Universal Geneve Micro Rotor

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Microtor Technology by Universal Genève

description

Illustrated booklet about the development of the flat Universal micro-rotor watch movement

Transcript of Universal Geneve Micro Rotor

Microtor Technology by Universal Genève

UNIVERSAL GENEVE SA - SWITZERLANDwww.universal.ch

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UG Couv_ARP 4.4.2007 14:36 Page 3

Microtor

Microtor UG 66

1955

Microtor UG 100

2006

elf-winding watches

The first watch automatically wound by means ofa central oscillating weight appeared in the latterhalf of the 18th century, in Le Locle. It stemmedfrom the ingenious work of watchmaker Abra-ham-Louis Perrelet (1729-1826), who hadobserved that the rotation of the oscillatingweight generated sufficient energy to wind themainspring.

The first self-winding wristwatch was developedby Englishman John Harwood, who filed a patentfor it in Switzerland in 1932. The oscillatingweight, which was wound in one direction only,described a 130° arc of a circle. The disadvantage ofthis watch was that it could not be wound by hand.

Ever since, this major technical innovation hasbeen constantly perfected, driven by an ongoingquest for miniaturisation and precision.

Universal Genève watchmakers were pioneers inthe development of self-winding movements,particularly due to the integrated micro-oscilla-ting weight that made them extremely thin anduniquely elegant.

In the late 1940s, at a time when UniversalGenève was still known as Universal WatchFactory, Perret & Berthoud Ltd (a name linked tothe names of its founders), the watchmakers

of the Manufacture presented a men’s self-windingwristwatch equipped with Calibre UG 138. Theoscillating weight, located at the centre of themovement, made a partial revolution of 315° andwas limited along its trajectory by two cylindricalbuffer-springs placed on the edge of the main-plate.

Calibre UG 138, displaying the hours, minutes andsmall seconds at 6 o’clock, measured 28.20mm indiameter and was 4.85mm thick. The balanceoscillated at a frequency of 18,000 vibrations perhour. The first caliber was to be followed in theearly 50s by two movements featuring the sametechnical characteristics : the 5.55mm thickCalibre UG 138.SS-SC with centre seconds; andthe 6mm thick Calibre UG 138.C.C complete withdate disc and small seconds at 6 o’clock, whichdrove the “Monodatic” model.

Universal Genève trademarks 1936, 1940, 1957

Universal Genève assembly workshop 1940

Calibre UG 138.SS-SC

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The chief assets of this calibre were the anti-magnetic balance-spring and balance (the latterbeing of the bimetallic glucydur type withscrews), as well as the balance-cock fitted witha fine-adjustment system and Incabloc shock-absorbers. For the version with a date display,since the date-jump could be adjusted in onedirection only, the time could thus be set counter-clockwise without making the date jump, whichwas not the case with previous Calibres. The 40-hour power reserve was perfectly respectable atthe time. The movement was equipped with 17top-quality jewels. The setting-lever was connec-ted to an arbor that need only be pressed in orderto pull out the winding-stem.

On November 8th 1952, the Universal Perret &Berthoud Watch Manufacture in Geneva filedpatent n0 308028, published on September 1st

1955, for a self-winding device with double effectvia a rotating oscillating weight, which was toserve as a model for the construction of theMicrotor. The rotating oscillating weight transmit-ted its energy to the driving organ of the watch viaa loose-wheel coupling clutch, characterised byan oscillating weight connected to an organ drivingtwo cams - themselves connected but operatingindependently of each other. This system meantthe watch could be automatically wound in bothdirections of the oscillating weight rotation.

In 1954, watch designer Gérald Genta createdthe famous Polerouter (Polarouter), which wasto enjoy worldwide success. Equipped withCalibre UG 138 SS, this watch accompanied thecrew of the SAS Scandinavian Airlines System

Patent n° 308028

1954 - Polerouter

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Company on the first ever flight from Europe tothe United States via the polar circle.

