Antoni Patek Philippe

Antoni Norbert Patek (born June 14, 1811 – died March 1, 1877), Polish pioneer in watchmaking and a creator of Patek Philippe & Co. one of the most famous watchmaker companies.

On May 1, 1839 in Geneva, Antoni Patek together with another Polish immigrant, the gifted Warsaw watchmaker Franciszek Czapek established their manufacture producing watches. The company was financially supported also by its first workers, among others Polish watchmakers: Wawrzyniec Gostkowski, Wincenty Gostkowski, and Władysław Bandurski. The first pocket watches were produced on individual orders. Primarily the young’s firm artistic production reflected themes from Polish history and culture, such as portraits of revolutionary heroes, X and XII centuries’ legends, and the cult of the Polish The Black Madonna of Częstochowa.

The small company Patek, Czapek & Co, which employed a half-dozen of workmen, produced approximately two hundred watches of quality per annum. The few preserved specimens make it possible to note the degree of perfection of these first watches, result of a successful union between artistic research and the technical skill.

Among the collection of The Patek Philippe Museum there are watches presenting Coat of Arms of Princess Zubów from 1845 and the portraits of Polish general Tadeusz Kościuszko, and Polish prince and marchal of France Józef Poniatowski from 1948.

Antide Janvier

Antide Janvier (born in July 1, 1751 – died September 23, 1835) was a French clockmaker.

He was born in a village in the Jura, and learned the basics of his trade from his father, and was educated in Latin, Greek, mathematics and astronomy by a local abbé. At age 15 he built an astronomical sphere which he presented to the Academy of Sciences of Besançon, which won him wide admiration, and he began his career as an apprentice watchmaker.


He gained a reputation as a maker of ingenious and complicated clocks, including many astronomical clocks and clocks showing the tides. He was also famous for his "double pendulum clocks", also called "Resonance clocks", which he was the first to make. He eventually became Louis XVI's royal clockmaker. After the French Revolution he spent time in prison because of this royal association and then fell on hard times; his hardships were increased by the death of his wife in 1792. He sold his watches and equipment and designs to Abraham Louis Bréguet, who sold watches under his own name. Following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles X, he was awarded a small pension beginning in 1826, but died in poverty and obscurity.


The largest concentration of his masterworks open to the public is found at the Musée Paul Dupuy in Toulouse.


He authored and published an important textbook on the theory and practice of watchnaking: Manuel Chronometrique ou precis de ce qui concerne le temps, ses divisions, ses mesures, leurs usages, etc, Published 1821 by Didot, Paris (267 pages, Frontispiece and 5 engraved foldout plates).


He also produced a written account of 12 of his very original timekeepers, which was published 1827 under the title "Receuil des Machines composees et executees par Antide Janvier", which has been reissued 1995 in facsimile format by publisher "L'image du Temps"

Analog clocks

Analog clocks usually indicate time using angles. The most common clock face uses a fixed numbered dial or dials and moving hand or hands. It usually has a circular scale of 12 hours, which can also serve as a scale of 60 minutes, and 60 seconds if the clock has a second hand. Many other styles and designs have been used throughout the years, including dials divided into 6, 8, 10, and 24 hours. The only other widely used clock face today is the 24 hour analog dial, because of the use of 24 hour time in military organizations and timetables. The 10-hour clock was briefly popular during the French Revolution, when the metric system was applied to time measurement, and an Italian 6 hour clock was developed in the 18th century, presumably to save power (a clock or watch chiming 24 times uses more power).

Another type of analog clock is the sundial, which tracks the sun continuously, registering the time by the shadow position of its gnomon. Sundials use some or part of the 24 hour analog dial. There also exist clocks which use a digital display despite having an analog mechanism—these are commonly referred to as flip clocks.

Alternative systems have been proposed. For example, the Twelve o'clock indicates the current hour using one of twelve colors, and indicates the minute by showing a proportion of a circular disk, similar to a moon phase.

HISTORY OF ESCAPEMENTS

It could not have been long after man first became cognizant of his reasoning faculties that he began to take more or less notice of the flight of time. The motion of the sun by day and of the moon and stars by night served to warn him of the recurring periods of light and darkness. By noting the position of these stellar bodies during his lonely vigils, he soon became proficient in roughly dividing up the cycle into sections, which he denominated the hours of the day and of the night. Primitive at first, his methods were simple, his needs few and his time abundant. Increase in numbers, multiplicity of duties, and division of occupation began to make it imperative that a more systematic following of these occupations should be instituted, and with this end in view he contrived, by means of burning lights or by restricting the flowing of water or the falling of weights, to subdivide into convenient intervals and in a tolerably satisfactory manner the periods of light.

These modest means then were the first steps toward the exact subdivisions of time which we now enjoy. Unrest, progress, discontent with things that be, we must acknowledge, have, from the appearance of the first clock to the present hour, been the powers which have driven on the inventive genius of watch and clockmakers to designate some new and more acceptable system for regulating the course of the movement. In consequence of this restless search after the best, a very considerable number of escapements have been invented and made up, both for clocks and watches. Only a few, however, of the almost numberless systems have survived the test of time and been adopted in the manufacture of the timepiece as we know it now. Indeed, many such inventions never passed the experimental stage, and yet it would be very interesting to the professional horologist, the apprentice and even the layman to become more intimately acquainted with the vast variety of inventions made upon this domain since the inception of horological science. Undoubtedly, a complete collection of all the escapements invented would constitute a most instructive work for the progressive watchmaker, and while we are waiting for a competent author to take such an exhaustive work upon his hands, we shall endeavor to open the way and trust that a number of voluntary collaborators will come forward and assist us to the extent of their ability in filling up the chinks.

