News 
Simon Henein
The IsoSpring, a revolutionary oscillator first revealed to the public in 2014 and developed by Simon Henein, incumbent of the Patek Philippe Professorship and Director of the EPFL Instant Lab at Neuchâtel, and Ilan Vardi, a scientific staff member of Instant Lab, has now been fitted in a 21st century Neuchâtel clock case.
Presented to the press in early December, this futuristic piece has been installed in the lobby of Neuchâtel Town Hall where it faces the famous clock by Mathias Hipp, a pioneer of electric clock making in the 19th century.
IsoSpring is an oscillator which revolutionises time measurement because it is equipped with a continuous instead of an alternating movement. In other words, it works without an escapement and without ticking. While the basic concept of the mechanical watch as we know it today is identical to that of a timepiece made in 1800, the approach chosen by Instant-Lab was to question the need for the escapement with which traditional mechanical movements are fitted. The researchers went back to the principles described by Newton in the 17th century to explain celestial mechanics in order to develop a completely new oscillator.
This invention, which uses «flexible guidance» technology, so eliminating frictional losses at the bearings, holds out the prospect of mechanical timepieces (clocks, table clocks and watches), which will be easier to make and achieve unprecedented performance in terms of power-reserve and chronometric accuracy. Two patents have been taken out by the EPFL and the researchers are now
working to miniaturise this invention.
January 26, 2017