The Breitling Watch Source Forums

This will probably get lost among non WIS with all of the eye candy coming out of Basel over the next few days, but UN has a production ready movement that completely eliminates the need for lubrication - http://www.ulysse-nardin.ch/ulysse-nard ... 07549f.pdf

I sure hope they put it in a piece I like.

More info and pics here:
http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t= ... sg_5586491

Wow, that's pretty cool. I wonder what kind of maintenance will be required and how often.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

Doesn't Sinn have something close to this?

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SHARKMAN

I know that they have a watch that's full of oil, under the dial and everything, but I don't think that they have a movement that doesn't require a lubricant. There aren't too many things in the world with moving parts that don't require lubrication.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

Sinn has an escapement that they say doesn`t require lubrication, although it`s not wear free without lubrication. UN has also had silicon escapements for a while, but this is the first truly maintenance free escapement.

Not clear what they are going to do in other traditional lubrication areas - jewel holes, mainspring, etc.

Well I stand corrected...as usual.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

This is pretty amazing stuff. It's great to see companies like UN pushing the envelope a little bit and finding novel solutions to age-old problems. A "libtrication free" movement at some point in the future probably isn't too far fetched.

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“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” - Albert Einstein

The JLC Extreme LAB doesnt use lubrication either iirc.

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-RJ

Yeah, but only the tourbillon I think.

Not totally on-topic, but not completely off, either: what's the base of standard UN movements, specifically the UN-26 in the Maxi Marine Chronometer? Is it in-house, ETA-based, or something else?

They have some in house and some ETA based. UN-26 is a 2892-A2 base.

This will be way off topic, but where does one actually figure out what movement a given watch has in it? Is there some kind of master database for this I don't know about? Is this just all in your head, Roff?

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

Many manufacturers make it very difficult to figure out because they don't want people to know that they aren't in house, but I have a fair few references. This one I actually knew because it's a fairly common movement and I have been looking at 2892-A2 based movements for other reasons.