May 16th, 2008
For the Paramount Time Square, time now turns at a whole new angle
A landmark famed as the scene of constant creativity and daring experimentation, New York’s legendary Time Square has inspired the Jeanrichard watch brand to create a world first: the Paramount Time Square features an hour display that, instead of the traditional circular turn ‘around’ the dial, follows the lines of a square.
Loyal to its tradition of innovation, the watch brand based in La Chaux-de-Fonds has explored uncharted territory in the field of horological complications, a path admirably exemplified in the Paramount Time Square. In developing the JR1100, a variation on the famous JR1000 movement, the master-watchmakers from Neuchâtel have turned a whole new corner by setting the hour hand free in an extraordinary and audacious way: it now moves over a square.
As time passes, the three-pointed red, blue and black rotating hour indicator advances along the sides of a square. Each point marks the hours in turn, in a colourful ballet. This surprising trajectory was created using the principle of hypocycloids, and made possible by combining a wheelwork with a set of planetary gears.
An amazing technical feat that both delights innovation lovers and thrills design purists, it adds to the aesthetic appeal of square cases and makes the time easier to read. A fertile source of inspiration for many great creative talents, the square is now pushed to its limits by the Jeanrichard designers.
The Bauhaus-style lines of the Paramount Time Square are simple and understated, as is the ample black matt dial which reveals the full splendour of the bridges with their sunburst guilloché work and creates a harmonious interplay of symmetrical effects. The movement itself can be admired through a sapphire crystal on the case-back.
In the grand tradition of Jeanrichard timepieces, the Paramount Time Square watch displays a perfect balance of elegance and avant-garde technical sophistication. It also stands out for its titanium-and-steel case, its date at 3 o’clock, and its luminous hour markers.
JR1100 Movement: A look inside the square hour
The “square hour” system is based on a wheelwork and planetary gears. The force is drawn from the hour wheel and the torque is transmitted to the planetary gears. Like the hour wheel, the planetary gears make two complete rotations each day.
The “square hour” trajectory is based on the principle of hypocycloids, which are curves described by the trajectory of a fixed point on a circle rolling (without sliding) along the inside of another circle (the guide).
In the case of the Paramount Time Square watch, the outer planet gear is moved by the other planetary gears and meshes with the annulus. Since the outer planet gear has four times fewer teeth than the annulus, one tooth (or any other point on the edge of the gear) traverses a hypocycloid with four cusps, also called an astroid, a shape which closely resembles the diamond in a deck of playing cards. In contrast, a point located at the centre of the planet gear would traverse a circle.
So the engineers at Jeanrichard deduced from this that somewhere along the radius from the centre to the edge of the circle, there should be a particular point that would traverse an intermediate curve between the astroid and the circle. It is on this point that the Paramount Time Square’s three-pointed hour indicator is placed, and its trajectory closely matches the shape of a square with rounded corners. Hence the idea of the “square hour.”
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