And in the case of the anchor, the angle formed by the two blades connecting it to one of the fixed lobes of the oscillator, and to one of the rim segments, creates a rotational movement of the anchor.We are now in a position to look at the oscillator as it's placed in the movement, in relationship to the escape wheel.As the oscillator vibrates back and forth, the arm carrying the teeth – which are what a watchmaker would call "pallets" (the same term is used for the jewels on a lever in a lever escapement watch) – flexes. It's the proportionality of the restoring force to the perturbing force that gives a harmonic oscillator its "natural frequency." The role of the lever in a conventional watch is twofold. The second is to "steal" some of the energy of the gear train and use it to impulse the balance, keeping it swinging.

Sémon is a former naval aviator, who flew the Steps in the fabrication of the silicon oscillator at the heart of the Zenith Defy Lab.The Zenith Oscillator is etched from a wafer of silicon, using DRIE (The final product: the Zenith Oscillator, which encompasses the functions of the balance, balance spring, and lever in a single component.So how does it work? To understand the oscillator, let's look at it in place, in the movement.Zenith Caliber ZO 342, with Zenith Oscillator in place.The entire oscillator is roughly the diameter of the movement itself (30mm for the oscillator alone) and is held in place in the movement by screws running through the three leaflike lobes radiating from the center. The three blades, or "beams," as Zenith refers to them, which are are connected to the three masses on the rim, flex laterally to provide a restoring force as the oscillator vibrates through six degrees of amplitude. One of the most interesting features of the oscillator is that the outer circle is not a simple, single ring; it's split in three places, which are mechanically linked by a double silicon blade, extending from an L-shaped terminal to each of the ring segments.The three ring segments have oval slots in them, which receive tiny pins; these act as an anti-shock system, to prevent excessive lateral displacement of the outer ring segments.You'll notice that there is no lever. 14 1/4 lignes (about 32.15mm) x 8.13mm, self-winding, with 60-hour power reserve; frequency, 108,000 vph.

Between the exotic mechanism and the unusual case, the Defy Lab has aesthetics unlike any other watch I've seen – almost riotously colorful, extremely light, and vividly animated.Zenith has chosen an interesting strategy for the launch of the watch: there will be 10 pieces made, each with a unique color scheme. These in turn give the pallets a little kick as they pass, transmitting energy to the oscillator.The escape wheel and anchor of the Zenith Defy Lab. In September of 2017, Zenith debuted one of the most interesting pieces of horology that year: the Defy Lab. This is part of a regulating system, for the purpose of fine-tuning the vibration of the oscillator; the fork can be moved back and forth to control the oscillator frequency, with a maximum adjustment range from one end of its arc to the other, of about 300 seconds per day.

A guitar string is a harmonic oscillator; no matter how soft or hard you pluck it, a G string is going to play a G note. Variation in rate due to temperature is controlled by a silicon dioxide coating (silicon is quite sensitive to temperature variations and some form of temperature compensation is essential in silicon-based oscillators) which provides a variation of about 0.3 seconds per degree Celsius; Zenith says this is "about twice as good as the standard (ISO-3159, the international chronometer standard) recommends." The oscillator currently sits on a different plane than much of the gear train as well as the mainspring barrel, and reducing the size of the oscillator so that it can be placed on the same plane as the going train and barrel would allow for a thinner movement.The oscillator is quite remarkable. A high-beat balance and balance spring, beating at 36,000 vph, regulates the Zenith El Primero movement.In a modern, well made and adjusted wristwatch, you can achieve a daily variation in rate of less than ten seconds – and sometimes much less, with several companies like Rolex, Omega and Seiko guaranteeing significantly better performance. The Zenith Defy Lab was introduced in September of 2017, and the heart of that watch was the Zenith Oscillator.The Zenith Oscillator is a single silicon component which incorporates the functions of the balance wheel, balance spring, and lever (in a conventional lever escapement). (Photo, HODINKEE)The entire system runs at a very high frequency: 15 hertz, or 108,000 vph, with a power reserve of about 60 hours.