewed in the recess afforded by the crown.

Next, remove the eight screws from the middle section of the cradle on the rear of the watch. Leave the screw between each set of lugs intact.

All three segments of the cradle can now be lifted away, leaving the sealed core remaining.

Unscrew the four screws that were previously concealed by the cradle and remove the caseback to reveal Jaeger-LeCoultre’s in-house, column operated, chronograph calibre 751E.

Timing the AMVOX 2 with Kello

Curious to see how Kello would handle the odd case construction of the AMVOX 2, I tested the re-assembled watch using Apple’s standard microphone headset, padded against the back of the watch with a microfiber cloth. Running on an iPhone 4, Kello had no trouble picking up the signal and the watch timed out beautifully for a non-COSC certified movement. Minus 2 to plus 7 seconds across 5 positions, with an overall average of +2 seconds per day.

For more insight into the brand’s numerous mechanical marvels, including the gyrotourbillon and the unbelievably tiny calibre 101, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s self entitled Story of the Grand Maison, which has been published in English, French, German, Italian, and Japanese, is well worth a read.

Most watch technicians who are familiar with the T Touch Expert, and its derivatives such as the Sea Touch and T Touch II, are aware of the diagnostic mode that can be used to calibrate and verify the timepieces’ multitude of functions. Some time ago, I discovered a similar mode by accident, for the E40 305 that powers the classic Tissot T Touch, by unwittingly depressing the center pusher momentarily while installing a fresh battery. While exploring the characteristics of this hidden mode, I happened upon a second, deeper mode, the purpose of which is uncertain. Both modes are likely used for quality control purposes at the factory and I would surmise that the second, deeper mode is used to read or write to the EEPROM of one or more of the various microchips that control the watch’s functions.

The video above demonstrates the various modes and how to access them. The text moves fast, so here is a breakdown of each mode and what it’s known to do:

0.0 – Entry point
1.0 – Tests piezo alarm
2.0 – Tests all segments of the LCD display
3.0 – Tests the motion of the hands
4.0 – Moves the hands exactly one step of the motor once in each direction
5.0 – Performs one full sweep of the dial with each hand in each direction
6.0 – Unknown
7.0 – Unknown. Diplays ’0t’ on the LCD screen (the inverse of 7.0?)
8.0 – Clears all segments of the LCD display
9.0 – Unknown
A.0 – Entry point for additional hidden modes
L.0 – Unknown
U.0 – Unknown
S.0 – Unknown
E.0 – Unknown

Two additional “hidden” modes discovered on other occasions include ‘C.0′ and ’10.0′, the purpose of each of which is unknown.

What do you think the purpose of these “unknown” modes might be?

Related posts:

• What every T Touch owner should know
• Experimenting with the Tissot T Touch