Building on its success, Universal changed itsname to Manufacture des Montres Universal,Perret Frères SA in Carouge-Geneva, and openedits new operational centre on the Place d’Armes inCarouge, while keeping its historical premises onthe Rue du Rhône as a showroom.

icrotor watches

On May 27th 1955, Universal Genève filed patentn° 329805 with the Intellectual Property Bureau.Published on June 30th 1958, it protected anultra-thin self-winding watch comprising a micro-oscillating weight with an off-centred rotationaxis: the first Microtor Calibre UG 215 producedby Universal Genève was born.

Mr Perret & Mr Amann (Director SAS Geneva)

Universal Genève Headquarters - Carouge

Universal Genève showroom on the quaysides of the Rhône - Geneva

Patent n° 329805

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This major technological innovation was madepossible by the constant improvement of thequality of components supplied by the Swisswatch industry and by the gradual miniaturisa-tion of these parts during the 1940s and 1950s.

The technical solution lay in the perfect proportionsof the frequency-reduction mechanisms of theautomatic winding system. The micro-oscillatingweight, pivoting in both directions and coupled to alarge-diameter barrel, ensured a power reserve ofalmost 48 hours.

Calibre UG 215 displayed only the hour andminutes, measured 28mm in diameter and was4.10mm thick. Its balance oscillated at 18,000vibrations per hour.

In 1958, Büren Watch Co SA (Von Büren WatchCo., which disappeared in the 1970s), a Swiss-German company extremely active in researchand development of new calibres, filed patentn° 345849 for a micro-oscillating weight nick-named Super-Slender, similar to the one devi-sed by Universal Genève in 1955. Since theGeneva-based Manufacture had filed its patentjust one month after that filed by Von Büren, thetwo companies had to reach an agreement inorder to separately exploit this remarkableinvention, which they would subsequently placeat the disposal of the greatest names in Swisswatchmaking.

In the 1950s, Universal Genève continueddeveloping the Microtor-based technology andpresented many new models that would ensureits international success and reputation.

The Microtor technology was once again im-proved and on January 30th 1957, Universal Genèvefiled patent n° 330900, published on August 15th

1958, for a self-winding movement with centralseconds wheel and pinion, comprising a rotatingoscillating weight integrated within the movementand featuring an axis off-set in relation to themovement. The micro-oscillating weight waspositioned in the space left free by the barrel andbalance, and turns in bearings carried exclu-sively by a bridge.

The UG 215 family of Calibres comprised the sametechnical characteristics as the UG 138 Calibres,meaning a balance frequency of 18,000 vibrationsper hour and a total diameter of 28mm, but nowhad 28 jewels. The Calibre UG 215 was a three-hand movement with central seconds. The UG215.1 version, which was 5.15mm thick, featuredcentral hour, minute and seconds hands along witha date disc. Calibre UG 215.2 was endowed withthe same functions as Calibre UG 215.1, but was0.45mm slimmer, at 4.70mm.

The qualities and improvements embodied inthis calibre compared with Calibre UG 138 com-prise a simplification of the self-winding system,reduced thickness, including for the date discversion, and enhanced comfort on the wrist,since the wearer no longer felt the shocks in-duced by the oscillating weight; there was howe-ver no fine adjustment.

Once again, Universal Genève was to present aninvention that would represent a landmark inwatchmaking history, since similar movementsare still widely used in the construction of manyself-winding Calibres. Patent n° 333993 was filedon December 29th 1956 and published on

Calibre UG 215-2

Patent n° 330900

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December 31st 1958, for the creation of a watchmodel equipped with both a hand-wound and aself-winding system, and built in such a way thatthese two systems worked independently of eachother. This new construction for a Microtor wascharacterised by a pinion fixed to the barrel-arborby two discs, each fixed to one of the bases of thepinion, on the same plane as the latter, and bytwo superimposed wheels placed between thesediscs and each linked to one of the windingmechanisms. Each of these wheels is driven bythe adjacent disc and carries at least one couplingorgan designed to mesh with the pinion. Thesecoupling organs rotate in the same direction.

