In 2009, Cartier introduced a watch called ID One. It was the very first watch in the world to be completely adjustment and lubricant free – meaning it could, in theory, work in perpetuity. Why would a lubricant free movement create a “timeless” watch? Well, as Abraham-Louis Breguet once famously said “Give me a perfect oil, and I will give you a perfect watch.” It is the oil that keeps a watch running, and over time, the oil will lose its characteristics and cease to ease the friction inherently found in the gears of a mechanical watch. Cartier removed the oil from the equation completely via a manufacturing technique called “DRIE” (deep reactive ion etching) which allows precision cutting to the nearest micron, geometrically reorganizing the escapement and using a variety of purposefully engineered materials (carbon crystal, niobium titanium, ADLC and the like). You can see more on the ID One in this videos below:
Images, video and text courtesy of Hodinkee.
Cartier ID One
Cartier ID Two
