Precise Future of Silicon Parts Still Being Debated Chopard The inner workings of an L.U.C. 8HF by Chopard, which uses silicon parts. When Ulysse Nardin introduced its Freak watch in 2001, eyebrows were raised at its use of silicon for two escapement wheels instead of the usual steel. The watch industry, which prides itself on its heritage of craftsmanship, does not swallow changes easily. Yet 11 years on, silicon has been embraced by many other brands, particularly those of the Swatch Group, which are using it for the production of escapement parts as well as delicate balance components like the hairspring. The properties of silicon make it an extremely useful material for watchmaking. It is light yet very resistant, and is impervious to magnetic fields. Crucially, it produces very little friction, reducing the need for lubricants. Complex and minute watch parts can be produced with extreme precision using silicon because of a manufacturing process called Deep Reactive-Ion Etching, or DRIE. "There is no limit to geometric shapes with DRIE," said Carole Forestier-Kasapi, the director of movement development at Cartier, which has just used a silicon wheel coated with a diamond-like carbon in the ID Two concept watch. The watch also uses parts made of diamond-coated silicon, which Cartier calls carbon crystal. Breguet is another brand at the forefront of using silicon, having incorporated it in watches since 2006. At Baselworld this year, the watchmaker presented its Classique Chronométrie 7727, the first nonchronograph watch that can oscillate at the very high frequency of 10 Hz, or 72,000 vibrations per hour. Raising the frequency and the power of a mechanical oscillation improves the time-keeping performance. At the heart of this technical achievement was the use of silicon, resulting in more lightweight mobile components and the avoidance of the lubrication problems generated by high frequencies. Chopard's L.U.C 8HF, also released this year, uses silicon for certain escapement components, including the escape wheel. Patrick Norman, the managing director of Chopard in Asia, said the company's engineers developed a patent-pending means of fixing silicon on steel to ensure greater reliability at high frequency - the timepiece beats at 57,600 vibrations per hour. "Silicon is light yet hard and highly resistant to corrosion," Mr. Norman said. It can be used to create a lever without the use of ruby pallets and operates without lubrication. On a less positive aspect, the material is fragile and tricky to handle. Peter Speake-Marin, who also recently used a silicon anchor and escape wheel in his Renaissance Tourbillon Minute Repeater, said the material allowed for the production of precise components that require a minimum of manipulation following their manufacture. "If well constructed, there is virtually no need for rectification during assembly," he said. Silicon components can also be designed in such a way that could never be executed using any other form manufacture - this alone opens up an entirely new thought process to the possibilities of future products. But Mr. Speake-Marin added a number of caveats: silicon components are very delicate to assemble and manipulate, and they cannot be repaired with conventional restoration techniques. "This technology is a potentially powerful tool," he said, "but it is a means to an end. It is not the result in itself, as can sometimes be interpreted when reading some companies" marketing material." Pierre Gygax, the executive vice president of production at Ulysse Nardin, said watches using silicon could be difficult to manufacture. "It doesn't break in the watch," he said of the material, "but it might chip off during manipulation at assembly stage." At Baselworld, Ulysse Nardin displayed its use of the diamond-coated silicon technology to solve the brittleness issue.