Constantly in quest of perfection, watchmakerswere soon to replace Calibre UG 215.2 by CalibreUG 218.2, measuring 28mm in diameter and4.70mm thick, equipped with a date indication.This movement was to be used in assemblingPolerouter Date watches.

The main improvement featured inCalibre UG 218 compared with its pre-decessor, the UG 215, was the fine

adjustment, since the balance-cock was equippedwith a micrometrical adjustment screw, therebyproviding enhanced precision and facilitatingadjustment.

On March 26th 1956, under patent n° 336013,published on March 4th 1959, Universal Genèvefiled an additional patent n° 329805, covering acentral wheel and pinion carrying the minutehand composed of a single pinion simultaneouslymeshing with two coaxial wheels, the first leadingto the second that in turn transmits the move-ment to the balance.

Calibre UG 68 (or UG 1-68), which was 4.10mmthick, drove central hour, minute and secondshands. As the direct successor to Calibre UG 218,this movement had 28 jewels and a frequency of18,000 vibrations per hour.

While Calibre UG 69 (or UG 1-69) featured thesame technical characteristics as CalibreUG 68, it was also equipped

Calibre UG 1-69

Patent n° 333993

Golden Classique 69

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with a date disc, taking the total movement thick-ness to 4.70mm, like its forerunner the UG 215.Nonetheless, the geometry of its micro-rotor hadbeen transformed.

Calibres UG 68 and UG 69 underwent manyimprovements during the actual production pro-cess, including a “stop oil” chemical treatmentgenerally referred to as “epilame coating”. Thelatter modifies the surface tension of the partthus treated, thereby preventing oils from creep-ing, ensuring lasting lubrication of the gear-wheels and thus reducing the frequency ofmovement overhauls (technical note n° 76 dated07/12/1967). These two Calibres also featured

an excellent 55-hour power reserve. There wasalso a Polerouter Sub with two crowns equippedwith Calibre 68, but with no date display.

For reasons related to rationalising production ofthe balance-cock, the UG 1-68 and 1-69 versionshad no fine adjustment but were still fitted withthe mobile balance-spring stud-holder (source :catalogue of old UG Calibres).

At the 1966 Basel Show, Universal Genève presen-ted a new range of refined and elegant watchesnamed Golden Shadow, all driven by the world’sthinnest self-winding Microtor movement. It was toenjoy considerable popularity.

Over 250 variations of the Golden Shadow werecreated to highlight its extreme slenderness,including the gold-plated Gilt Shadow or the steelWhite Shadow.

The saga of Shadow watches equipped withCalibres 66 and 67, and of their subsequenttechnical developments, was to last from themid-1960s through to the early 1990s.

The ultra-thin self-winding Microtor Calibre UG 66displayed the hours and minutes only, and fea-tured a diameter of 28mm and an exceptionallydiminutive thickness of 2.50mm. Its balanceoscillated at 19,800 vibrations per hour.

Among the other particularly important featureswere the self-compensating monometallic ba-lance and spring operating at 19,800 vibra-tions/hour and equipped with a system designedto absorb shocks to the balance pivots, referred toat the time in French as “super-choc Incabloc”.

Calibre UG 1-66

Polerouter Sub

Golden Shadow

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The self-winding system consisted of a ball-bearingdevice for the oscillating weight and of a reverserwith three ball-bearing devices (technical note n°26) that reduced friction, thereby improving thewinding of the Calibre.

The line of UG 66 Calibres developed steadilythroughout the 1960s and comprised differentvariations such as Calibre UG 1-67 displaying thehours, minutes and date and measuring 3.10mmin all.

Calibre UG 66 became UG 1-66 after the addi-tion of a coupling clutch doing away with therotation of the winding wheel and pinion whenthe watch was wound by hand, and thus avoidingwear of the lower winding wheel (technical noten° 75 dated 17/10/1967).

