Why rainbow unicorns can't fly

A number of subscribers have brought my attention to an announcement made last week:  Roger Smith and Manchester University have begun work on a mechanical watch which would need no lubrication.  Actually it would - but instead of oil, moving parts would be coated with "nano-coatings using molybdenum disulfide, which is deposited onto parts using a magnetron sputtering process".  As the celebrity blogger explains: "This coating could replace the use of traditional oil-based lubricants in mechanical watches. The goal is to develop a mechanical watch that would never need to be serviced, as long as it is not damaged by an external event such as a drop".

The announcement maker then quotes Breguet, the most famous watchmaker of all time:  "Give me a perfect watch oil and I'll make you a perfect watch”, in an attempt to highlight the obvious: oils are bad.

Let me unpack this 'great news' for you: an oil-free watch is the rainbow unicorn of horology - it simply does not exist.

Here are the facts:  

1. It's not the oil - it is the friction that is the problem. A mechanical watch mechanism contains a number of moving parts working, pushing and rubbing against one other. While the escape wheel pivot, barrel arbour, monster mainspring, pallet stones, incabloc jewels, yoke, clutch wheels and winding pinions live under the same 'hud', they are so vastly different they require lubricants of specific viscosity and in specific amounts.  Due to their geometry and the way they function and interact with each other, some of them could be pre-coated, while others cannot.

2. Even a novice watch enthusiast knows that a wrist watch consists of 3 distinctive units:  the mechanism, dial and hands, and the watch case.  While clearly the mechanism itself contains the most moving parts, the proponents of the 'no oil' project intentionally avoid discussing issues related to the watch case which also needs regular servicing due to the deterioration of lubricants: the winding crown, rotating bezel, chrono pushers, and casing seals. In my experience, problems associated with casing parts account for 50% of all servicing requirements in a watch.  A "watch that never needs to be serviced" does not exist.  Actually it does:  it's called a throwaway watch.

3. We already have a "perfect watch" which would fit Breguet’s criteria. It is called a smart watch. It keeps perfect time and requires no lubrication. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that Brequet himself would wear two watches, one on each wrist: a mechanical masterpiece and a digital watch. And, yes, in Breguet's time watch oils were "bad", based on animal and vegetable fats . But since the 1950s, and especially recently, synthetic oils provide almost perfect lubrication properties. Thanks to better oils, a number of watchmakers have extended the servicing life of a watch from 3 to 4 years to 7 years and longer.

4. Contamination problems: even if all watch parts were nano coated, we still have to deal with a huge problem called contamination.  After just a few years, metal particles caused by wear and tear start to build up and stick to each other creating a fine grinding paste.  Dust, dirt, and moisture can penetrate into even the most waterproof watch. Without regular servicing, sooner or later, even the most well-made watch by the most reputable maker will simply grind itself to death.

5. Regular servicing in a traditional mechanical watch is part of "the horological sophistication package". Oils are here to stay - and getting rid of them is like trying to get rid of opera costumes, or trying to make a violin with pre-tuned strings. Ultimately getting rid of oil and servicing means getting rid of watch technicians and watchmakers. Our trade has never recovered from the quartz era, and an independent watchmaker like Roger Smith should be the last one to focus his efforts on an 'oil-less' watch.

6. Nano-coatings using molybdenum disulfide have been tried before - unsuccessfully.  In the late 1990s Jaeger LeCoultre spent a great deal of time developing a 'non-oil watch'. However, from what we know, the project culminated in the release of only one model in 2002.

Only one model was released - and the project was quickly abandoned. Rainbow unicorns can't fly.