Continuing from last time, I would like to write my personal opinion on the changes in the mechanical watch market.

In 2000, just before the year 1999, the so-called "Y2000K problem" broke out, shaking the industry. It was considered to be a major problem that the computer would be reset because it could not be determined by the settings.

In the first place, the world we live in has a very close relationship with the Gregorian calendar and mechanical clock mechanisms, so I would like to explain that the Gregorian calendar, which is used as a solar calendar, is

It is a calendar that has 1 days in a year, and only 365 times in 400 years has there been 97 days in a year.

It takes the Earth approximately 365,24219 days to orbit the sun once. In the Gregorian calendar,

Leap years are included so that the average number of days in a year is close to this number of days.

Leap years are determined as follows.

① Years in the Western calendar that are divisible by 4 are considered leap years.

②As an exception, years in which the Western calendar year is divisible by 100 but not divisible by 400 are considered normal years.

Normally, leap years occur every 100 years, but there are normal years every XNUMX years.

The year 2000 is a rare leap year that occurs once every 400 years and is divisible by both 100 and 400.

Returning to mechanical watch mechanisms, the perpetual calendar mechanism, which is an extremely complicated mechanism,

The year, month, day of the week, and date, which are all calendar mechanisms, can also distinguish leap years with a 4-year cycle.

It is a transcendental mechanism that is programmed, designed and assembled, and does not require any modification.

The exception was that revisions were required once every 100 years, but 2000 was a leap year, so no revisions were necessary.

The history of wristwatches dates back to the early 1900s, and machines with perpetual calendars were already manufactured at that early stage, so virtually no modifications were required until the next 2100, so as long as they continued to work for about 200 years. We are pleased to inform you that no corrections are necessary.

Since most of the current generation of humans are no longer alive, this will continue to live on as a legacy that can be called the pinnacle of human wisdom for future generations.

I feel a very grand romance.

Released in this memorable millennium year,

First of all, this is Patek Philippe's Ref.5100 10-day limited edition model.

It is a square complication that is also known as a manta ray.

As represented by this Ref. 5100, the trend in the watch industry at the time was a long power reserve mechanism. Up until the 90s, the mainspring of a mechanical watch typically lasted about 40 days, with a hand-wound watch around 48 hours and an automatic watch around 10 hours, but each manufacturer's mainspring lasted about 14 days. New models have been released to compete for longer times, such as rolls, XNUMX-day rolls, XNUMX-day rolls, XNUMX-day rolls, and XNUMX-day rolls. As the original mainspring barrel was increased to double, triple, or even quadruple, the case also became huge, leading to the so-called ``big thick'' boom. In terms of mechanical structure, the technical level was very high and it was a significant technological innovation, but the seller's problem was that it required an unusual number of manual windings.

I was suffering from calluses on my fingers (lol)

Long power reserve models, which were initially developed from simple 10- and XNUMX-hand models, have become even more complex, with complications equipped with various calendar mechanisms and chronographs, perpetual calendars, tourbillons, and minute repeaters. As it becomes a grand complication, and as it becomes larger and more complex, it also requires the amount of torque generated from the mainspring.

The tension on my fingers when I rolled it up was so high that my index and middle fingers were screaming even more (lol)

Speaking of the famous machines produced at that time, it was the leading manufacturer of long power reserve mechanisms.

This is Jaeger-LeCoultre's Gyrotourbillon 1.

This Gyrotourbillon 2004 is a masterpiece in the history of watches that ended the tourbillon war between various companies. This model, announced in XNUMX, has a gyro = sphere.

Compared to the conventional planar tourbillon, it is a three-dimensional rotation using a special lightened carriage structure made of lightweight aluminum with two axes, high speed and low speed, and its rotation trajectory is designed so that it always rotates in different directions. The idea was taken from the space shuttle that flies through outer space. A perpetual calendar is incorporated into the two-axis three-dimensional tourbillon, making it windable for eight days.

It was a super monster model.

Thanks to Jaeger-LeCoultre, the 8-day demon, releasing the 8-day Reverso, which is kindly designed to wind in half the amount of conventional winding, my hand-winding problem was solved (lol)

This long power reserve war was further released with the release of a 31-day roll by A. Lange & Söhne, and just when you thought it was over, in 2013, HUBLOT's LaFerrari with a 50-day roll was released.

As expected, these two models were rolled up using a dedicated winding device, so it was comfortable. However, the amount of winding is such that you forget when you started winding it.

It became overspec and the end came.

However, in this technological innovation, the underlying theme of mechanical watches is how to maintain a stable amount of torque, which is the eternal theme of mechanical watches.

The 31 by A. Lange & Söhne, mentioned above, was equipped with a remontoir mechanism that kept the amount of torque constant at all times from the initial movement until just before the mainspring stopped, when the mainspring was fully untied.