The Where Challenge

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The Where Challenge

• The (Mechanical) Wristwatch
• By Christopher Salahub

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Introduction

• The wristwatch a common tool that not many
  people think about, but almost everyone uses at
  some time. In this presentation I hope to outline
  some of the resources needed to create this
  machine and where we get these resources from.
  Enjoy!

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Parts

• Here are the parts and pieces I am going to
  look at

The Wristband and Buckle
The Oscillating Weight
The Escapement
The Mainspring
The Hairspring
The Balance Wheel
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The Wristband and Buckle

• There are many different types of wristband,
  ranging from leather to plastic but the type I
  will be examining are of the metal variety. Metal
  wristwatches are most commonly made of an
  aluminum alloy, which is of course just aluminum
  combined with some other metal, very commonly
  zinc due to zincs corrosion-resistant qualities.
  Both of these are mined aluminum from China,
  Indonesia, Jamaica and Russia. And zinc from
  Australia, Canada and the United States. The
  buckle is made of the same type of alloy.

Zinc
Aluminum
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The Mainspring

• The mainspring in modern watches is made of
  hardened stainless steel. This metal is used
  because of its rigidly, which is needed to wind
  the watch properly. The main producers of steel
  (this substance is not mined, but rather produced
  from iron and carbon) are China, Japan, the
  United States, and Russia (2008). The main miners
  of iron are China, Australia, Brazil and India.

A steel ball
Mainspring
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The Balance Wheel

• The modern balance wheel is usually made of
  Invar, a nickel-steel alloy which is used due
  to its low thermal expansion rate. The main
  producers of steel (this substance is not mined,
  but rather produced from iron and carbon) are
  China, Japan, the United States, and Russia
  (2008). The main miners of iron are China,
  Australia, Brazil and India. The main producers
  of nickel are Russia, Indonesia, Canada, and
  Australia.

A steel ball
Nickel Ore
?Balance Wheel
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The Hairspring

• The modern hairspring is made primarily from a
  single-crystal silicon, due to the low thermal
  expansion in this substance. Silicon is a mineral
  mined from the Earth. The main producers of
  silicon are China (2.4 million tonnes annually) ,
  Russia (600,000 tonnes annually) , and Norway
  (270,000 tonnes annually).

Hairspring
Silica Sand
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The Escapement

• The modern escapement in mechanical watches is
  made of Invar, which as mentioned before is a
  steel-nickel alloy used for its low thermal
  expansion. The main producers of steel (this
  substance is not mined, but rather produced from
  iron and carbon) are China, Japan, the United
  States, and Russia (2008). The main miners of
  iron are China, Australia, Brazil and India. The
  main producers of nickel are Russia, Indonesia,
  Canada, and Australia.

Nickel Ore
Steel Sheet
The Escapement
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The Oscillating Weight

• The oscillating weight in a watch can be made
  from many things, depending on the model, make,
  and brand. But most are made from some type of
  heavy metal such as lead1. And so I will use
  lead as an example. The main producers of lead
  are Australia (about 694,000 tonnes a year),
  China (about 641,000 tonnes a year), and the
  United States (about 466,000 tonnes a year). Lead
  can be very harmful if allowed to get into the
  environment, so special care is attended to this
  part.

Lead
A Gold Oscillating Weight ?
1 although certain expensive watches have
weights made of gold
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Current Wristwatch Materials Economy
Usually the line ends here, although an emerging
practice is to look through watches for valuable
metals. Even so, there is quite a bit of waste.
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How It Could Work Better
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Conclusion

• Throughout this project I have had to look deep
  to find the required information and it has made
  me think about the consumption and use of
  materials in todays society. I believe that
  certain practices in use right now are fine
  practices although some (such as extraction and
  disposal) can be harmful to human health and the
  environment. They require work to find more
  efficient ways of execution luckily much of this
  work is already taking place. I would like to
  extend my thanks for reading my project, and I
  hoped you enjoyed it.

Mining uses up a lot of space
Landfills are not a good way to deal with waste
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Bibliography

• Title page picture
• http//www.germes-online.com/direct/dbimage/502025
  33/Semi_Tungsten_Watch.jpg
• Introduction picture
• http//www.tp178.com/ag/Vacheron/steel20chrono/mo
  vement.jpg
• Internet
• http//www.swissworld.org/en/switzerland/swiss_spe
  cials/swiss_watches/the_parts_of_a_watch/
• http//www.worldsteel.org/pictures/publicationfile
  s/WSIF202008202nd20edition.pdf
• Wikipedia.org
• http//www.mapsofworld.com/minerals/world-iron-ore
  -producers.html
• http//www.mapsofworld.com/minerals/world-nickel-p
  roducers.html
• http//www.freepatentsonline.com/7077562.html
• http//www.adv-engineering.com/news/news20in20th
  e20market/Si1.html

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Bibliography contd

• http//www.adv-engineering.com/news/news20in20th
  e20market/Si1.html