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Insight: Modern Escapement Developments Part I

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Image: SJX

David Ichim opens a two-part series on modern escapement development by looking at classical designs adapted for the wristwatch, starting with the natural escapement. The piece compares the versions from F.P. Journe, Laurent Ferrier and Kari Voutilainen, then moves to detent escapements, from the Urban Jürgensen and Chronode P8 work through Christophe Claret, Raúl Pagès and Christian Klings. The author argues that each design is a real achievement and weighs their reliability and manufacturing trade-offs.

The original

SJXHistory

Insight: Modern Escapement Developments Part I

By David Ichim

David Ichim of SJX examines classical escapement designs modernised for the wristwatch, beginning with the natural escapement used by F.P. Journe, Laurent Ferrier and Kari Voutilainen. Ichim credits F.P. Journe with adding guaranteed self-starting and an impulse-on-demand feature, while Voutilainen's central locking stone is praised for reliability. Attention then shifts to the detent escapement, where attempts by Urban Jürgensen with Chronode, Christophe Claret and Raúl Pagès are weighed against the difficulty of preventing accidental tripping. The Robin escapement comes last, with Audemars Piguet's Millenary and Richard Mille's RM031 examined alongside Cyril Brivet-Naudot's free eccentric and Logan Rao's Double Detent prototype.

  • F.P. Journe's natural escapement adds a novel impulse-on-demand feature
  • Kari Voutilainen's natural escapement is a reliable, simple and well-crafted design
  • The detent escapement has inherent challenges for wristwatch use
  • Audemars Piguet's Robin escapement is ambitious and rather appealing but costly to produce
Read at SJX