WATCHES PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED

The problem to be solved by means of the escapement has always been to govern, within limits precise and perfectly regular, if it be possible, the flow of the motive force; that means the procession of the wheel-work and, as a consequence, of the hands thereto attached. At first blush it seems as if a continually-moving governor, such as is in use on steam engines, for example, ought to fulfil the conditions, and attempts have accordingly been made upon this line with results which have proven entirely unsatisfactory.

Having thoroughly sifted the many varieties at hand, it has been finally determined that the only means known to provide the most regular flow of power consists in intermittently interrupting the procession of the wheel-work, and thereby gaining a periodically uniform movement. Whatever may be the system or kind of escapement employed, the functioning of the mechanism is characterized by the suspension, at regular intervals, of the rotation of the last wheel of the train and in transmitting to a regulator, be it a balance or a pendulum, the power sent into that wheel.

ESCAPEMENT THE MOST ESSENTIAL WATCHES PART

Of all the parts of the timepiece the escapement is then the most essential; it is the part which assures regularity in the running of the watch or clock, and that part of parts that endows the piece with real value. The most perfect escapement would be that one which should perform its duty with the least influence upon the time of oscillation or vibration of the regulating organ. The stoppage of the train by the escapement is brought about in different ways, which may be gathered under three heads or categories. In the two which we shall mention first, the stop is effected directly upon the axis of the regulator, or against a piece which forms a part of that axis; the tooth of the escape wheel at the moment of its disengagement remains supported upon or against that stop.

In the first escapement invented and, indeed, in some actually employed to-day for certain kinds of timekeepers, we notice during the locking a retrograde movement of the escape wheel; to this kind of movement has been given the name of recoil escapement. It was recognized by the fraternity that this recoil was prejudicial to the regularity of the running of the mechanism and, after the invention of the pendulum and the spiral, inventive makers succeeded in replacing this sort of escapement with one which we now call the dead-beat escapement. In this latter the wheel, stopped by the axis of the regulator, remains immovable up to the instant of its disengagement or unlocking.

In the third category have been collected all those forms of escapement wherein the escape wheel is locked by an intermediate piece, independent of the regulating organ. This latter performs its vibrations of oscillation quite without interference, and it is only in contact with the train during the very brief moment of impulse which is needful to keep the regulating organ in motion. This category constitutes what is known as the detached escapement class.

Of the recoil escapement the principal types are: the verge escapement or crown-wheel escapement for both watches and clocks, and the recoil anchor escapement for clocks. The cylinder and duplex escapements for watches and the Graham anchor escapement for clocks are styles of the dead-beat escapement most often employed. Among the detached escapements we have the lever and detent or chronometer escapements for watches; for clocks there is no fixed type of detached lever and it finds no application to-day.

Breitling replica watches - What you need to know

Breitlings are watches that over the years have gained a great name in the time piece industry due to the popularity and preference of the elite class. Breitlings originally had been preferred by pilots, but as time went by more and more people started appreciating the larger size and detailed work of these watches. There is a great deal of work put into manufacturing these watches and at some point in time were very difficult to replicate. Today there are many models that can not be distinguished if they are real or replicas.

Asian cheap Breitling replicas can be spotted very easily because for one, the mechanism is not a 7750 automatic movement and does not function like the original. Also very often you will see in cheaper Breitling replica models, they have days and dates or days and months on the chronograph dials instead of having numbers. These are a BIG NO!! Breitling has never produced such watches with these characteristics, so once you see these, know that it is a cheap Asian model. The majority of Breitling watches have automatic movemens except for a specific model that has used a quartz mechanism (Breitling Aeromarine Colt). The Navitimer, Breitling for Bentley, Aeromarine, Avenger, Chronomat Evolution, Super Ocean and Windrider use automatic movements. So don’t be fooled in purchasing a Breitling that has ticking seconds instead of sweeping seconds because it can be noticeable that it is a cheap replica.

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Aaaqualityreplicas.com carry the finest Bretlting replica models that are currently available in the market, and the best way to distinguish this is to compare the actual pictures that are on the site with actual pictures from original Breitling resellers or even the official site itself. If you are a Breitling fan and would like some more useful information on how to pick out the best replica Breitling, you can send an email to info-at-aaaqualityreplicas.com with your questions, and we will do our best to help you choose the best model for you. Thanks for reading. Happy, safe and smart Breitling replica watch shopping.

Concord C1 Chronograph

Concord C1 Chronograph is the crowning achievement from Concord. This is a state of the art watch. It combines rubber and steel like no other watch in its class. Concord C1 Chronograph is simply a must have watch for all swiss watches collectors and afficionados. C1 Chronograph watch comes with boxes, papers, manuals, and trinkets. Rubber strap, One piece pull out crown with o ring.