Calibres UG 1-66 and 1-67 became UG 2-66and 2-67 respectively, after the classic pin-typemethod of securing the balance-spring stud wasreplaced by a new cementing system (technicalnote n° 104).

On February 2nd 1963, the Geneva-basedManufacture filed patent n° 388195, publishedon August 14th 1964, covering the developmentof a bidirectional oscillating weight thanks to areverse system composed of a plate pivoting inthe frame of the watch and carrying two pivotingintermediate wheels mounted on ball-bearingdevices.

In the 1970s, Universal Genève watchmakerscontinued to fine-tune the line of ball-bearingmounted micro-rotor movements and presentedtwo new Calibres, UG 71 and UG 72, which wereused in the Polerouter III watch lines.

These two Calibres shared the same characteris-tics as the family of UG 66 Calibres, albeit with asmaller overall diameter of 27mm instead of28mm, and a new type of balance guaranteeingan oscillation frequency of 21,600 vibrations perhour (as did UG 215-9, UG 215-97 and UG 218-9).The construction principle of Calibre UG 71 wasnonetheless reminiscent of that of the UG 69Calibre and did not stem directly from the UG 66Calibres. Calibre UG 71 featured centre seconds

Calibre UG 1-67

Calibre UG 2-67

Calibre UG 2-66

Patent n° 388195

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and a date display and was 3.90mm thick, where-as Calibre UG 72 also showed the days of theweek on a second counter, increasing the totalmovement thickness to 4.60mm.

he renewal of the Microtor

At the 2006 edition of the Basel Show (now namedBaselworld) and after two years of intensiveresearch and development, Universal Genèvesprung a surprise by presenting a 111/2 lignesMicrotor Calibre UG 100 movement stemmingfrom an entirely new conception, in keeping withthe traditions of the great Swiss WatchManufactures.

In developing this new Calibre, one of the mainissues was to resolve the tough question of the(central) deadbeat seconds display which, on theprevious Calibres and especially the UG 66movements, was derived from a small secondsdisplay at 3 o’clock via a complication plate. Themovement construction thus needed to be entirelyredesigned and the position of the going train hadto be modified in order to put the seconds backin the centre by means of a gear system involvingtwo third wheels.

The construction principle consisting of the twothird wheels first of all made up for gearing playand also alleviated the jerking motion resulting bythe seconds wheel. This solution also had theadvantage of avoiding the use of a friction spring,such as is generally present in the construction ofmost Calibres. The absence of a friction springprevents any risk of slowing down the gear trainsand thus improves the rate of the movement.

The escapement system comprises a glucidurbalance and an Anachron balance-spring madeby Nivarox (Le Locle) and ensuring a frequency

Calibre UG 100Calibre UG 72

Polerouter

Calibre UG 71

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of 28,800 vibrations/hour. Thanks to this system,and for the first time in its history, UniversalGenève earned COSC chronometer certificationfor one of its Microtor movements.

The balance-bridge is fitted with a balance-cockand enables fine adjustment by two screws anda jewelled Incabloc shock-absorbing system.Finally a micro-rotor with a diameter of just12.30mm features a new geometrical shapeentirely different from the design of the brand’sformer Microtor Calibres, and which is also inno-vative in relation to the rare competing Calibres.This rotor is the smallest ever produced for aMicrotor watch, 0.38mm less than the size of therotors equipping Calibres UG 66 and UG 71.The bidirectional rotor, mounted on a double

ball-bearing system, is crafted from sintered tungs-ten. The first ball-bearing system meshes with thereverser pinion and the second with the auxiliaryreverser pinion.

Calibre UG 100 comprises 30 top-quality mono-crystalline jewels, meaning five more than CalibreUG 72.

The Calibre Microtor UG 100 drives central hour,minute and seconds hands, as well as the dateshown at 3 o’clock by means of a disc. Measuringa total 3.80mm thick and only 26.20mm in dia-meter, this new movement is the smallestMicrotor Calibre equipped with similar functionsever produced by Universal Genève.

