Introduction

The wristwatch: a common tool that not many people think about, but almost everyone uses at some time. In this presentation I hope to outline some of the resources needed to create this machine and where we get these resources from. Enjoy!

Parts

Here are the parts and pieces I am going to look at:

The Wristband and Buckle

The Mainspring

The Balance Wheel The Hairspring

The Escapement

The Oscillating Weight

The Wristband and BuckleThere are many different types of wristband, ranging from leather to plastic; but the type I will be examining are of the metal variety. Metal wristwatches are most commonly made of an aluminum alloy, which is of course just aluminum combined with some other metal, very commonly zinc due to zinc’s corrosion-resistant qualities. Both of these are mined; aluminum from China, Indonesia, Jamaica and Russia. And zinc from Australia, Canada and the United States. The buckle is made of the same type of alloy.

ZincAluminum

The Mainspring

The mainspring in modern watches is made of hardened stainless steel. This metal is used because of it’s rigidly, which is needed to wind the watch properly. The main producers of steel (this substance is not mined, but rather produced from iron and carbon) are China, Japan, the United States, and Russia (2008). The main miners of iron are China, Australia, Brazil and India.

Mainspring

A steel ball

The Balance Wheel

The modern balance wheel is usually made of “Invar”, a nickel-steel alloy which is used due to it’s low thermal expansion rate. The main producers of steel (this substance is not mined, but rather produced from iron and carbon) are China, Japan, the United States, and Russia (2008). The main miners of iron are China, Australia, Brazil and India. The main producers of nickel are Russia, Indonesia, Canada, and Australia.

Balance Wheel

A steel ballNickel Ore

The Hairspring

The modern hairspring is made primarily from a single-crystal silicon, due to the low thermal expansion in this substance. Silicon is a mineral mined from the Earth. The main producers of silicon are China (2.4 million tonnes annually) , Russia (600,000 tonnes annually) , and Norway (270,000 tonnes annually).

Hairspring ^Silica Sand

The Escapement

The modern escapement in mechanical watches is made of Invar, which as mentioned before is a steel-nickel alloy used for it’s low thermal expansion. The main producers of steel (this substance is not mined, but rather produced from iron and carbon) are China, Japan, the United States, and Russia (2008). The main miners of iron are China, Australia, Brazil and India. The main producers of nickel are Russia, Indonesia, Canada, and Australia.

The Escapement

Nickel Ore Steel Sheet

The Oscillating Weight

The oscillating weight in a watch can be made from many things, depending on the model, make, and brand. But most are made from some type of heavy metal; such as lead1. And so I will use lead as an example. The main producers of lead are Australia (about 694,000 tonnes a year), China (about 641,000 tonnes a year), and the United States (about 466,000 tonnes a year). Lead can be very harmful if allowed to get into the environment, so special care is attended to this part.

Lead

1: although certain expensive watches have weights made of gold

A GoldOscillatingWeight

Current Wristwatch Materials’ Economy

Usually the line ends here, although an emerging practice is to look through watches for valuable metals. Even so, there is quite a bit of waste.

How It Could Work Better

Conclusion

Throughout this project I have had to look deep to find the required information and it has made me think about the consumption and use of materials in today’s society. I believe that certain practices in use right now are fine practices; although some (such as extraction and disposal) can be harmful to human health and the environment. They require work to find more efficient ways of execution; luckily much of this work is already taking place. I would like to extend my thanks for reading my project, and I hoped you enjoyed it.

Mining uses up a lot ofspace Landfills are not

a good way to deal with waste

BibliographyTitle page picture: http://www.germes-online.com/direct/dbimage/50202533/

Semi_Tungsten_Watch.jpgIntroduction picture: http://www.tp178.com/ag/Vacheron/steel%20chrono/movement.jpg Internet:http://www.swissworld.org/en/switzerland/swiss_specials/swiss_watches/

the_parts_of_a_watch/ http://www.worldsteel.org/pictures/publicationfiles/WSIF%202008%202nd

%20edition.pdf Wikipedia.orghttp://www.mapsofworld.com/minerals/world-iron-ore-producers.html http://www.mapsofworld.com/minerals/world-nickel-producers.htmlhttp://www.freepatentsonline.com/7077562.htmlhttp://www.adv-engineering.com/news/news%20in%20the%20market/Si1.html

Bibliography cont’dhttp://www.adv-engineering.com/news/news%20in%20the%20market/Si1.html