Horological Meandering

Paillards patent non-magnetic balance & spring?? any info anyone?
May 13 2008,02:50 AM

hi,

i've seen a Patek pocketwatch coversion with this on the movement retailed by the 'non magnetic watch company of America'.

i'm very happy its a nice high quality adjusted Patek movement with wolf's teeth and rhodium plating, ut its the first time i've come across paillards balance.

if anyone knows anything about it i'd appreciate as much as you can tell me.

it sounds fascinating, but might just be a long name for something simple

pic courtesy of the seller. 

Graham

 

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Paillard had their hands in just about everything...
May 13 2008,10:44 AM

that had to do with precision mechanics over the years.  I know nothing about this particular balance, but did work for Paillard for 2 years (under the name they took at sometime in the last century, Hermes Precisa).  Paillard was founded around 1815 in Ste.-Croix and made music boxes.  They also made watches, and through the years followed all the technological inventions,  grammaphones, phonographs, office machines, mechanical calculators, etc.  In the 21st century they were best known for the Hermes Baby typewriters, but also Thorens phonographs and Bolex movie cameras. 
In their last years, when I worked for them, they made printers and were bought by the competition from Italy, Olivetti, who closed the company.  A year or two before they closed their doors all the employees received a Certina watch inscribed with Paillard 175 years.  That was my first Swiss watch, all previous watches having been Seiko.  If I can find it I will post a picture.
It doesn't surprise me that they did work in that direction, although I have never heard of it.  They believed in total vertical integration and had all the knowledge and production in house.  Metalurgy, optics, chemistry, electronics, you name it, they had a lab.  They never bought a single screw.  A totally non-modern place that didn't survive the end of the last century.
Don

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Snippets...
May 13 2008,12:09 PM

I read about this stuff ages ago, but don't remember a lot.

There were various attempts at making non-magnetic balances, and several patents towards the end of the 19th century.  The idiea is to improve accuracy by having a non-maagnetic split balance made of two non-magnetic alloys (based on palladium).  There were also non-magnetic balance springs.  I've no idea how effective they are.

L. Leroy et Cie took this to its logical conclusion and made some marine chronometers in the 1950s that were entirely out of non-magnetic metals.

nick

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According to Britten
May 13 2008,18:33 PM

from Watch and Clock Makers Handbook

From the article of "Non-Magnetizable Watch"

I can't date the information in that article, but Paillard publishes a brief report on his work in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 24, No. 126 (Jul. - Dec., 1887), pp. 419-420
www.jstor.org

Elgin seems to have made some watches to be private branded "Paillard non-magnetic Watch Company" ( elginwatches.org ), and according to Shugart, Illinois did as well.  They also reference a line of Swiss Ebauches, marked "Non-Magnetic Watch Company of America" and "Paillards Patent non-magnetic balance and spring"

-a

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thanks chaps. its a shame there's no written reference to Paillard and Patek, but
May 14 2008,02:50 AM

it certainly looks like a Patek movement.

i must admit that the balance doesnt look a lot different to any other balance on a quality pocketwatch of that era. i know i'm a bit of a numpty when it comes to the internals of a watch, but it says its adjusted which is good, but doesnt have a precision regulater.

i've got my eye on a Longines minute repeater conversion at the moment, but like to plan in advance incase i lose out. its a very nice looking movement, clearly high quality, probably Patek although i suppose you can put wolf's teeth winding wheels into any movement( am i being too simplistic??). if the price is right it will be a nice piece on the wrist.

 

thanks again and if anyone can confirm paillard and patek together i'd appreciate it.

 

regards

 

Graham

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Why patek?
May 14 2008,08:01 AM

Honestly, I don't see any reason to think of that movement as a Patek.  It looks like a nice, high grade, Swiss Ebauche of the time, but I don't see any evidence to support the pedigree.  The winding gears, although wolfs-toothed, are not beveled as finely as a Patek should be (see image 1 below) and the decoraion is not as elegant as I would expect from a patek, the ornate engine work isn't what I expect from them

Image 1 g

-a

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thanks aaron, your quite right....
May 14 2008,08:52 AM

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