Microtor UG 100

icrotor UG 101

2007 Baselworld International Watch and JewelleryShow: Universal Genève, 1 year after the presenta-tion of the Microtor UG 100 used in the assemblingof a limited officially chronometer-certified goldedition of 100 watches (20 in yellow gold and 80in pink gold), proudly introduce Calibre UG 101adapted to series production criteria.

Microtor UG 101 features the same technicalcharacteristics of the Calibre UG 100 including achronometer-quality escapement. The circularCôtes de Genève decorating and finely gildedengravings on the bridges are reminiscent of themovements produced by the Manufacture in the1950s.

Calibre UG 101

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Microtor UG 101

Going-train bridge

Balance-cock

Micro-rotor

Ball bearings

Mainplate

Balance

Barrel

Barrel-bar

Centre wheeland pinion

Winding-stem

EXPLODED VIEW - CALIBRE UG 100 / UG 101

Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775-1975, KathleenH. Pritchard, Published for the NationalAssociation of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc.by Editions Antoine Simonin, rue des Saars 99,CH 2000 Neuchatel, 1997 edition

Menschen – Uhren – Mein Leben, christineGlauser-Kocher und Hans Kocher, Eigenverlag, 1Auflage 1997

Universal Genève 100 ans de tradition horlogère,Italo Bonifacio et Laura Rivolta, Sothis Editrice,1994 edition

“Liste de brevets déposés auprès du BureauFédéral de la propriété intellectuelle,Confédération Suisse”Brevet n°308028, Manufacture des montresUniversal Perret & Berthoud SA, Genève(Suisse), dépôt 8.11.1952, enregistrement30.6.1955, publication 1.9.1955

Brevet n° 329805, Manufacture des MontresUniversal Perret Frères, Carouge (Genève),dépôt 27.5.1955, enregistrement 15.5.1958,publication 30.6.1958

Brevet n° 330900, Manufacture des MontresUniversal Perret Frères, Carouge (Genève),dépôt 30.1.1957, enregistrement 30.6.1958,publication 15.8.1958

Brevet n° 333993, Manufacture des MontresUniversal Perret Frères, Carouge (Genève),dépôt 29.11.1956, enregistrement 15.11.1958,publication 31.12.1958

Brevet n° 336004, Manufacture des MontresUniversal Perret Frères, Carouge (Genève),dépôt 15.7.1957, enregistrement 31.1.1959,publication 14.3.1959

Brevet n° 336013, Manufacture des MontresUniversal Perret Frères, Carouge (Genève),dépôt 26.3.1956, enregistrement 31.1.1959,publication 14.3.1959

Brevet n° 388195, Manufacture des MontresUniversal Perret Frères, Carouge (Genève),dépôt 2.2.1963, enregistrement 15.2.1965,publication 15.6.1965

“Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie”La montre Suisse à remontage automatique,Calibre Microtor Manufacture des montresUniversal Perret Frères Genève, par B. Humbert,XIII 2ème série, parution n°4, août 1961

La montre Suisse à remontage automatique,Calibre Super Slender Buren Watch Co., par B.Humbert, XIV 2ème série, parution n°5, octobre1961

La montre automatique la plus mince du monde,Calibre, publicité Universal et Buren parutionn°11-12, novembre - décembre 1957

Sommes-nous à la veille d’une révolution dans laconstruction des montres automatiques ? ParH.Kocher, directeur technique de Büren WatchCo A et F. Bandi, technicien chef de la manufac-ture des montres Universal à Genève, parution n°9-10, septembre – octobre 1957

ibliographyB

UNIVERSAL GENÈVE S.A.Geneva - Switzerlandwww.universal.ch

Editorial commitee : Vincent Lapaire, Stéphanie Des Arts-Loup,Christian Müller, Christine Fery-Hammer, Franck BoisseauGraphic Design : Alexandre De la Riera & Eva SandovalText : Transcribe – A Propos

Printed in Switzerland - April 2007

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Microtor Technology by Universal Genève

UNIVERSAL GENEVE SA - SWITZERLANDwww.universal.ch

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