from Hacker News

An introduction to the remontoire

by akbarnama on 8/21/24, 1:28 PM with 3 comments

• by seabass-labrax on 8/25/24, 10:47 AM

  The article states that the "first remontoire was invented in 1595 by a Swiss clockmaker named Jost Bürgi." It goes on to explain how this mechanism relies on a spring. Immediately afterwards, the article says that it "wasn’t until 1739 that the spring remontoire was invented by the famous English clockmaker John Harrison".

  Could someone explain to me (as a layman as far as watches are concerned) what Harrison contributed to be honoured with inventing it for a second time? Or is there a technical difference between a remontoire with a spring and the term spring remontoire?

• by eternityforest on 8/25/24, 8:15 PM

  So it's kind of like a mechanical decoupling capacitor?

• by fxn on 8/24/24, 11:44 PM

  The remontoire has a technical/practical modern use in the Zeitwerk.